evita mgfs Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 23 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said: If thE Jojen paste theory is correct, then Jojen knew why he was going, and what would happen when he got there. Would the laws of hospitality, assuming they apply to the singers, be violated under such circumstances? Your argument is very good, and I love your earlier observations as well. I am trying to respond t everyone's posts in some way, even if I just rattle off something stupid. I truly respect all that you have to say. I think your replies are insightful and amazing, I assumed, since the CotF believe that the trees are their gods - the nameless, faceless gods of the north - that they then observe the laws of hospitality, and to me Jojen paste sounds too much like the rat cook story. Now, if Jojen truly is a sacrificial lamb of sorts, I do not think Martin has made this clear. Martin has shown, however, how others pay for such violations. Here is an essay I wrote regarding Bran and his relationship with the laws of hospitality. Bran’s Association with the Violations of the Laws of Hospitality The forces that are the old gods may appear to be more impotent than omnipotent, but gods work in mysterious ways, especially the old gods of the north. Represented as watching through the eyes of the weirwoods, the old gods appear related to elements in nature, such as stone, earth, tree, wind, and water. The revelation in the Cave of Skulls that Bran is a greenseer explains Bran’s “wolf” and “tree” dreams. Now that Bran is part of the godhood, sitting a weirwood throne of his own next to Lord Brynden, he will assert his powers, but how waits to be seen. However anyone interprets karma, Martin demonstrates poetic justice within his complex song of ice and fire. Following is one of many examples. Even though the old gods send the Stark siblings direwolf puppies to assist the awakening of their wolf spirits, the Starks need to be receptive and heed the alerts of their pups. Otherwise, a Stark exercising “free will” will undermine the preventative measures of the old gods. For instance, Bran chooses to climb even though his direwolf pup’s “howling chased him all the way up the tree” (AGoT 78-79). Moreover, when Bran looks down at Summer from above, his direwolf quiets, but conveys disapproval with “slitted yellow eyes”, warning him telepathically of danger. Bran feels a “strange chill” pass through him. Apparently, Bran’s pup is minding Bran, but Bran is not minding his pup. Violations of the sacred laws of hospitality are believed to be so egregious and so blasphemous that the gods themselves punish the offender. The old gods’ assignation of punishment to the violator is a careful balance to ensure that the penance “fits” the crime. While a guest of Lord Eddard Stark and a knight in King Robert’s kingsguard, Ser Jaime Lannister secretly meets with his sister Cersei in an abandoned tower, where they make love. In the throes of passion, Cersei catches sight of a child hanging outside the tower window. Bran’s fingers slip, and Jaime rescues Bran, ordering him to “TAKE MY HAND!” Bran desperately latches onto Jaime’s forearm and presses down so hard that he leaves welts. Bran’s fear is palpable. Regardless, a moment later, Jaime shoves Bran off the window sill, saying, “The things I do for love” (85). It is karmic, ironic, and a matter of “poetic justice” that Jaime forfeits the very thing he orders Bran Stark to TAKE, his hand, his “sword” hand, the symbol of a knight’s power, the deliverer of death to a Targaryen king, the means by which Bran falls. “Taking” Jaime’s hand is a fate worse than death because without his sword hand, Jaime is a “cripple”. When Tyrion tells Jaime that Bran is going to live even with a broken neck and shattered legs, Jaime says, “. . .he will be a cripple. Worse than a cripple. A grotesque. Give me a good, clean death” (91). It is unlikely the gods will oblige Jaime’s wishes; after all, dying is easy – “living” is hard. Since Jaime robs Bran of his future dreams, the forces that are the old gods, or that serve as agents of the old gods, will make sure that Jaime’s fate matches or exceeds the intensity of Bran’s suffering. Jaime’s “violations” are threefold: Jaime attempts to kill the son of his host. Jaime fornicates with his own twin sister in an abandoned tower of his host’s castle. Jaime commits treason when he and the queen have sexual relations while guests of Winterfell. Bran is the Stark that Martin most associates with the sacred laws of hospitality. After his older brother Robb departs from Winterfell, Bran assumes the role of host to the Stark bannermen visiting Winterfell to pledge their fealty for another term. Bran must serve as his brother Robb and father Eddard do before him, so Bran models his hosting behavior on the two best men he knew. Furthermore, through Old Nan’s story of the “Rat Cook”, Bran hears a cautionary tale that warns of harsh punishment for those who violate the laws of hospitality. Bran repeats this story for Jojen and Meera Reed when they take a break on their journey, and before they cross under the Wall to continue their odyssey to the Cave of Skulls. The legend of the “Rat Cook” tells of a brother of the Night’s Watch who prepares a delicious pie to serve the visiting king. The king praises the culinary skills of the cook, after which the king learns that mixed in with the bacon filling is a secret ingredient: the King’s own son. The Nightfort cook avenges some wrong the King had visited upon him. Consequently, the old gods punish the cook for killing a guest under his own roof, and the penalty is extremely harsher than the laws of men: the cook is transformed into a giant rat destined to feed on his own young to nourish himself. The cook’s misery is a fate worse than a merciful death, and this legend exemplifies how the magical forces work. In the case of the cook, his punishment fits his crime: a rat is a fitting creature to house the Nightfort cook’s black soul. Rats are loathsome symbols of disease, waste, and deadliness. The moral of the story is to respect the sacred laws governing hospitality. The Stark ancestry is clearly enmeshed in the sacred laws of hospitality and the guest right. The stone statues of the Lords of Winterfell and the Kings of Winter that uniformly line each level of the crypts best illustrates an association with refusing hospitality. The stone masons repeat the same “sitting” posture for all the dead, one that suggests the Starks “do not rest” in peace. With “stone eyes” open yet blind, the “dead of Winterfell seemed to watch with cold and disapproving eyes” (AGoT 48). Even more telling is the unsheathed iron sword that rests across their knees, a symbol that a lord or king is refusing his hospitality. This unspoken threat is meant to discourage unwelcome guests. Furthermore, curled at the feet of the stone Starks is a stone direwolf, another warning that the Starks are not alone as enforcers of these sacred laws. Martin emphasizes the significance of the unsheathed sword in AGoT through Bran’s narrative. Sitting on a cold stone “high seat” of House Stark, Robb receives guest Tyrion Lannister by striking a familiar pose: “His sword was across his knees, the steel bare for all the world to see. Even Bran knew what it meant to greet a guest with an unsheathed sword” (AGoT 242). Compare Robb’s pose with the stone statues described in an early Eddard POV: “By ancient custom an iron longsword had been laid across the lap of each who had been Lord of Winterfell, to keep the vengeful spirits in their crypts” and “great stone direwolves curled around their feet” (AGoT 42). Robb and Bran mirror the stone statues of the dead Lords of Winterfell, although the brothers sit on the antique seats of House Stark: “where the Lords of Winterfell had sat since the days when they called themselves Kings of the North. The seat was cold stone, polished smooth by countless bottoms; the carved heads of the direwolves snarled on the ends of the massive arms. Bran clasped them as he sat, his useless legs dangling” (AGoT 243). Bran orders Summer to heel when his direwolf “smells” Lannister, which Summer remembers from the day Bran was pushed from the broken tower. As a result, Summer prepares to attack Tyrion Lannister, and Summer’s pack mates feed off their brother’s signals. Summer hesitates only a moment before “He crept backward, away from the little man, and settled down below Bran’s dangling feet” (245). After snagging a scrap of Tyrion’s clothing, Grey Wind obeys Robb’s command, resting at Robb’s feet, completing the composition of the statues in the crypts. So, the BIG question is “WHY” do the Starks sit at the ready instead of reclining on their tombs with their eyes closed? Could the answer be as simple as “Winter is coming”? Martin teases by revealing too little to develop a theory with concrete, undeniable evidences from the text. After all, Lord Brynden succinctly tells Bran and the readers that “Men forget. Only trees remember” (ADwD 449). Jojen offers more explanation: “The secrets of the old gods . . . Truths the First Men knew now forgotten in Winterfell. . . but not in the wet wild. We live closer to the green in our bogs and crannogs, and we remember. Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows, they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone” (ADwD 449). Readers enjoy speculating about the nature of this forgotten knowledge, which Bran will acquire as a greenseer. However, Jojen indicates that the Reeds “remember” since they are closer to nature. The Reeds have told Bran about their home, Grey Water Watch, a castle that dwells beneath or on top of the waters, and one that moves regularly so that its location is never known for a certainty. With the stone Starks and their stone direwolves symbolically guarding the WF crypts against unwelcome guests, Martin may be insinuating events to come, especially with Bran as a greenseer and as a victim of violations against the laws of hospitality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evita mgfs Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 43 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said: If thE Jojen paste theory is correct, then Jojen knew why he was going, and what would happen when he got there. Would the laws of hospitality, assuming they apply to the singers, be violated under such circumstances? I forgot this: By Bran ingesting weirwood paste, which the CotF likely harvested from the tree to which Bloodraven is bound, then Bran literally and figuratively is partaking of the body and blood of his teacher Lord Brynden, whom Leaf tells readers has given himself to the tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 I agree that Bloodraven did not lure Jojen to his cave so the singers could mug him and butcher him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evita mgfs Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 43 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said: I agree that Bloodraven did not lure Jojen to his cave so the singers could mug him and butcher him. Then what exactly do you believe? That Jojen knowingly escorted Bran to the cave to offer himself as a blood sacrifice to the budding greenseer? Like Jesus? Jojen/Jesus. He does say his greendreams do not lie, but he never articulates exactly what his dreams are once he arrives at the cave. His sullen demeanor and desire for home do not mark him as a martyr. However, I cannot imagine that facing a sacrificial death, even if for higher purposes, would be met with excitement. I think Bran is powerful enough - he does he need to ingest Jojen paste. If this is the case, the singers play a rather sick trick on the unknowing Bran. They may think that men are the children, but I have a hard time understanding what you are theorizing about Jojen. Is it that a willing sacrifice excludes any violations of the laws of hospitality? Only if Bran is aware he is eating his friend could such not be a violation. I don't know. I guess I am stupid because I do not understand. If Bran is like the Greek Persephone, and the singers do not bide the unwritten laws of the old gods, then Bran eating the seeds may trap him in the cave, at least for the winter months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 11 hours ago, evita mgfs said: Then what exactly do you believe? That Jojen knowingly escorted Bran to the cave to offer himself as a blood sacrifice to the budding greenseer? Like Jesus? Jojen/Jesus. He does say his greendreams do not lie, but he never articulates exactly what his dreams are once he arrives at the cave. His sullen demeanor and desire for home do not mark him as a martyr. However, I cannot imagine that facing a sacrificial death, even if for higher purposes, would be met with excitement. I think Bran is powerful enough - he does he need to ingest Jojen paste. If this is the case, the singers play a rather sick trick on the unknowing Bran. They may think that men are the children, but I have a hard time understanding what you are theorizing about Jojen. Is it that a willing sacrifice excludes any violations of the laws of hospitality? Only if Bran is aware he is eating his friend could such not be a violation. I don't know. I guess I am stupid because I do not understand. If Bran is like the Greek Persephone, and the singers do not bide the unwritten laws of the old gods, then Bran eating the seeds may trap him in the cave, at least for the winter months. I suspect Jojen saw his death, and understood what was expected of him. I don't think he sees himself as a martyr, but he is resigned to his fate. Thus, Bloodraven and the singers would not be subject to the laws of hospitality here. Neither would Bran since he is not Jojen's host in this context. And Bran is not making the sacrifice. He is the unknowing beneficiary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fattest Leech Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 2 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said: I suspect Jojen saw his death, and understood what was expected of him. I don't think he sees himself as a martyr, but he is resigned to his fate. Thus, Bloodraven and the singers would not be subject to the laws of hospitality here. Neither would Bran since he is not Jojen's host in this context. And Bran is not making the sacrifice. He is the unknowing beneficiary. I agree with this 100%. I'm ok with Jojen paste not being true, but the bigger part of me sees that it is. This book in particular with other characters and Bran's whole arc in this book have a lot of actual or symbolic canabalism. The "pig" that Coldhands finds for them that they eat is not an actual pig. So disgusting, but this vegetarian would try it 14 hours ago, evita mgfs said: Then what exactly do you believe?... There are plenty that see Bloodraven as not the kindly old Werther's Grandpa that he seems. How many characters start one way (nice, trustworthy) and stay that way their entire arc through the story? It just wouldn't be an arc by the end, but a straight line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tijgy Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 3 hours ago, The Fattest Leech said: I agree with this 100%. I'm ok with Jojen paste not being true, but the bigger part of me sees that it is. This book in particular with other characters and Bran's whole arc in this book have a lot of actual or symbolic canabalism. The "pig" that Coldhands finds for them that they eat is not an actual pig. So disgusting, but this vegetarian would try it There are plenty that see Bloodraven as not the kindly old Werther's Grandpa that he seems. How many characters start one way (nice, trustworthy) and stay that way their entire arc through the story? It just wouldn't be an arc by the end, but a straight line. 17 hours ago, evita mgfs said: for the last part Actually whole DwD (at least in the North and beyond the Wall) is full of cannibalism. It keeps returning and not only in Bran's storyline but also other places like the Frey pies, those soldiers of Stannis, ... It is everywhere- I don't want to be eaten. I think you can say it is partly foreshadowed by the fact Bran does eat the elk (He told himself he would not eat, that it was better to go hungry than to feast upon a friend, but in the end he'd eaten twice, once in his own skin and once in Summer's). I am actually just against it in principle and I will only believe it when I read it? Stubborn me but like I said I actually do not see a reason why there should be a blood sacrifice while Bran actually already paid a heavy price for powers. I think Jojen will just die because he is physical weak from his own powers and because he aided to Bran bring to the cave which is also sacrifice? But the Jojen Paste can of course exist. I am not really sure if BR really is presented as an good old grandpa? First, that crow is fucking annoying. Second He is tree-man surrounded with bones, he has red eyes, ... I would say he is rather scary? And I personally wrote a whole piece of comparing him to Satan. He is called the Great Other by Mel. So I am not really sure how he is presented as an old grandpa? And while I personally think he might be machiavellian, I personally think he is fighting for the realm and is not the Real Enemy. However I do not trust him with the wellbeing of Bran and the Little Reeds (so in the end he might sacrifice them or he already did - I see him as sort Dumbledore). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 No Jojen paste. The weirwood tree has sap that looks like blood, blood red leaves and......surprise, mix it all up and it tastes like blood. No Jojen needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fattest Leech Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 30 minutes ago, LongRider said: No Jojen paste. The weirwood tree has sap that looks like blood, blood red leaves and......surprise, mix it all up and it tastes like blood. No Jojen needed. Just a quick question, is there a good discussion thread that explains why Jojen is not paste? I see way more that try and explain why he is, but what about the other way? I do not mean this with any sarcasm, something that can be misconstrued online, it's just I would like to read more of "the other side" to it. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me one way or the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I have no idea. Give Mr. Google a try, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evita mgfs Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I guess this is good to know. For the first time I am considering leaving the Forum, the novels, and the HBO show. If Martin is entertaining such a path, for me "this" is not a healthy environment. My doctor read some of my essays and advised me against exploring such dark and depressing topics, and my essays do not focus solely on cannibalism and death. Bran is my favorite character, and I need hope – some hope. Lord of the Flies was hard enough to teach, with its strong suggestion of cannibalism among children. I’ve looked into the darkness of man’s heart enough in my life –once when a student put a gun to my head. I’ll go back to PD James and the classics I will leave now to cry my eyes out. And I mean that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 1 hour ago, evita mgfs said: I guess this is good to know. For the first time I am considering leaving the Forum, the novels, and the HBO show. If Martin is entertaining such a path, for me "this" is not a healthy environment. My doctor read some of my essays and advised me against exploring such dark and depressing topics, and my essays do not focus solely on cannibalism and death. Bran is my favorite character, and I need hope – some hope. Lord of the Flies was hard enough to teach, with its strong suggestion of cannibalism among children. I’ve looked into the darkness of man’s heart enough in my life –once when a student put a gun to my head. I’ll go back to PD James and the classics I will leave now to cry my eyes out. And I mean that You need to think happy thoughts. See if you can find old Homefront reruns. That was a great show. You got to accentuate the positive/eliminate the negative/don't mess with Mr. In Between Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravenous reader Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 @evita mgfsYou should follow your heart -- do what your inner direwolf would tell you -- but I hope you won't leave. You provide so much sense in an often senseless debate! And the connections you make are inspired and inspiring. I think there is hope, love, faith, and transcendence -- it's just intermingled with a lot of sadness, suffering, false starts, loose ends, 'wild-goose chases' and perversion (taken in its original etymological sense of 'wrong-turning' as well as its darker sense of 'corruption'). The notion of 'cannibalism' can be seen symbolically too (as it is in the Catholic mass of Communion) instead of taken literally -- as a trope towards understanding how we are all interconnected and interdependent, sometimes delightfully and sometimes painfully so. No man nor woman is an island. That's the duality that GRRM is writing and referring to. As an addendum, philosophically I disagree with @Lost Melnibonean in that I don't think Jojen being 'resigned to his fate' serves as a sufficient disqualifier of the incumbent laws of hospitality. They are not 'let off the hook,' so to speak, just because he doesn't resist vigorously enough or run away. What kind of morality is that? That reminds me of this horrible debate on the GOT show side, where some people would argue that Sansa wasn't 'really' raped by Ramsay, because she agreed to be married to him, which involved tacit 'acceptance' of what was 'expected' of her in terms of consummating the marriage in medieval terms, and therefore didn't say 'no' 'loudly enough' so to speak, when confronted by his brutality. That's a ridiculous and dangerous line of argument, one which I will never fail to speak out against -- no matter how much it irritates certain people who claim to be 'aesthetic purists', and regardless of the 'rules' or 'decorum' of a certain forum. I also agree with you that it would constitute a serious violation of trust, akin to the 'Frey pies', were they to have killed Jojen on Bran's 'behalf' and served his friend to him essentially without his knowledge and against his will. That is simply psychopathic -- something someone like Littlefinger would do-- which if true raises serious questions about the potentially nefarious motivation of Bloodraven and the singers. At the same time, I also have to admit there are a lot of psychopaths in GRRM's universe-- he seems fascinated by them, and often seems to celebrate their 'triumphs' at the expense of others with a little too much relish for comfort. In contrast, Jon Snow is one of the few-and-far-between really kind people. I'm not sure this portrayal is a true reflection of life. Psychopaths constitute at most 4% of the population, so GRRM is presenting us a skewed image of the degree of depravity. On 4/5/2016 at 10:21 PM, evita mgfs said: I am working in a longer piece comparing elements of the Catholic Mass with Bran in his magic cave. Following is the crux of what is called the Transubstantiation of Christ, part of the ritual known as Communion. When I saw that you are comparing Satan to Bloodraven, I thought a Christian take might appeal to you. By Bran ingesting weirwood paste, which the CotF likely harvested from the tree to which Bloodraven is bound, Bran literally and figuratively is partaking of the body and blood of his teacher Lord Brynden, whom Leaf tells readers has given himself to the tree. Bran’s Resurrection Martin symbolizes Bran’s death through the fates of the Miller’s boys whom Theon uses to replace the Stark children in an effort to hide his failings. He is too proud to admit that the Stark kiddoes outsmarted him. The Miller’s corpses are on display, flayed, burned, and hung, a metaphoric crucifixion of innocents. Meanwhile, Bran [and company] move underground, hiding in the crypts, in Ned’s empty tomb. Thus, Bran is at rest in the darkness wherein his transformation takes root: he opens his third eye, he wargs Summer for days, and he visits Jon’s dream. After the sack of Winterfell, Bran “rises” from the crypts, a metaphoric resurrection, and beyond the Wall in a cave of skulls, Bran will experience an “Ascension” when he flies in the ravens. ****Above, you note how those blessed with gifts are physically weaker, or in some way handicapped. This appears to be true; however, did you notice how Bran grows stronger the farther north he travels? Martin emphasizes this by using Jojen's health as a foil for Bran's. Jojen grows weaker as Bran grows stronger. My theory has been that Bran draws strength through his bond with his direwolf Summer. Exactly. Fascinating how in attempting to deconstruct/subvert/undermine/etc. ancient mythological archetypes, GRRM ends up affirming many of them! It's as if they had irresistibly welled up in his sub-consciousness, breaking through into the words on the page, insisting, against all his 'perverse' instincts to the contrary, on their eternal right to exist. Regarding the trans-substantiation, 'Satanic' and shamanic figurative elements, consider the allusion to the archetypal figure of 'the tree of life and/or knowledge' -- an element which recurs across cultures, time and space (check out the entry 'tree of life' on wikipedia for an eye-opening introductory journey covering the comparative mythology of how this figure inevitably recapitulates throughout history; it's too long to post here). We even find this tree motif reconfigured in places as diverse as the center of our modern-day Christmas hearth -- the 'Christmas tree' symbolizing sacrifice and rebirth -- as well as in the center of our 'little-' brains (the cerebellum) as the 'arbor vitae,' a particularly beautiful configuration to early neuroscientists who first observed the intricate delicate branching of the 'white' interdigitating with the 'grey' matter (strangely enough, the Stark colors...so next time you say you have the Starks on your mind, you do, literally and figuratively!) Charles Darwin, in articulating his theory of the familial relationships of all living things to each other, talked of a tree of life, a 'phylogeny', inseparable from a tree of knowledge -- which fundamentally uprooted our notions of who we are forever. Of course, we also find this archetypal tree -- The Tree -- in the Bible as the tree in the center of the garden around which 'the snake' coiled itself seductively and spoke the words, the 'sweet nothings' promising everything, inviting a perilous enlightenment. From one point of view, the 'snake' is analogous to the two en-twined 'Brans' -- Brandon (Stark) and Brynden (Rivers) -- who being intertwined with one another are also intertwined with the dark, vital pulsating 'underworld' of weirwood roots 'snaking' their way through flesh, time, and distance alike: Quote From A Dance with Dragons -- Bran II The way the shadows shifted made it seem as if the walls were moving too. Bran saw great white snakes slithering in and out of the earth around him, and his heart thumped in fear. He wondered if they had blundered into a nest of milk snakes or giant grave worms, soft and pale and squishy. Grave worms have teeth. Hodor saw them too. "Hodor," he whimpered, reluctant to go on. But when the girl child stopped to let them catch her, the torchlight steadied, and Bran realized that the snakes were only white roots like the one he'd hit his head on. "It's weirwood roots," he said. "Remember the heart tree in the godswood, Hodor? The white tree with the red leaves? A tree can't hurt you." "Hodor." Hodor plunged ahead, hurrying after the child and her torch, deeper into the earth. They passed another branching, and another, then came into an echoing cavern as large as the great hall of Winterfell, with stone teeth hanging from its ceiling and more poking up through its floor. The child in the leafy cloak wove a path through them. From time to time she stopped and waved her torch at them impatiently. This way, it seemed to say, this way, this way, faster. 'A tree can't hurt you'...of course this is eminently debatable! Even in the passage above, the tree is not depicted as benign. On the contrary, the roots 'hit his head,' and they are compared to sharp 'poking' 'stone teeth' and hungry, penetrating 'grave worms' or an aggressive 'nest' (like a labyrinth or trap) of 'milk snakes.' For me, the latter conjures up the image of Cleopatra's death, as envisioned by Shakespeare, committing suicide by allowing her asps to latch onto her breasts in a deadly inversion of love and nurturance (the white of her skin and the milk, contrasting with the red of her blood, just as the red-white weir/albino imagery recurs throughout GRRM's text). Milk snakes, 'extra-universe,' are banded red-and-black snakes (appropriate, considering Bloodraven's origins and heraldic designations) which while not poisonous themselves mimic a venomous snake variety in appearance, as a form of defense in the wild. Far from reassuring, this 'mimicry' aspect is mildly unsettling, to say the least (we've revisited this elusive shimmering play of (dis)guises at length on the 'Bran's growing powers...' thread). So, while there may be an element of mimicry in play (on the surface, Bloodraven as bastard mimicking Targ...black-on-red or red-on-black, it's all the same to a snake, or a dragon...), it's difficult to tell the malevolent from the benevolent forces at work here (Bloodraven masquerading as kindly sage, but actually two-timing serpent? It's difficult to differentiate his intentions at this point, but they are shadowy, so 'ulterior' motives cannot be ruled out!) . GRRM's imagery serves to reinforce this underlying menace with his repetitive 'teeth' imagery (echoing Bloodraven's 'Raven's Teeth' with their poisonous arrows), the upper and lower rows of 'teeth' projecting into the 'cavern' evoking a devouring mouth (again, white against red imagery respectively), threatening to engulf Bran (similar to our discussion of the guillotine-like portcullis at the twins evoking gruesome steel jaws, presaging 'the bloody feast' of the Red Wedding, into which Rob fatefully entered, ignoring Grey Wind's protestation, for the last leg of his final disillusion and dissolution.) in this vein, mirroring the figurative, the biological process of consumption starting with mastication, followed by the acid and enzymatic degradation of digestion, nutrient absorption and energy consolidation, and ending with excretion of waste products, is in essence a process of having ones selfhood bolstered by another's dissolution. Regarding eating and being eaten, it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. We are informed that Lord B 'draws his life from the tree' and has no need to eat nor drink (eerily like Mel, who could be his daughter..?!), yet from the description it would seem to be the other way around -- i.e., that the tree is eating him! Bloodraven is described as a 'half-corpse half-tree...skeletal...rotted...dessicated...corpse lord...dead man...[with] fraying...withered flesh...[and] yellow bone poking through...a pale ruin...save for a bloody blotch..,' overcome by worms and fungi, with the tree snaking through him, almost as if it were extracting the very life from him, sucking him dry. It would seem, despite his overweening power, Lord Brynden, to all appearances a shrunken, depleted figure, has paid a steep price for those selfsame powers. Supposedly the formidable 'blood raven,' he seems very un-ravenly, in that he is the one who has been ravished/ravened by the tree and not vice versa. Paradoxically, though, rather than killing him, by this process of grotesque mummification he is being preserved over the centuries. The bi-directionality of the flow of energy between Bloodraven (an emblem of 'fire,' being a dragon...'one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire') and the tree (an emblem of 'ice') is an example (of which there are many) of how GRRM deconstructs the 'fire consumes -- cold preserves' dichotomy he himself initially presented. Who is preserving whom; who consuming whom..? Bloodraven's life is being preserved at the expense of its own consumption by the tree. Thus, Bloodraven both consumes and is being consumed by the tree; likewise, the tree both preserves and is being preserved by Bloodraven. Assuming the tree is a symbol of 'ice,' this means that ice preserves by consuming fire! Conversely, fire preserves by consuming ice... The weirwood system of relations is a kind of mutual parasitism. It's almost creepy how the tree seems to feed off Bran/Bloodraven, just as much as they reciprocally feed off it. From this perspective, @evita mgfs, @Wizz-The-Smith and I have been discussing the Catholic ritual of communion, and exploring the various permutations thereof as it plays out in the text (it's fascinating to hear that GRRM is a Catholic or lapsed Catholic, of which I previously had no idea! Nevertheless, these ritual motifs permeate his work so vividly to be immediately recognizable). In this context, let's take for example the word 'host' -- at once communion wafer/bread, weirwood seed (or alternatively 'Jojen'-) paste, Summer or Hodor serving as animal and human warg host respectively, Lord of the Tree (Lord Brynden) or Winterfell (Lord Brandon), or The Lord of All (Lord Jesus Christ) -- 'Lord of the Flies' and its uncomfortable themes of human sacrifice are also naturally invoked (writers feed off each other in a kind of weirwood economy too!) So, there's the dual association with 'host vs. guest' as well as the more uncomfortable, though undeniable connotation of 'host vs. parasite.' Typically, GRRM deconstructs these dichotomies as well (as he does with 'ice' vs. 'fire' and the like). Consider for example the figure of the 'raven' in which we may identify an intersection of all these roles. Accordingly, the raven -- usually considered a feared predator and scavenger who grips and rips the bodies of others with its sharp beak and talons -- nevertheless serves as host to a warg who takes hold of its body in turn for his own use (Bloodraven, the 'three-eyed' raven who is a combination of the bird's own two eyes plus one for Brynden Rivers!). Continuing this analogy further, the raven is visibly a guest in many castles, where it is housed and fed (i.e. it is the one hosted!) in rookeries, and tended to conscientiously by maesters as if it were a revered guest (it's also one of the fowl species on the premises not slaughtered for food; you could say the ravens are afforded 'guest right'!). In spite of its penchant for flying in unannounced (ravens can only announce themselves, being the ones who usually herald the arrival of others), nonetheless it is a guest who can never be turned away, if not always welcome with their 'dark wings, dark words...' Moreover, in the raven's capacity as the purveyor literally and figuratively of language, bearing message scrolls back and forth and being of the few bird species able to make the leap to uttering human words in human languages -- the raven can also be characterised as the host of language, its own and those of others. Thus, it can be harnessed for 'good' or 'evil' -- the duality of 'the word' itself. Let's not forget, as Tywin that glib general reminds, sometimes wars are won by proxy 'with quills and ravens'..! Given that the raven as a predator or scavenger ('raven' as a verb derives etymologically from the root meaning to 'ravish,' 'pillage', 'rape', 'take as spoils,' etc.) is a kind of parasite or pirate of the skies feeding off the meat of others, I was almost about to say that the raven, like the Ironborn, 'does not sow', however, this wouldn't be strictly true... When the raven used its beak to get into Bran's brain (taken literally, 'it is known' ravens love eating the soft tissues of the eyes and brain preferentially, the eye sockets acting like windows in the otherwise unyielding fortress of the skull, providing easy access for them to the providence within; biologically, the eyes are an outgrowth of brain tissue; poetically put, 'the eyes are the window to the soul') and gouge out his 'third-eye,' in a sense the raven was 'sowing' a seed (of knowledge, enlightenment, transcendence, etc.). Thus, the raven effectively used its sharp beak as a needle or hoe, preparing the path for the seed in the fertile ground of Bran's brain -- now serving as host -- in order to awaken the 'sapling's' latent capacities, and encourage growth. (for more on the 'sewing - sowing' puns, please see @Seams delightfully whimsical pieces on the topic. Like the raven, a weirwood tree comprises a duality -- of host and parasite, host and guest, ice and fire. The duality combines aspects of both duelling 'opposites' in one. Both-in-one: this -- in a nutshell -- is GRRM's oxymoronic mantra: Quote From A Storm of Swords -- Bran II "If ice can burn," said Jojen in his solemn voice, "then love and hate can mate. Mountain or marsh, it makes no matter. The land is one." "One," his sister agreed, "but over wrinkled." 'One-but-overwrinkled': the same mantra otherwise expressed. Compare the following, in which Ice has been reforged (by fire) to give the same 'one but over wrinkled' effect literally and figuratively. Interestingly, the sword is presented as an ancient overwrinkled (rippled, folded), wartorn landscape of 'waves of night and blood upon some steely shore,' as well as anthropomorphically as an old, wrinkled, 'stubborn' person with a mind, will, and most importantly memory of its own: Quote From A Storm of Swords -- Tyrion IV ...he turned the blade in the sunlight. Most Valyrian steel was a grey so dark it looked almost black, as was true here as well. But blended into the folds was a red as deep as the grey. The two colors lapped over one another without ever touching, each ripple distinct, like waves of night and blood upon some steely shore. "How did you get this patterning? I've never seen anything like it." "Nor I, my lord," said the armorer. "I confess, these colors were not what I intended, and I do not know that I could duplicate them. Your lord father had asked for the crimson of your House, and it was that color I set out to infuse into the metal. But Valyrian steel is stubborn. These old swords remember, it is said, and they do not change easily. I worked half a hundred spells and brightened the red time and time again, but always the color would darken, as if the blade was drinking the sun from it. And some folds would not take the red at all, as you can see. If my lords of Lannister are displeased, I will of course try again, as many times as you should require, but - " "No need," Lord Tywin said. "This will serve." "A crimson sword might flash prettily in the sun, but if truth be told I like these colors better," said Tyrion. "They have an ominous beauty . . . and they make this blade unique. There is no other sword like it in all the world, I should think." "There is one." Of course this is a description of Tyrion admiring Oathkeeper, the 'joke' (meta-wise) at the end of the passage being that even in its 'new' unity, not only have the two colors refused to blend into one, but also the fact that the sword is actually one of two, which were formerly one, hence not really a unity in itself. (Am I making sense?!...Once one (pardon the pun!) starts entering these paradoxes, it gets a little tricky...) Thus, one cannot really ever have one without the other. Implicit in 'Oathkeeper' is always its shadow-sword 'Widow's Wail,' thus reminding us that we can never have the highmindedness of 'oathkeeping' without the invariable accompaniment of its less glamorous sister, namely the bloodymindedness associated with the 'widow's wail.' ( I'm sure Jaime, being the cynical romantic and romantic cynic he is, would agree with this one!) Inextricable -- an 'ominous' beauty indeed! By Tywin's decree the smith has worked a violence upon the Valyrian steel, trying to force it to take up a crimson color. In his attempt to stain the grey crimson-red, thus constituting a desire to obliterate the grey entirely, along with a desire to symbolically obliterate the history of House Stark, including all memory of Ned -- the sword belonged to him after all -- Tywin also desires, as he always does in the secret recesses of his shame to which only he is privy ('fittingly' he died with his shame exposed in full view of the one he'd most shamed, in a privy no less...), to wipe out the stain of his own 'red' hand in the matter of Ned, Rob and Catelyn's death. Tywin's tactic of 'overstaining' the stain mirrors Tywin's presentation of the Targaryen children in Lannister crimson in a devious, cynical effort to disguise the stain of their murder (which no-one will ever convince me he didn't directly instigate). Ironically, despite his efforts, the sword rejects the crimson, appearing 'blood red' instead -- almost as if it were reminding us and Tywin of the blood that went into its making. The blood red color on the sword could almost be the memory of Ned's blood left on and in the sword which was representative of the lifeblood of his family tradition and which, in a cruel stroke of fate, was also used to behead him, leaving the stain of his blood forever on his own sword. Ned's death was the death -- and by implication Ned's life was the life -- which left the most indelible mark and cast the longest shadow over the entire series. To get back to my original point of the 'dueling dualism' we can find popping up in various manifestations throughout the text, the two colors -- the smoky grey and the blood red -- are presented as alive, aggressive and hungry, almost parasitizing each other. GRRM is being disingenuous when he says that they 'lap over each other without ever touching.' To suggest that the violent process which brought the two together (via ice, blood and fire) involved never touching each other is a wishful oversimplification at best, and an egregious denial at worst. While the two colors refuse to blend, they nevertheless lie adjacent to one another, interdigitating with one another, which implies touching. Moreover, they 'lap' at each other like hungry red and grey tongues threatening to devour one another, like flames of fire in the shards of ice. Tongues are exploratory organs for the senses of taste and touch, which would not be possible without touching against another. Again, using a predatory metaphor, the red is described as aggressively working its spells in an attempt to consume the grey, while the grey in turn is described as equally voracious 'drinking the sun.' About weirwood trees, we are told that the singers and seers in a semi-sacrificial gesture 'give themselves to the tree,' which absorbs them and all their collective memories, thereby consuming and preserving them at once. The crucible of cavernous darkness in which this dark and dazzling alchemical art takes place paradoxically teems with life and light (consider the number of 'light' images juxtaposed with the dark..e.g. 'milk' snakes, white roots, snow flakes, albino visage of Bloodraven, crescent moon, etc.). The darkness is a presence ironically presided over by a Valyrian (fire being), which like the Valyrian sword (being ice) could almost be said to be drinking the sun and bleaching all color from the world, as leeches leech blood -- leaving only the red of the blood against the backdrop of grey and white. By entering into the collective community of the tree via symbolic and literal communion, the seers derive the benefit of extending their once-mortal lives, which now enter into the boundlessness of eternity, collapsing the parameters of person, time and space: Quote A Dance with Dragons -- Bran III An oak may live three hundred years, a redwood tree three thousand. A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. To them seasons pass in the flutter of a moth's wing, and past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood. The singers carved eyes into their heart trees to awaken them, and those are the first eyes a new greenseer learns to use … but in time you will see well beyond the trees themselves." Thus, the weirwood tree combines dual aspects of both a 'tree of life' (eternal life) and a 'tree of knowledge' (boundless sight and reach)-- although in the Bible those were ostensibly separate trees in the Garden of Eden. In Hebrew, the tree of knowledge is sometimes translated as the 'tree of desire,' signifying the eternal, never-sated hunger accompanying the quest for knowledge. This neverending quest, or appetite, is a hunt -- which is none other than a bloodsport at base-- belying its superficially noble aspect (it's in this sense most of all that Sam is a 'Slayer'). The acquisition of the knowledge of good vs. evil is thus the profound dawning awareness of how, in our very inquisitiveness and acquisitiveness, we use one another in various ways to further ourselves, and the cost (compromise, loss or violence) that entails. Desire necessarily implies an absence, which seeks its own fulfilment, prompting a reaching-out for the other, a ravenous grasping (as roots reach deep and wide into the ground like telecommunication cables, or branches reach high into the sky like antennae, or seed is scattered far afield carrying their messages with the wind. 'Words are wind') As you point out, the acquisition of 'true' knowledge is bound to be difficult and painful: On 4/5/2016 at 1:52 PM, evita mgfs said: what Bran witnesses from outside the window of the gargoyle guarded tower: Bran’s vision, sent via the wizardry of the three-eyed crow deliberately after Cley and his knights jolt Bran’s waking memory, is evidence of incest, proof that the Queen and the Kingslayer are guilty as charged, but more importantly, the three-eyed crow imparts to Bran undeniable verification of the identity of the golden knight who causes Bran to fall. A greenseer must learn to see and to acknowledge what is true, no matter how painful the truth may be. Bran buries his most unpleasant memory deep in his subconscious, disguising it in darkness, choosing not to acknowledge to himself what he now knows for sure to be true. The 'window of the gargoyle guarded tower' evokes, as I mentioned before, the eyes as the gateway to the brain and the soul, and more generally the trope of secret, forbidden knowledge that is not meant for liberal consumption by all eyes (that liminal gateway of which you spoke in some of your other essays, at the threshhold of which the sphinx-like sentries hold their forbidding audiences) Those gatekeepers, or threshold guardians, themselves blur the line between friend vs. foe (a bit like that quintessential gargoylesque 'snarling' anti-hero in motley, Tyrion) always threatening implicitly to destroy the supplicant seeking knowledge, should one happen to give the 'wrong' answer to a question, or alternatively should one 'wrongfully' ask the 'right' question (e.g. Cersei and Maggy the Maege). With the image of the 'golden knight' we once again have the juxtapositioning of light with dark (a 'golden knight,' a false knight blinding with coy evasion and dark intent, or a 'golden night,' if one is inclined to pun...). We are reminded that Bran, 'daring' to climb too high, against the better instincts and admonitions of his wolf, his family, and perhaps even himself, nevertheless persisted in his pursuit, and gazed on the face of the forbidden (like Icarus or Lucifer flying too close to the sun or God respectively), initiating a fall from grace-- which in Bran's case, having been penned in GRRM's signature oxymoronic style, involved a fall out of and into grace-- a falling flight or flying fall. Quote A Dance with Dragons - Bran III The singers made Bran a throne of his own, like the one Lord Brynden sat, white weirwood flecked with red, dead branches woven through living roots. They placed it in the great cavern by the abyss, where the black air echoed to the sound of running water far below. Of soft grey moss they made his seat. Once he had been lowered into place, they covered him with warm furs. There he sat, listening to the hoarse whispers of his teacher. "Never fear the darkness, Bran." The lord's words were accompanied by a faint rustling of wood and leaf, a slight twisting of his head. "The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong." The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife. Snowflakes drifted down soundlessly to cloak the soldier pines and sentinels in white. The drifts grew so deep that they covered the entrance to the caves, leaving a white wall that Summer had to dig through whenever he went outside to join his pack and hunt. Bran did not oft range with them in those days, but some nights he watched them from above. In this passage again we have the juxtapositioning of the light with the dark -- perhaps evoking the essential duality of the tree of life/knowledge --...the 'white weirwood... the abyss.. the black air.. mother's milk [set in the text straight up against] the darkness...the crescent moon sharp [and shining] as the blade of a knife...the snowflakes [evoking light...which are said to] cloak [evoking darkness] the soldier pines and sentinels in white...the white wall [of the snow drifts further closing the cave in even greater darkness].' Quote A Game of Thrones - Bran V "Let's hunt down the hunters, then," Robb said. Side by side, they urged their mounts off the kingsroad and struck out into the wolfswood. Theon dropped back and followed well behind them, talking and joking with the guardsmen. It was nice under the trees. Bran kept Dancer to a walk, holding the reins lightly and looking all around him as they went. He knew this wood, but he had been so long confined to Winterfell that he felt as though he were seeing it for the first time. The smells filled his nostrils; the sharp fresh tang of pine needles, the earthy odor of wet rotting leaves, the hints of animal musk and distant cooking fires. He caught a glimpse of a black squirrel moving through the snow-covered branches of an oak, and paused to study the silvery web of an empress spider. Here again, the juxtaposition of light and dark, the inversion of hunter and hunted. Long before his greenseeing transitioning in the cave, Bran the quintessential sweet 'Summer child' (and 'Summer's child', being his wolf's child, having been nursed back to life from the darkness of his coma into the light of day by the irrepressible sun and steady heartbeat of his wolf's ferocious magnanimity) is already painted as a 'dark' creature here (another light-dark contrast), being likened implicitly (and explicitly elsewhere) to the 'black squirrel' against the 'snow-covered branches' -- he was explicitly compared by his father to a squirrel in another passage, when he was sent to the godswood at Winterfell to atone for his 'sins' (the sin of over-reaching or climbing) in overnight spiritual contemplation, and ended up climbing the highest tree in the grove instead, much to his father's generous amusement! For all the criticism directed at Ned, I love this characteristic of Ned the father, as demonstrated here, namely his capacity to accept each of his children for whom s/he really is, even if it doesn't accord with his own wishes for them as reflections of his own ego. So, he says to Bran 'if you must climb, then climb' and to Arya, paraphrased 'if you must fight, then learn to fight well.' As I imagine he might have probably said to Lyanna, 'if you must love, then love -- even if it destroys you, and me.' The image of the silvery web of an empress spider which Bran pauses to study is a curious one, conjuring up the enigmatic figure of Varys as it does, incongruously in the midst of the Winterfell godswood (neither the north nor nature would seem at first glance to be associated with Varys, a cynical southron cosmopolitan 'city-slicker'), raising the question of how the relationship between these two as yet unrelated protagonists will play out in the final denouement... The spider allusion to The Spider (or Spy-der!) is obvious, 'silvery' might evoke Targaryen hair associations, 'study' Varys's intellectual and 'intelligence' (in both senses of the word) inclinations, and 'empress' connotes both the eunuch's deceptively campy, effeminate, 'diva' style of holding sway in his sumptuous silks, samites and damasks; as well as his stealthy yet unflinching, ironhold grip in the center of the power relations and secrets of the Red Keep (not by chance one of his alter egos is a turnkey who holds the key to the secret recesses of the shadowy underworld of the dungeons, while his other proxies are euphemistically named 'little birds,' a cruel name since they can no longer sing, who nevertheless provide him with dominion over the more nebulous realm of the intimations and whispers coming to him through the 'air'). Strangely enough, Bran has some similarities to Varys. Like Varys, Bran has had something brutally taken from him (for Varys his genitals, Bran his legs) -- representing major physical sources of power and agency, procreation and locomotion respectively -- the loss of which was associated with a degree of dubious blood magic and dabbling in sorcery initiating each into a new cerebral power dimension, the price for which having been the loss suffered and a certain societal alienation or ostracization. Paradoxically, this liminal repositioning at the fringes of society (eunuch and cripple falling under the rubric of cripples, bastards and broken things) has enabled each to assume a central role in that society. Like Varys, Bran is associated with the dual domains of the underworld and the air (the dark and the light). In terms of 'underworld': Bran has literally and figuratively gone underground, officially considered dead by many including his own family; he's associated with the Winterfell crypts and the dead Lords of Winterfell and Kings of Winter, many of whom are likewise named Brandon; he's likely undergoing another sort of death/incubation/rebirth attached to the weirwood roots, etc. In terms of 'air': he's the 'winged' wolf, the boy in freefall, the broken tower; there's his affinity with ravens, attunement to the airwaves of knowledge, space and time, and directly associated with the wind and the fog and other atmospheric elements, etc. Most intriguingly -- this arresting similarity has just occurred to me -- both Lord Varys and Lord Bran are masters of the 'game,' the ultimate game being the knowledge game, although admittedly Bran is at present a 'little lord' and master in training. Each in his own way sits in the center of whichever domain he takes his seat. Like Varys -- Mr everwhere and everything up in everyone's business -- sitting like a spider in the center of the web, similarly Bran perches in the center of Winterfell which is likened to a weirwood tree or stone labyrinth (which radiates out around him like a spider's web). Unobserved himself, he quietly watches everyone from a privileged vantage point, not unlike a spy! Like a spider too, light-footed Bran clambers up walls no-one else dares to breach, and enters windows from the outside...Not to excuse Jaime's subsequent actions, but Jaime is not far off the mark when he questions Bran's innocence and accuses him of spying, after he catches Bran in the act of catching him and Cersei in the act! Bran takes obvious pleasure in being omnipresent and omniscient, for which he pays a price -- all of which presages his later destiny in the weirwood tree. Knowledge is power. And, with great power comes great responsibility, given that the acquisition of knowledge/power inevitably opens up tempting opportunities for going beyond witnessing, to influencing, intervening, and interfering in that which is witnessed. One might even argue that seeing is never a passive process, and that every gaze meddles or muddles to a certain extent (both the philosophers and the scientists are in consensus here). Varys unashamedly meddles and muddies in the affairs of others, causing harm more often than not. Thus far, Bran, in contrast, has mostly used his powers of influence for 'good' (e.g. his gentle touch with Jon and Theon in their extremity). However, the possibility remains that as Bran's power grows in force that he may 'go too far' or be corrupted in some way by his gift, or by others wishing to profit off his gift, particularly with the dubious mentor at the helm of the time- and space- ship, together with a cadre of possibly sinister singers pulling their own levers to their own ends. Many of the points I've touched on are developed in the passage below. Reading it again I was struck by the similarity of the description of Winterfell to the Red Keep, in its sprawling architecture, full of secret tunnels and passageways, dead-ends, sneaky entryways and exits, nooks and crannies seemingly tailormade for eavesdropping, populated by crows and gargoyles, little birds, rats, and spiders whom Bran seems to 'read' as well...Bran senses he is privy to the workings of the architect's mind, the 'codebreaker' so to speak to his ancestor's 'codemaker' -- knowledge not even Maester Luwin understands (naturally, being one of the Citadel's magic-skeptics, though well-meaning, he would not be able to discern the patterns of magic in the walls of Winterfell). Again, Varys and Bran can be viewed as foils for one another. Just as no-one negotiates the Red Keep better than Varys, no-one navigates Winterfell better than Bran. Perhaps this is because no-one but a dragon can know the secrets of the Red Keep, and only the descendant of Bran the Builder, a Lord Brandon himself, can truly know the heart of Winterfell. Quote A Game of Thrones - Bran II To a boy, Winterfell was a grey stone labyrinth of walls and towers and courtyards and tunnels spreading out in all directions. In the older parts of the castle, the halls slanted up and down so that you couldn't even be sure what floor you were on. The place had grown over the centuries like some monstrous stone tree, Maester Luwin told him once, and its branches were gnarled and thick and twisted, its roots sunk deep into the earth. When he got out from under it and scrambled up near the sky, Bran could see all of Winterfell in a glance. He liked the way it looked, spread out beneath him, only birds wheeling over his head while all the life of the castle went on below. Bran could perch for hours among the shapeless, rain-worn gargoyles that brooded over the First Keep, watching it all: the men drilling with wood and steel in the yard, the cooks tending their vegetables in the glass garden, restless dogs running back and forth in the kennels, the silence of the godswood, the girls gossiping beside the washing well. It made him feel like he was lord of the castle, in a way even Robb would never know. It taught him Winterfell's secrets too. The builders had not even leveled the earth; there were hills and valleys behind the walls of Winterfell. There was a covered bridge that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower across to the second floor of the rookery. Bran knew about that. And he knew you could get inside the inner wall by the south gate, climb three floors and run all the way around Winterfell through a narrow tunnel in the stone, and then come out on ground level at the north gate, with a hundred feet of wall looming over you. Even Maester Luwin didn't know that, Bran was convinced. He liked how it felt too, pulling himself up a wall stone by stone, fingers and toes digging hard into the small crevices between. He always took off his boots and went barefoot when he climbed; it made him feel as if he had four hands instead of two. He liked the deep, sweet ache it left in the muscles afterward. He liked the way the air tasted way up high, sweet and cold as a winter peach. He liked the birds: the crows in the broken tower, the tiny little sparrows that nested in cracks between the stones, the ancient owl that slept in the dusty loft above the old armory. Bran knew them all. Most of all, he liked going places that no one else could go, and seeing the grey sprawl of Winterfell in a way that no one else ever saw it. It made the whole castle Bran's secret place. His favorite haunt was the broken tower. Once it had been a watchtower, the tallest in Winterfell. A long time ago, a hundred years before even his father had been born, a lightning strike had set it afire. The top third of the structure had collapsed inward, and the tower had never been rebuilt. Sometimes his father sent ratters into the base of the tower, to clean out the nests they always found among the jumble of fallen stones and charred and rotten beams. But no one ever got up to the jagged top of the structure now except for Bran and the crows. He knew two ways to get there. You could climb straight up the side of the tower itself, but the stones were loose, the mortar that held them together long gone to ash, and Bran never liked to put his full weight on them. The best way was to start from the godswood, shinny up the tall sentinel, and cross over the armory and the guards hall, leaping roof to roof, barefoot so the guards wouldn't hear you overhead. That brought you up to the blind side of the First Keep, the oldest part of the castle, a squat round fortress that was taller than it looked. Only rats and spiders lived there now but the old stones still made for good climbing. You could go straight up to where the gargoyles leaned out blindly over empty space, and swing from gargoyle to gargoyle, hand over hand, around to the north side. From there, if you really stretched, you could reach out and pull yourself over to the broken tower where it leaned close. The last part was the scramble up the blackened stones to the eyrie, no more than ten feet, and then the crows would come round to see if you'd brought any corn. Bran was moving from gargoyle to gargoyle with the ease of long practice when he heard the voices. He was so startled he almost lost his grip. The First Keep had been empty all his life. ... ... They were talking about Father, Bran realized. He wanted to hear more. A few more feet . . . but they would see him if he swung out in front of the window. "We will have to watch him carefully," the woman said. "I would sooner watch you," the man said [LOTS OF TALK HERE ABOUT SEEING AND WATCHING AND BEING BLIND, WHICH MIRRORS BRAN] ... ... Bran studied the ledge. He could drop down. It was too narrow to land on, but if he could catch hold as he fell past, pull himself up . . . except that might make a noise, draw them to the window. He was not sure what he was hearing, but he knew it was not meant for his ears. "You are as blind as Robert," the woman was saying. "If you mean I see the same thing, yes," the man said. "I see a man who would sooner die than betray his king." ... ... Bran was suddenly very frightened. He wanted nothing so much as to go back the way he had come, to find his brothers. Only what would he tell them? He had to get closer, Bran realized. He had to see who was talking. . From AGOT -- Bran III Bran looked down, and felt his insides turn to water. The ground was rushing up at him now. The whole world was spread out below him, a tapestry of white and brown and green. He could see everything so clearly that for a moment he forgot to be afraid. He could see the whole realm, and everyone in it. He saw Winterfell as the eagles see it, the tall towers looking squat and stubby from above, the castle walls just lines in the dirt. He saw Maester Luwin on his balcony, studying the sky through a polished bronze tube and frowning as he made notes in a book. He saw his brother Robb, taller and stronger than he remembered him, practicing swordplay in the yard with real steel in his hand. He saw Hodor, the simple giant from the stables, carrying an anvil to Mikken's forge, hefting it onto his shoulder as easily as another man might heft a bale of hay. At the heart of the godswood, the great white weirwood brooded over its reflection in the black pool, its leaves rustling in a chill wind. When it felt Bran watching, it lifted its eyes from the still waters and stared back at him knowingly. He looked east, and saw a galley racing across the waters of the Bite. He saw his mother sitting alone in a cabin, looking at a bloodstained knife on a table in front of her, as the rowers pulled at their oars and Ser Rodrik leaned across a rail, shaking and heaving. A storm was gathering ahead of them, a vast dark roaring lashed by lightning, but somehow they could not see it. He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood. He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise. Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks. On 8/14/2015 at 4:53 PM, Tijgy said: Bloodraven & Satan I think you can indeed say that Bloodraven has a lot of similarities with “Satan”. When people wanted to illustrate Satan, they use mostly the colors “Red” and “Black”. BR typically wore the colors of “blood and smoke”: blood of course refers to red and smoke refers to “a dark grey that was mottled and streaked with black”. Satan is also associated with the abilty to pursuade people or is at least associated in many folklore, literature, movies, … with temptation. This part of your analysis make me remember an old Dutch poem we had to read during my high school years: Beatrijs. The English (and also the Dutch) Wikipedia does actually not mention that it was the devil who tempted Beatrijs with some young man. Because she wanted to leave with this young man she left the convent, lived with him, got children, lived a life full of sins, ... I think how Bloodraven appears in Bran’s dreams does actually indeed resemble somewhat how Satan tries to persuade, tempts his victims, … He enters Bran’s dreams, tries to persuade him to go north. He also enters Jojen’s dreams, … I also looked if the third-eye has a connection with Satan in old folklore, myths, … It looks however it mostly originates from Eastern legends in which the third-eye is connected to mediation, out-of-body experiences (LOL; skinchanging is a sort of out-body experience, no?), … However in the more useful sites, I never see the third-eye connected with Satan (There are however sites which say opening your third eye is also opening your way to demons, … But let’s just say those site were really weird) But to conclude, I really loved how you, BearQueen, connected Bloodraven with Satan. But I also agree with you that Bloodraven is not literally the devil. The literal connection between Bloodraven and Satan is actually strengthened by the atmosphere in the caves: the bones lying on the ground, how Bloodraven refers to darkness, … So all those descriptions give you a very creepy feeling and make you feel that something dangerous is going to happen to our heroes (=Bran, Jojen, Meera and Hodor). When people want to prove the Jojenpaste theory, IRCC they also use that atmosphere to prove something ominous is going to happen. I have however some few remarks about this: 1. Bloodraven’s skin was sensitive to light. So, to him darkness is actually safer to him than living in the (sun)light. So his preference for darkness is actually in that way not very strange and kind of realistic. 2. Darkness can have many meanings. It just can be the absent of light in the literal meaning. It can also have some metaphorical meanings. 4. Like MoIaF already did, I think we must indeed ask ourself if the entire ominous atmosphere is a warning of the author that we need to pay attention, that maybe something dangerous is going to happen to our heroes… Or is GRRM just playing with us?; with the fact that we are normally connect things in the darkness with evil, bad things… One of the things GRRM wanted to accomplish with ASoIaF is teaching his readers that nothing is entirely white of black. So is he here maybe actually trying to say the fact BR and the CotF are living in the darkness, in a place were “light entered as a trespasser, unwanted and unwelcome", does not automatically mean they are evil? My own remarks Origin of the powers of skinchangers, greenseers, ... Here Bloodraven tells us that the magical abilities of a greenseer has some physical consequences. While they are magical, their bodies are actually much weaker. Is it just coincidence that the people who are granted very powerful abilities by the old gods are at the same time physical more limited than other people? Is it some sort of "price"/sacrifice they had to pay to have those powers? A few notes. If you're interested in reading more, I've developed some of these thoughts above. On Bloodraven as Satan: Bloodraven, like Varys, sits like a pallid, yet fiery serpent in the center of the tree (of knowledge/desire and/or life) in the middle of the 'garden' (the realm). Remember, dragons are serpents with wings (Bran is the winged wolf; Bloodraven is the winged serpent). From a certain point of view, Satan is a serpent with wings too, being a fallen angel, condemned to being trodden underfoot for his cardinal sin of overreaching (in his enthusiastic hubris, he flew too close to God and crashed (like Bran and Icarus) to earth..) A point of interest, 'Lucifer' means 'lightbringer' in Latin, a not insignificant little fact which I'm sure has not escaped GRRM! And 'Hell' is full of 'fire and brimstone' roiling in the deep...So, you see 'light and 'fire' is not always necessarily 'good,' and 'enlightenment' running amok and unchecked is not necessarily beneficial. By this paradoxical anti-logic, perhaps the same can be said for 'ice' and 'darkness' -- it's not all 'bad'... On the third eye opening a way for 'demons': I will discuss this figuratively. This ties in with the duality I've discussed above at length, that knowledge is power, and power comes at a price, hence the saying that with great power comes great responsibility. One should be careful with what and whom one 'channels,' in so many ways. You noted that those gifted with the powers of warging, greenseeing, etc. are often marked by vulnerability in some way. Analogous to the famous/notorious Targaryen coin-flip of the gods, whereby greatness and madness are not separate entities but rather two sides of the same coin, implying that these diverse manifestations are related to one another at the root source (and may even co-exist in the same person), one might wonder whether a similar duality is at work here. One difference between the GOT show and the books is that Jojen is presented on screen as being afflicted with epilepsy, which serves as a vehicle via which he receives his visions, despite simultaneously weakening him. It's interesting in this respect that a pre-scientific explanation for the phenomenon of epilepsy was that the person was possessed by demons or evil spirits, etc. What we would today understand as 'hallucinations' an artifact of a mal-firing brain was previously construed as 'visions' or 'prophecies' and endowed with portentous meaning beyond the physical. What's more, these people thus afflicted with various marks, disfigurements, and ailments were often singled out in primitive societies so that they could assume the important role within the clan of shaman/religious healer, etc. (the trope of the blind seer, etc.) Hey @evita mgfsI and @Wizz-The-Smith! If you haven't already, it's worth checking out @TheSeason excellent and astutely calibrated analyses -- she has not posted many posts quantitatively, in terms of number, but qualitatively they all stand out -- in which many of these themes and more are discussed. Although this is not developed at length here, she also has something to say of relevance to Bran's growing powers... On 3/26/2016 at 4:28 PM, TheSeason said: I'd also be interested to see if we ever get a definitive answer as to whether or not some of the prophecies we've read thus far are linking back to a core prophecy, thought, or event to come (I think so, but I also think it's possible it'll never be made clear in the text either way, because Martin has a tendency to leave many of his prophecies open-ended or hanging--which can be a good thing, in itself, as well, letting the reader puzzle out the various ways it might be interpreted). I agree about the Weirwood and Ebony trees. As far as I've read them, they're... semi-inverse? It's difficult to put them on a binary scale, because I read them as the Tree of Knowledge (Weirwood) and the Tree of Life (Ebony) from the Garden of Eden(os). Weirwood Paste (I imagine it has some other, more flowery name... Mist/Light of the Morning, maybe?) and Shade-of-the-Evening work in similar ways, to "dissolve the caul" from one's (third) eye, granting visions. Weirwood Paste has "red veins" running through, and may well contain actual veins of a human sacrifice. SotE, on the other hand, is a strange (indigo) blue liquid... much like the "beating human heart, blue with corruption" that Dany sees later in the final chamber; instead of the vein, the (blue) blood itself? Their effects are similar as far as we know, starting foul and ending seeming-fair, as both Bran and Dany describe their experiences. However, I do wonder if, aside from this superficial similarity, there is a divergent property we've yet to be made aware of, in keeping with the themes of "knowledge not meant for man" (weirwood) and "(immortal/extended) life not meant for man" (ebony) that may factor into their storylines later (or may have already done, with the reader overlooking it) as we come to understand more of its unique qualities. Either way, they are the "drink from the cup of ice... drink from the cup of fire" that the Undying Ones spoke of, in their "human" form. Both forbidden trees tie neatly into the theme of the blinding of the God's Eye, with practitioners reaching for godhead at the expense of the deity itself. On 3/30/2016 at 4:03 AM, TheSeason said: I find it interesting that the colors are inverse of our initial understanding of their associations (weirwood, ebony; ice, fire). That is... Red, being associated with fire and blood magic, is also the color of the weirwood tree, the "tree of knowledge." The weirwood trees then consume--and yet also retain that which they consume (knowledge)--as "fire consumes!" On the other hand, there's blue, being associated with ice and cold/mist magic, the color of the ebony tree, the "tree of life." The ebony trees then preserve--and yet do not appear to maintain that which they preserve (life), thus the rotting aspect of the wights and the Undying Ones!--as "cold preserves!" ETA: The ironwood trees (described as "burning blue" and longer than usual, and which may be a good deterrent to wights) may actually be ebony trees. The Yronwoods, then, may maintain a special grove of them, in the south, as a weapon to fight the Others and their "demons" during the Long Night, which explains the significance of the Yronwood family, enhanced by their words, "We Guard the Way." [The map and the Great and Lesser Houses, their keeps, and their words together all make a curious statement; I've been trying to puzzle it out for a while now. Certainly, it appears the Great Houses have some connection to the "twelve companions" who fought the War for the Dawn with the Last Hero. First, then, I suppose, it important to parse out the oldest houses, possibly with foundings lost to legend: Stark--Winterfell, Dayne--Starfall; High Hermitage, Durrandon (during, enduring(?) Brandon)--Storm's End, Gardener -- High Garden, Casterly(?) -- Casterly Rock?, Hightower(?)--Hightower... as well as some other curious cases, like Arryn (Air in) -- the Eyrie (the (god's) eye with its moon door where people are customarily forcibly plummeted to the earth to die!); Blackwoods -- Raventree; Yronwood -- Yronwood Castle, guarding the Boneway, called Warden of the Stone Way and Master of the Green; the Royces -- Runestone (arms black iron on bronze engraven with runes!) and Gates of the Moon....] Although I too like the idea of Bran being associated with ice and cold/mist... I'm so far wary of that urge to slide him into that slot. We've seen Bran associated with two(?) kinds of magic primarily: green magic and "raven/crow" magic. He's a greenseer and a skinchanger, one to be enthroned upon a weirwood (presumably), and not only uses the weirwood to see and learn, but also reaches through the weirwoods to those he wishes to bless (Jon Snow, primarily, with Theon coming up second; this is only in narrative, however; in the backstory, we may be seeing a lot more of Bran's interaction/interference than we realize--such as the Knight of the Laughing Tree incident). Furthermore, it is likely that Bran reaches back into both his own (present, in narrative) and Jon Snow's dreams from some point in the future (Jon's wolf dream in which weirwood!Bran opens his third eye for him, gently, much unlike the way the Three-Eyed Crow opened his own third eye, an endless dreaming horror, pecking his skull and brain, "fly or die!" and Jaime "the things I do for love" Lannister shrugging away the suffering inflicted on him when he threw him from the tower to die!) This power to reach through the weirwoods and into dreams may be either green magic or something else, since it appears to be a power that Bloodraven lacks despite many attempts to do so, and some of Bran's dreams (perhaps even including the Three-Eyed Crow aspect of it?) may be drawing on another source of magic entirely (difficult to tell at this point), which is why I separated them (green magic and "raven/crow" magic) out despite my uncertainty on the matter. So far, however, we have not really seen Bran associated with the things we know to be "icy" magic--like the wights or the Others--and agents of "icy" magic appear to be hunting him, regarding him as a threat. Despite his alignment with "Winterfell" and "Winter is Coming" and "Kings of Winter," etc., we have not seen Bran as clearly aligned with Ice and Cold magic as we have seen Daenerys aligned with Fire and Blood magic, so I'm still wavering on that one. So could I! Lol. So far, this is all mostly speculation. We need more information, desperately! ... ... Ah, well, Martin never promised it would be easy! I'm not entirely certain Bloodraven can be trusted, either! After the Varamyr prologue to Dance, rethinking the Bran arc makes me queasy. It's the education of an abomination! Worse still, they're (Bloodraven, Coldhands) deliberately lying about what they're encouraging Bran to do. Worst of all, it appears Jojen was a sacrifice to marry Bran to the weirwood, and Meera was the deciding factor in when Bran was considered "ready" as it appears Bran skinchanged into her momentarily, just as when he "reached" for Hodor. Just as well, I do believe either Bran or Bloodraven deliberately traumatized Hodor as a child (when he went into the crypts) specifically for the purpose that Bran could use him as a skinchanging slave! It just gets creepier and creepier, really, but Bran is living his own horror story, so we should only expect it to get worse. 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evita mgfs Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 ATTENTION: FATTEST LEECH, DARK SISTER, TIJGY, RAVENOUS READER, LOST MELNIBONEAN , LONGRIDER, WIZZ-THE-SMITH, & ANY OTHERS I MISSED: I apologize for getting maudlin over the cannibalism and death theme and succumbing to a crying jag! I truly respect everyone’s viewpoints, so when several you made valid arguments for Jojen paste, I had to acknowledge the possibility that Martin may indeed explore such a grim, unappetizing avenue. It’s easier to ignore cavalier posters and trolls on threads where Jojen Paste is discussed, albeit jokingly, in most cases; however, when reasonable scholars [such as all of you fine people] whose work I admire make convincing, rational contentions, I cannot very well dismiss the sad possibility. Moreover, I made the mistake of seeking further information on Jojen Paste, and I happened upon a writer whose name has surfaced many times on my “Bran’s Growing Powers” thread. Cantuse’s essay “Abomination in Training: The Indoctrination of a Greenseer” is an enlightening read that is well-written and supported with textual evidences. Consequently, it is my duty to share with everyone this tasty, meaty, and delectable analysis: [https://cantuse.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/abomination-in-training-the-indoctrination-of-a-greenseer/]. On a more positive note, and despite Martin’s dark characters and their potential dark paths, I can feel hopeful because of the many kind and caring people I have met here. Everyone’s thoughtful and understanding personal messages, and words of encouragement here in “The Winged Wolf” thread, reminded me of the generosity in human nature – and of the many, many friendships I have made as a result of Martin’s novels, the Forum, and the HBO show. All the good does indeed outweigh the bad, and I can tolerate the evil in fantasy novels [although I may need to tell myself occasionally that they are works of fiction!]. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you! I sure feel embarrassed for letting my emotions get the best of me. I hope to get caught up with the thread over the weekend. But my Game of Thrones coloring book finally arrived, so the prospect of getting artistic is tempting – and coloring is supposed to be therapeutic and relaxing as well. A Stanza from a Song Reworded for My Friends Here: Inspired by “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” from Evita Don't cry for me “Winged Wolf” PostersThe truth is I’ll never leave you Despite my bad days My sad existence I’ll keep my promise With your assistance { I always wanted to do that!] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evita mgfs Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 On 4/7/2016 at 7:18 AM, ravenous reader said: @evita mgfsYou should follow your heart -- do what your inner direwolf would tell you -- but I hope you won't leave. You provide so much sense in an often senseless debate! And the connections you make are inspired and inspiring. I think there is hope, love, faith, and transcendence -- it's just intermingled with a lot of sadness, suffering, false starts, loose ends, 'wild-goose chases' and perversion (taken in its original etymological sense of 'wrong-turning' as well as its darker sense of 'corruption'). The notion of 'cannibalism' can be seen symbolically too (as it is in the Catholic mass of Communion) instead of taken literally -- as a trope towards understanding how we are all interconnected and interdependent, sometimes delightfully and sometimes painfully so. No man nor woman is an island. That's the duality that GRRM is writing and referring to. As an addendum, philosophically I disagree with @Lost Melnibonean in that I don't think Jojen being 'resigned to his fate' serves as a sufficient disqualifier of the incumbent laws of hospitality. They are not 'let off the hook,' so to speak, just because he doesn't resist vigorously enough or run away. What kind of morality is that? That reminds me of this horrible debate on the GOT show side, where some people would argue that Sansa wasn't 'really' raped by Ramsay, because she agreed to be married to him, which involved tacit 'acceptance' of what was 'expected' of her in terms of consummating the marriage in medieval terms, and therefore didn't say 'no' 'loudly enough' so to speak, when confronted by his brutality. That's a ridiculous and dangerous line of argument, one which I will never fail to speak out against -- no matter how much it irritates certain people who claim to be 'aesthetic purists', and regardless of the 'rules' or 'decorum' of a certain forum. I also agree with you that it would constitute a serious violation of trust, akin to the 'Frey pies', were they to have killed Jojen on Bran's 'behalf' and served his friend to him essentially without his knowledge and against his will. That is simply psychopathic -- something someone like Littlefinger would do-- which if true raises serious questions about the potentially nefarious motivation of Bloodraven and the singers. At the same time, I also have to admit there are a lot of psychopaths in GRRM's universe-- he seems fascinated by them, and often seems to celebrate their 'triumphs' at the expense of others with a little too much relish for comfort. In contrast, Jon Snow is one of the few-and-far-between really kind people. I'm not sure this portrayal is a true reflection of life. Psychopaths constitute at most 4% of the population, so GRRM is presenting us a skewed image of the degree of depravity. Exactly. Fascinating how in attempting to deconstruct/subvert/undermine/etc. ancient mythological archetypes, GRRM ends up affirming many of them! It's as if they had irresistibly welled up in his sub-consciousness, breaking through into the words on the page, insisting, against all his 'perverse' instincts to the contrary, on their eternal right to exist. Regarding the trans-substantiation, 'Satanic' and shamanic figurative elements, consider the allusion to the archetypal figure of 'the tree of life and/or knowledge' -- an element which recurs across cultures, time and space (check out the entry 'tree of life' on wikipedia for an eye-opening introductory journey covering the comparative mythology of how this figure inevitably recapitulates throughout history; it's too long to post here). We even find this tree motif reconfigured in places as diverse as the center of our modern-day Christmas hearth -- the 'Christmas tree' symbolizing sacrifice and rebirth -- as well as in the center of our 'little-' brains (the cerebellum) as the 'arbor vitae,' a particularly beautiful configuration to early neuroscientists who first observed the intricate delicate branching of the 'white' interdigitating with the 'grey' matter (strangely enough, the Stark colors...so next time you say you have the Starks on your mind, you do, literally and figuratively!) Charles Darwin, in articulating his theory of the familial relationships of all living things to each other, talked of a tree of life, a 'phylogeny', inseparable from a tree of knowledge -- which fundamentally uprooted our notions of who we are forever. Of course, we also find this archetypal tree -- The Tree -- in the Bible as the tree in the center of the garden around which 'the snake' coiled itself seductively and spoke the words, the 'sweet nothings' promising everything, inviting a perilous enlightenment. From one point of view, the 'snake' is analogous to the two en-twined 'Brans' -- Brandon (Stark) and Brynden (Rivers) -- who being intertwined with one another are also intertwined with the dark, vital pulsating 'underworld' of weirwood roots 'snaking' their way through flesh, time, and distance alike: 'A tree can't hurt you'...of course this is eminently debatable! Even in the passage above, the tree is not depicted as benign. On the contrary, the roots 'hit his head,' and they are compared to sharp 'poking' 'stone teeth' and hungry, penetrating 'grave worms' or an aggressive 'nest' (like a labyrinth or trap) of 'milk snakes.' For me, the latter conjures up the image of Cleopatra's death, as envisioned by Shakespeare, committing suicide by allowing her asps to latch onto her breasts in a deadly inversion of love and nurturance (the white of her skin and the milk, contrasting with the red of her blood, just as the red-white weir/albino imagery recurs throughout GRRM's text). Milk snakes, 'extra-universe,' are banded red-and-black snakes (appropriate, considering Bloodraven's origins and heraldic designations) which while not poisonous themselves mimic a venomous snake variety in appearance, as a form of defense in the wild. Far from reassuring, this 'mimicry' aspect is mildly unsettling, to say the least (we've revisited this elusive shimmering play of (dis)guises at length on the 'Bran's growing powers...' thread). So, while there may be an element of mimicry in play (on the surface, Bloodraven as bastard mimicking Targ...black-on-red or red-on-black, it's all the same to a snake, or a dragon...), it's difficult to tell the malevolent from the benevolent forces at work here (Bloodraven masquerading as kindly sage, but actually two-timing serpent? It's difficult to differentiate his intentions at this point, but they are shadowy, so 'ulterior' motives cannot be ruled out!) . GRRM's imagery serves to reinforce this underlying menace with his repetitive 'teeth' imagery (echoing Bloodraven's 'Raven's Teeth' with their poisonous arrows), the upper and lower rows of 'teeth' projecting into the 'cavern' evoking a devouring mouth (again, white against red imagery respectively), threatening to engulf Bran (similar to our discussion of the guillotine-like portcullis at the twins evoking gruesome steel jaws, presaging 'the bloody feast' of the Red Wedding, into which Rob fatefully entered, ignoring Grey Wind's protestation, for the last leg of his final disillusion and dissolution.) in this vein, mirroring the figurative, the biological process of consumption starting with mastication, followed by the acid and enzymatic degradation of digestion, nutrient absorption and energy consolidation, and ending with excretion of waste products, is in essence a process of having ones selfhood bolstered by another's dissolution. Regarding eating and being eaten, it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. We are informed that Lord B 'draws his life from the tree' and has no need to eat nor drink (eerily like Mel, who could be his daughter..?!), yet from the description it would seem to be the other way around -- i.e., that the tree is eating him! Bloodraven is described as a 'half-corpse half-tree...skeletal...rotted...dessicated...corpse lord...dead man...[with] fraying...withered flesh...[and] yellow bone poking through...a pale ruin...save for a bloody blotch..,' overcome by worms and fungi, with the tree snaking through him, almost as if it were extracting the very life from him, sucking him dry. It would seem, despite his overweening power, Lord Brynden, to all appearances a shrunken, depleted figure, has paid a steep price for those selfsame powers. Supposedly the formidable 'blood raven,' he seems very un-ravenly, in that he is the one who has been ravished/ravened by the tree and not vice versa. Paradoxically, though, rather than killing him, by this process of grotesque mummification he is being preserved over the centuries. The bi-directionality of the flow of energy between Bloodraven (an emblem of 'fire,' being a dragon...'one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire') and the tree (an emblem of 'ice') is an example (of which there are many) of how GRRM deconstructs the 'fire consumes -- cold preserves' dichotomy he himself initially presented. Who is preserving whom; who consuming whom..? Bloodraven's life is being preserved at the expense of its own consumption by the tree. Thus, Bloodraven both consumes and is being consumed by the tree; likewise, the tree both preserves and is being preserved by Bloodraven. Assuming the tree is a symbol of 'ice,' this means that ice preserves by consuming fire! Conversely, fire preserves by consuming ice... The weirwood system of relations is a kind of mutual parasitism. It's almost creepy how the tree seems to feed off Bran/Bloodraven, just as much as they reciprocally feed off it. From this perspective, @evita mgfs, @Wizz-The-Smith and I have been discussing the Catholic ritual of communion, and exploring the various permutations thereof as it plays out in the text (it's fascinating to hear that GRRM is a Catholic or lapsed Catholic, of which I previously had no idea! Nevertheless, these ritual motifs permeate his work so vividly to be immediately recognizable). In this context, let's take for example the word 'host' -- at once communion wafer/bread, weirwood seed (or alternatively 'Jojen'-) paste, Summer or Hodor serving as animal and human warg host respectively, Lord of the Tree (Lord Brynden) or Winterfell (Lord Brandon), or The Lord of All (Lord Jesus Christ) -- 'Lord of the Flies' and its uncomfortable themes of human sacrifice are also naturally invoked (writers feed off each other in a kind of weirwood economy too!) So, there's the dual association with 'host vs. guest' as well as the more uncomfortable, though undeniable connotation of 'host vs. parasite.' Typically, GRRM deconstructs these dichotomies as well (as he does with 'ice' vs. 'fire' and the like). Consider for example the figure of the 'raven' in which we may identify an intersection of all these roles. Accordingly, the raven -- usually considered a feared predator and scavenger who grips and rips the bodies of others with its sharp beak and talons -- nevertheless serves as host to a warg who takes hold of its body in turn for his own use (Bloodraven, the 'three-eyed' raven who is a combination of the bird's own two eyes plus one for Brynden Rivers!). Continuing this analogy further, the raven is visibly a guest in many castles, where it is housed and fed (i.e. it is the one hosted!) in rookeries, and tended to conscientiously by maesters as if it were a revered guest (it's also one of the fowl species on the premises not slaughtered for food; you could say the ravens are afforded 'guest right'!). In spite of its penchant for flying in unannounced (ravens can only announce themselves, being the ones who usually herald the arrival of others), nonetheless it is a guest who can never be turned away, if not always welcome with their 'dark wings, dark words...' Moreover, in the raven's capacity as the purveyor literally and figuratively of language, bearing message scrolls back and forth and being of the few bird species able to make the leap to uttering human words in human languages -- the raven can also be characterised as the host of language, its own and those of others. Thus, it can be harnessed for 'good' or 'evil' -- the duality of 'the word' itself. Let's not forget, as Tywin that glib general reminds, sometimes wars are won by proxy 'with quills and ravens'..! Given that the raven as a predator or scavenger ('raven' as a verb derives etymologically from the root meaning to 'ravish,' 'pillage', 'rape', 'take as spoils,' etc.) is a kind of parasite or pirate of the skies feeding off the meat of others, I was almost about to say that the raven, like the Ironborn, 'does not sow', however, this wouldn't be strictly true... When the raven used its beak to get into Bran's brain (taken literally, 'it is known' ravens love eating the soft tissues of the eyes and brain preferentially, the eye sockets acting like windows in the otherwise unyielding fortress of the skull, providing easy access for them to the providence within; biologically, the eyes are an outgrowth of brain tissue; poetically put, 'the eyes are the window to the soul') and gouge out his 'third-eye,' in a sense the raven was 'sowing' a seed (of knowledge, enlightenment, transcendence, etc.). Thus, the raven effectively used its sharp beak as a needle or hoe, preparing the path for the seed in the fertile ground of Bran's brain -- now serving as host -- in order to awaken the 'sapling's' latent capacities, and encourage growth. (for more on the 'sewing - sowing' puns, please see @Seams delightfully whimsical pieces on the topic. Like the raven, a weirwood tree comprises a duality -- of host and parasite, host and guest, ice and fire. The duality combines aspects of both duelling 'opposites' in one. Both-in-one: this -- in a nutshell -- is GRRM's oxymoronic mantra: 'One-but-overwrinkled': the same mantra otherwise expressed. Compare the following, in which Ice has been reforged (by fire) to give the same 'one but over wrinkled' effect literally and figuratively. Interestingly, the sword is presented as an ancient overwrinkled (rippled, folded), wartorn landscape of 'waves of night and blood upon some steely shore,' as well as anthropomorphically as an old, wrinkled, 'stubborn' person with a mind, will, and most importantly memory of its own: Of course this is a description of Tyrion admiring Oathkeeper, the 'joke' (meta-wise) at the end of the passage being that even in its 'new' unity, not only have the two colors refused to blend into one, but also the fact that the sword is actually one of two, which were formerly one, hence not really a unity in itself. (Am I making sense?!...Once one (pardon the pun!) starts entering these paradoxes, it gets a little tricky...) Thus, one cannot really ever have one without the other. Implicit in 'Oathkeeper' is always its shadow-sword 'Widow's Wail,' thus reminding us that we can never have the highmindedness of 'oathkeeping' without the invariable accompaniment of its less glamorous sister, namely the bloodymindedness associated with the 'widow's wail.' ( I'm sure Jaime, being the cynical romantic and romantic cynic he is, would agree with this one!) Inextricable -- an 'ominous' beauty indeed! By Tywin's decree the smith has worked a violence upon the Valyrian steel, trying to force it to take up a crimson color. In his attempt to stain the grey crimson-red, thus constituting a desire to obliterate the grey entirely, along with a desire to symbolically obliterate the history of House Stark, including all memory of Ned -- the sword belonged to him after all -- Tywin also desires, as he always does in the secret recesses of his shame to which only he is privy ('fittingly' he died with his shame exposed in full view of the one he'd most shamed, in a privy no less...), to wipe out the stain of his own 'red' hand in the matter of Ned, Rob and Catelyn's death. Tywin's tactic of 'overstaining' the stain mirrors Tywin's presentation of the Targaryen children in Lannister crimson in a devious, cynical effort to disguise the stain of their murder (which no-one will ever convince me he didn't directly instigate). Ironically, despite his efforts, the sword rejects the crimson, appearing 'blood red' instead -- almost as if it were reminding us and Tywin of the blood that went into its making. The blood red color on the sword could almost be the memory of Ned's blood left on and in the sword which was representative of the lifeblood of his family tradition and which, in a cruel stroke of fate, was also used to behead him, leaving the stain of his blood forever on his own sword. Ned's death was the death -- and by implication Ned's life was the life -- which left the most indelible mark and cast the longest shadow over the entire series. To get back to my original point of the 'dueling dualism' we can find popping up in various manifestations throughout the text, the two colors -- the smoky grey and the blood red -- are presented as alive, aggressive and hungry, almost parasitizing each other. GRRM is being disingenuous when he says that they 'lap over each other without ever touching.' To suggest that the violent process which brought the two together (via ice, blood and fire) involved never touching each other is a wishful oversimplification at best, and an egregious denial at worst. While the two colors refuse to blend, they nevertheless lie adjacent to one another, interdigitating with one another, which implies touching. Moreover, they 'lap' at each other like hungry red and grey tongues threatening to devour one another, like flames of fire in the shards of ice. Tongues are exploratory organs for the senses of taste and touch, which would not be possible without touching against another. Again, using a predatory metaphor, the red is described as aggressively working its spells in an attempt to consume the grey, while the grey in turn is described as equally voracious 'drinking the sun.' About weirwood trees, we are told that the singers and seers in a semi-sacrificial gesture 'give themselves to the tree,' which absorbs them and all their collective memories, thereby consuming and preserving them at once. The crucible of cavernous darkness in which this dark and dazzling alchemical art takes place paradoxically teems with life and light (consider the number of 'light' images juxtaposed with the dark..e.g. 'milk' snakes, white roots, snow flakes, albino visage of Bloodraven, crescent moon, etc.). The darkness is a presence ironically presided over by a Valyrian (fire being), which like the Valyrian sword (being ice) could almost be said to be drinking the sun and bleaching all color from the world, as leeches leech blood -- leaving only the red of the blood against the backdrop of grey and white. By entering into the collective community of the tree via symbolic and literal communion, the seers derive the benefit of extending their once-mortal lives, which now enter into the boundlessness of eternity, collapsing the parameters of person, time and space: Thus, the weirwood tree combines dual aspects of both a 'tree of life' (eternal life) and a 'tree of knowledge' (boundless sight and reach)-- although in the Bible those were ostensibly separate trees in the Garden of Eden. In Hebrew, the tree of knowledge is sometimes translated as the 'tree of desire,' signifying the eternal, never-sated hunger accompanying the quest for knowledge. This neverending quest, or appetite, is a hunt -- which is none other than a bloodsport at base-- belying its superficially noble aspect (it's in this sense most of all that Sam is a 'Slayer'). The acquisition of the knowledge of good vs. evil is thus the profound dawning awareness of how, in our very inquisitiveness and acquisitiveness, we use one another in various ways to further ourselves, and the cost (compromise, loss or violence) that entails. Desire necessarily implies an absence, which seeks its own fulfilment, prompting a reaching-out for the other, a ravenous grasping (as roots reach deep and wide into the ground like telecommunication cables, or branches reach high into the sky like antennae, or seed is scattered far afield carrying their messages with the wind. 'Words are wind') As you point out, the acquisition of 'true' knowledge is bound to be difficult and painful: The 'window of the gargoyle guarded tower' evokes, as I mentioned before, the eyes as the gateway to the brain and the soul, and more generally the trope of secret, forbidden knowledge that is not meant for liberal consumption by all eyes (that liminal gateway of which you spoke in some of your other essays, at the threshhold of which the sphinx-like sentries hold their forbidding audiences) Those gatekeepers, or threshold guardians, themselves blur the line between friend vs. foe (a bit like that quintessential gargoylesque 'snarling' anti-hero in motley, Tyrion) always threatening implicitly to destroy the supplicant seeking knowledge, should one happen to give the 'wrong' answer to a question, or alternatively should one 'wrongfully' ask the 'right' question (e.g. Cersei and Maggy the Maege). With the image of the 'golden knight' we once again have the juxtapositioning of light with dark (a 'golden knight,' a false knight blinding with coy evasion and dark intent, or a 'golden night,' if one is inclined to pun...). We are reminded that Bran, 'daring' to climb too high, against the better instincts and admonitions of his wolf, his family, and perhaps even himself, nevertheless persisted in his pursuit, and gazed on the face of the forbidden (like Icarus or Lucifer flying too close to the sun or God respectively), initiating a fall from grace-- which in Bran's case, having been penned in GRRM's signature oxymoronic style, involved a fall out of and into grace-- a falling flight or flying fall. In this passage again we have the juxtapositioning of the light with the dark -- perhaps evoking the essential duality of the tree of life/knowledge --...the 'white weirwood... the abyss.. the black air.. mother's milk [set in the text straight up against] the darkness...the crescent moon sharp [and shining] as the blade of a knife...the snowflakes [evoking light...which are said to] cloak [evoking darkness] the soldier pines and sentinels in white...the white wall [of the snow drifts further closing the cave in even greater darkness].' Here again, the juxtaposition of light and dark, the inversion of hunter and hunted. Long before his greenseeing transitioning in the cave, Bran the quintessential sweet 'Summer child' (and 'Summer's child', being his wolf's child, having been nursed back to life from the darkness of his coma into the light of day by the irrepressible sun and steady heartbeat of his wolf's ferocious magnanimity) is already painted as a 'dark' creature here (another light-dark contrast), being likened implicitly (and explicitly elsewhere) to the 'black squirrel' against the 'snow-covered branches' -- he was explicitly compared by his father to a squirrel in another passage, when he was sent to the godswood at Winterfell to atone for his 'sins' (the sin of over-reaching or climbing) in overnight spiritual contemplation, and ended up climbing the highest tree in the grove instead, much to his father's generous amusement! For all the criticism directed at Ned, I love this characteristic of Ned the father, as demonstrated here, namely his capacity to accept each of his children for whom s/he really is, even if it doesn't accord with his own wishes for them as reflections of his own ego. So, he says to Bran 'if you must climb, then climb' and to Arya, paraphrased 'if you must fight, then learn to fight well.' As I imagine he might have probably said to Lyanna, 'if you must love, then love -- even if it destroys you, and me.' The image of the silvery web of an empress spider which Bran pauses to study is a curious one, conjuring up the enigmatic figure of Varys as it does, incongruously in the midst of the Winterfell godswood (neither the north nor nature would seem at first glance to be associated with Varys, a cynical southron cosmopolitan 'city-slicker'), raising the question of how the relationship between these two as yet unrelated protagonists will play out in the final denouement... The spider allusion to The Spider (or Spy-der!) is obvious, 'silvery' might evoke Targaryen hair associations, 'study' Varys's intellectual and 'intelligence' (in both senses of the word) inclinations, and 'empress' connotes both the eunuch's deceptively campy, effeminate, 'diva' style of holding sway in his sumptuous silks, samites and damasks; as well as his stealthy yet unflinching, ironhold grip in the center of the power relations and secrets of the Red Keep (not by chance one of his alter egos is a turnkey who holds the key to the secret recesses of the shadowy underworld of the dungeons, while his other proxies are euphemistically named 'little birds,' a cruel name since they can no longer sing, who nevertheless provide him with dominion over the more nebulous realm of the intimations and whispers coming to him through the 'air'). Strangely enough, Bran has some similarities to Varys. Like Varys, Bran has had something brutally taken from him (for Varys his genitals, Bran his legs) -- representing major physical sources of power and agency, procreation and locomotion respectively -- the loss of which was associated with a degree of dubious blood magic and dabbling in sorcery initiating each into a new cerebral power dimension, the price for which having been the loss suffered and a certain societal alienation or ostracization. Paradoxically, this liminal repositioning at the fringes of society (eunuch and cripple falling under the rubric of cripples, bastards and broken things) has enabled each to assume a central role in that society. Like Varys, Bran is associated with the dual domains of the underworld and the air (the dark and the light). In terms of 'underworld': Bran has literally and figuratively gone underground, officially considered dead by many including his own family; he's associated with the Winterfell crypts and the dead Lords of Winterfell and Kings of Winter, many of whom are likewise named Brandon; he's likely undergoing another sort of death/incubation/rebirth attached to the weirwood roots, etc. In terms of 'air': he's the 'winged' wolf, the boy in freefall, the broken tower; there's his affinity with ravens, attunement to the airwaves of knowledge, space and time, and directly associated with the wind and the fog and other atmospheric elements, etc. Most intriguingly -- this arresting similarity has just occurred to me -- both Lord Varys and Lord Bran are masters of the 'game,' the ultimate game being the knowledge game, although admittedly Bran is at present a 'little lord' and master in training. Each in his own way sits in the center of whichever domain he takes his seat. Like Varys -- Mr everwhere and everything up in everyone's business -- sitting like a spider in the center of the web, similarly Bran perches in the center of Winterfell which is likened to a weirwood tree or stone labyrinth (which radiates out around him like a spider's web). Unobserved himself, he quietly watches everyone from a privileged vantage point, not unlike a spy! Like a spider too, light-footed Bran clambers up walls no-one else dares to breach, and enters windows from the outside...Not to excuse Jaime's subsequent actions, but Jaime is not far off the mark when he questions Bran's innocence and accuses him of spying, after he catches Bran in the act of catching him and Cersei in the act! Bran takes obvious pleasure in being omnipresent and omniscient, for which he pays a price -- all of which presages his later destiny in the weirwood tree. Knowledge is power. And, with great power comes great responsibility, given that the acquisition of knowledge/power inevitably opens up tempting opportunities for going beyond witnessing, to influencing, intervening, and interfering in that which is witnessed. One might even argue that seeing is never a passive process, and that every gaze meddles or muddles to a certain extent (both the philosophers and the scientists are in consensus here). Varys unashamedly meddles and muddies in the affairs of others, causing harm more often than not. Thus far, Bran, in contrast, has mostly used his powers of influence for 'good' (e.g. his gentle touch with Jon and Theon in their extremity). However, the possibility remains that as Bran's power grows in force that he may 'go too far' or be corrupted in some way by his gift, or by others wishing to profit off his gift, particularly with the dubious mentor at the helm of the time- and space- ship, together with a cadre of possibly sinister singers pulling their own levers to their own ends. Many of the points I've touched on are developed in the passage below. Reading it again I was struck by the similarity of the description of Winterfell to the Red Keep, in its sprawling architecture, full of secret tunnels and passageways, dead-ends, sneaky entryways and exits, nooks and crannies seemingly tailormade for eavesdropping, populated by crows and gargoyles, little birds, rats, and spiders whom Bran seems to 'read' as well...Bran senses he is privy to the workings of the architect's mind, the 'codebreaker' so to speak to his ancestor's 'codemaker' -- knowledge not even Maester Luwin understands (naturally, being one of the Citadel's magic-skeptics, though well-meaning, he would not be able to discern the patterns of magic in the walls of Winterfell). Again, Varys and Bran can be viewed as foils for one another. Just as no-one negotiates the Red Keep better than Varys, no-one navigates Winterfell better than Bran. Perhaps this is because no-one but a dragon can know the secrets of the Red Keep, and only the descendant of Bran the Builder, a Lord Brandon himself, can truly know the heart of Winterfell. A few notes. If you're interested in reading more, I've developed some of these thoughts above. On Bloodraven as Satan: Bloodraven, like Varys, sits like a pallid, yet fiery serpent in the center of the tree (of knowledge/desire and/or life) in the middle of the 'garden' (the realm). Remember, dragons are serpents with wings (Bran is the winged wolf; Bloodraven is the winged serpent). From a certain point of view, Satan is a serpent with wings too, being a fallen angel, condemned to being trodden underfoot for his cardinal sin of overreaching (in his enthusiastic hubris, he flew too close to God and crashed (like Bran and Icarus) to earth..) A point of interest, 'Lucifer' means 'lightbringer' in Latin, a not insignificant little fact which I'm sure has not escaped GRRM! And 'Hell' is full of 'fire and brimstone' roiling in the deep...So, you see 'light and 'fire' is not always necessarily 'good,' and 'enlightenment' running amok and unchecked is not necessarily beneficial. By this paradoxical anti-logic, perhaps the same can be said for 'ice' and 'darkness' -- it's not all 'bad'... On the third eye opening a way for 'demons': I will discuss this figuratively. This ties in with the duality I've discussed above at length, that knowledge is power, and power comes at a price, hence the saying that with great power comes great responsibility. One should be careful with what and whom one 'channels,' in so many ways. You noted that those gifted with the powers of warging, greenseeing, etc. are often marked by vulnerability in some way. Analogous to the famous/notorious Targaryen coin-flip of the gods, whereby greatness and madness are not separate entities but rather two sides of the same coin, implying that these diverse manifestations are related to one another at the root source (and may even co-exist in the same person), one might wonder whether a similar duality is at work here. One difference between the GOT show and the books is that Jojen is presented on screen as being afflicted with epilepsy, which serves as a vehicle via which he receives his visions, despite simultaneously weakening him. It's interesting in this respect that a pre-scientific explanation for the phenomenon of epilepsy was that the person was possessed by demons or evil spirits, etc. What we would today understand as 'hallucinations' an artifact of a mal-firing brain was previously construed as 'visions' or 'prophecies' and endowed with portentous meaning beyond the physical. What's more, these people thus afflicted with various marks, disfigurements, and ailments were often singled out in primitive societies so that they could assume the important role within the clan of shaman/religious healer, etc. (the trope of the blind seer, etc.) Hey @evita mgfsI and @Wizz-The-Smith! If you haven't already, it's worth checking out @TheSeason excellent and astutely calibrated analyses -- she has not posted many posts quantitatively, in terms of number, but qualitatively they all stand out -- in which many of these themes and more are discussed. Although this is not developed at length here, she also has something to say of relevance to Bran's growing powers... Ravenous Raven Said:@evita mgfsYou should follow your heart -- do what your inner direwolf would tell you -- but I hope you won't leave. You provide so much sense in an often senseless debate! And the connections you make are inspired and inspiring. I think there is hope, love, faith, and transcendence -- it's just intermingled with a lot of sadness, suffering, false starts, loose ends, 'wild-goose chases' and perversion (taken in its original etymological sense of 'wrong-turning' as well as its darker sense of 'corruption'). · Thank you for your kind and inspiring words. You make total sense. Some days I can manage the dark side of humanity that Martin “brings to the table” for his readers. Other times, when life in general bites me with its sharp teeth, I find Martin’s pessimism quite challenging to “digest”. · Keeping perspective is the key, and with scholars such as you serving up a “diet” of rationality, sensibility, and reasonableness, I may learn to control my emotions and remember to maintain a healthy objectivity. · That Bran, who has suffered dearly in a host of ways, must face even more disillusionment, it makes my heart hurt. However, these hardships he faces are metaphoric for the hardships undeserving innocents are dealt in the real world. When sorrows come, they come in battalions – to paraphrase Shakespeare, whose universality makes his proverbial words as relevant today as they were when he wrote. In many of his tragedies, entire families are extinguished – yet Shakespeare distributes fatal flaws to key characters that are pivotal in bringing about the deaths of unsuspecting victims. I fear that Bran may demonstrate flaws in his nature that will contribute to his making poor choices that will not necessarily damn him, but these “vicious moles of nature” may unexpectedly damn those whom Bran loves and holds dear. · I thank you again for taking the time to address my “melt down” with uplifting words that are from the heart. It is ironic – or as you LOVE to say – paradoxical – that you and many others possess a generous spirit while reacting to the novels of Martin on a thread in which we are discussing cannibalism and the darkness of man’s heart! The notion of 'cannibalism' can be seen symbolically too (as it is in the Catholic mass of Communion) instead of taken literally -- as a trope towards understanding how we are all interconnected and interdependent, sometimes delightfully and sometimes painfully so. No man nor woman is an island. That's the duality that GRRM is writing and referring to. · How right you are. I do think that the Catholic influence is very likely at play in regards to the eating of the weirwood paste harvested from the tree in which Bloodraven is enthroned. Even if the blood is Jojen’s, the seeds are most certainly from his tree. As an addendum, philosophically I disagree with @Lost Melnibonean in that I don't think Jojen being 'resigned to his fate' serves as a sufficient disqualifier of the incumbent laws of hospitality. They are not 'let off the hook,' so to speak, just because he doesn't resist vigorously enough or run away. What kind of morality is that? · Good points. Moreover, Jojen has misread his greendreams on several other occasions. Since he has not shared their content with Bran, the readers are in the dark as to what these dreams contain. Indeed, Jojen’s dreams are prophetic, but only if he interprets correctly their metaphoric nature. Remember, he saw Bran and Rickon with flayed faces in the Winterfell crypts. He also saw the sea rising over the wall of Winterfell. He and others did not perceive the true meaning of these dreams on other occasions. What makes this time any different? · I wonder what Jojen sought from the wizard: he never petitioned Bloodraven for a favor or to share knowledge deep as the roots of trees. Why? Martin leaves so many questions unanswered. That reminds me of this horrible debate on the GOT show side, where some people would argue that Sansa wasn't 'really' raped by Ramsay, because she agreed to be married to him, which involved tacit 'acceptance' of what was 'expected' of her in terms of consummating the marriage in medieval terms, and therefore didn't say 'no' 'loudly enough' so to speak, when confronted by his brutality. That's a ridiculous and dangerous line of argument, one which I will never fail to speak out against -- no matter how much it irritates certain people who claim to be 'aesthetic purists', and regardless of the 'rules' or 'decorum' of a certain forum. · Utterly ridiculous! Dangerous is right! I did not think these arguments were to be entertained on the such threads for this very reason? I know I have read over and over again warning about the discussion of rape – you have enlightened me. · I hate to say this, but someone needs to hit the “report” button so that the mods are aware that this behavior is continuing. Because of the sensitivity of this topic and its consequences in the real world, to entertain these discussions does not speak well of the forum – if you know what I mean? · Even more alarming is that Ramsay’s brutality toward Sansa is an event that is NOT A CONCEPTION OF MARTIN’S. However, Ramsay’s sadistic acts with Jeyne and Theon and a dog are equally disgusting and cruel. · I can say much and more, but I find the whole thing unpleasant. I also agree with you that it would constitute a serious violation of trust, akin to the 'Frey pies', were they to have killed Jojen on Bran's 'behalf' and served his friend to him essentially without his knowledge and against his will. That is simply psychopathic -- something someone like Littlefinger would do-- which if true raises serious questions about the potentially nefarious motivation of Bloodraven and the singers. · And therein is the “rub” – what does it say about Bloodraven and the singers if they would thus abuse the Bran “boy” – he is a “boy”. At the same time, I also have to admit there are a lot of psychopaths in GRRM's universe-- he seems fascinated by them, and often seems to celebrate their 'triumphs' at the expense of others with a little too much relish for comfort. In contrast, Jon Snow is one of the few-and-far-between really kind people. I'm not sure this portrayal is a true reflection of life. Psychopaths constitute at most 4% of the population, so GRRM is presenting us a skewed image of the degree of depravity. · Now – those are quite revealing statistics! Touche! · Yes, Jon Snow is the “hope” – and I maintain that Bran will be “hope” as well. On 4/5/2016 at 10:21 PM, evita mgfs said: I am working in a longer piece comparing elements of the Catholic Mass with Bran in his magic cave. Following is the crux of what is called the Transubstantiation of Christ, part of the ritual known as Communion. When I saw that you are comparing Satan to Bloodraven, I thought a Christian take might appeal to you. By Bran ingesting weirwood paste, which the CotF likely harvested from the tree to which Bloodraven is bound, Bran literally and figuratively is partaking of the body and blood of his teacher Lord Brynden, whom Leaf tells readers has given himself to the tree. Bran’s Resurrection Martin symbolizes Bran’s death through the fates of the Miller’s boys whom Theon uses to replace the Stark children in an effort to hide his failings. He is too proud to admit that the Stark kiddoes outsmarted him. The Miller’s corpses are on display, flayed, burned, and hung, a metaphoric crucifixion of innocents. Meanwhile, Bran [and company] move underground, hiding in the crypts, in Ned’s empty tomb. Thus, Bran is at rest in the darkness wherein his transformation takes root: he opens his third eye, he wargs Summer for days, and he visits Jon’s dream. After the sack of Winterfell, Bran “rises” from the crypts, a metaphoric resurrection, and beyond the Wall in a cave of skulls, Bran will experience an “Ascension” when he flies in the ravens. ****Above, you note how those blessed with gifts are physically weaker, or in some way handicapped. This appears to be true; however, did you notice how Bran grows stronger the farther north he travels? Martin emphasizes this by using Jojen's health as a foil for Bran's. Jojen grows weaker as Bran grows stronger. My theory has been that Bran draws strength through his bond with his direwolf Summer. Exactly. Fascinating how in attempting to deconstruct/subvert/undermine/etc. ancient mythological archetypes, GRRM ends up affirming many of them! It's as if they had irresistibly welled up in his sub-consciousness, breaking through into the words on the page, insisting, against all his 'perverse' instincts to the contrary, on their eternal right to exist. Regarding the trans-substantiation, 'Satanic' and shamanic figurative elements, consider the allusion to the archetypal figure of 'the tree of life and/or knowledge' -- an element which recurs across cultures, time and space (check out the entry 'tree of life' on wikipedia for an eye-opening introductory journey covering the comparative mythology of how this figure inevitably recapitulates throughout history; it's too long to post here). We even find this tree motif reconfigured in places as diverse as the center of our modern-day Christmas hearth -- the 'Christmas tree' symbolizing sacrifice and rebirth -- as well as in the center of our 'little-' brains (the cerebellum) as the 'arbor vitae,' a particularly beautiful configuration to early neuroscientists who first observed the intricate delicate branching of the 'white' interdigitating with the 'grey' matter (strangely enough, the Stark colors...so next time you say you have the Starks on your mind, you do, literally and figuratively!) Charles Darwin, in articulating his theory of the familial relationships of all living things to each other, talked of a tree of life, a 'phylogeny', inseparable from a tree of knowledge -- which fundamentally uprooted our notions of who we are forever. Of course, we also find this archetypal tree -- The Tree -- in the Bible as the tree in the center of the garden around which 'the snake' coiled itself seductively and spoke the words, the 'sweet nothings' promising everything, inviting a perilous enlightenment. From one point of view, the 'snake' is analogous to the two en-twined 'Brans' -- Brandon (Stark) and Brynden (Rivers) -- who being intertwined with one another are also intertwined with the dark, vital pulsating 'underworld' of weirwood roots 'snaking' their way through flesh, time, and distance alike: · ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! And this is why I celebrate your writing – what an AMAZING ANALOGY! Wow! I am worshiping at your shrine from now on. How did you ever come up with such deeply reflective commentary? · MAYBE I SHOULD HATE YOU? · NEVER! I want to be jealous – it is human nature to envy – but I am blown away. You inspire me to rise to the occasion and endeavor to compose prose analysis of such caliber. · Remember my warning – good work, good ideas, and original thought are in danger of being “borrowed” by others who have no regard for showing proper attribution. You need to post your essays on another site to protect it from plagiarists here. On Tumblr, bloggers are held accountable if they do not credit their sources. Quote From A Dance with Dragons -- Bran II The way the shadows shifted made it seem as if the walls were moving too. Bran saw great white snakes slithering in and out of the earth around him, and his heart thumped in fear. He wondered if they had blundered into a nest of milk snakes or giant grave worms, soft and pale and squishy. Grave worms have teeth. Hodor saw them too. "Hodor," he whimpered, reluctant to go on. But when the girl child stopped to let them catch her, the torchlight steadied, and Bran realized that the snakes were only white roots like the one he'd hit his head on."It's weirwood roots," he said. "Remember the heart tree in the godswood, Hodor? The white tree with the red leaves? A tree can't hurt you." "Hodor." Hodor plunged ahead, hurrying after the child and her torch, deeper into the earth. They passed another branching, and another, then came into an echoing cavern as large as the great hall of Winterfell, with stone teeth hanging from its ceiling and more poking up through its floor. The child in the leafy cloak wove a path through them. From time to time she stopped and waved her torch at them impatiently. This way, it seemed to say, this way, this way, faster. 'A tree can't hurt you'...of course this is eminently debatable! Even in the passage above, the tree is not depicted as benign. On the contrary, the roots 'hit his head,' and they are compared to sharp 'poking' 'stone teeth' and hungry, penetrating 'grave worms' or an aggressive 'nest' (like a labyrinth or trap) of 'milk snakes.' For me, the latter conjures up the image of Cleopatra's death, as envisioned by Shakespeare, committing suicide by allowing her asps to latch onto her breasts in a deadly inversion of love and nurturance (the white of her skin and the milk, contrasting with the red of her blood, just as the red-white weir/albino imagery recurs throughout GRRM's text). Milk snakes, 'extra-universe,' are banded red-and-black snakes (appropriate, considering Bloodraven's origins and heraldic designations) which while not poisonous themselves mimic a venomous snake variety in appearance, as a form of defense in the wild. · More on this later! Far from reassuring, this 'mimicry' aspect is mildly unsettling, to say the least (we've revisited this elusive shimmering play of (dis)guises at length on the 'Bran's growing powers...' thread). So, while there may be an element of mimicry in play (on the surface, Bloodraven as bastard mimicking Targ...black-on-red or red-on-black, it's all the same to a snake, or a dragon...), it's difficult to tell the malevolent from the benevolent forces at work here (Bloodraven masquerading as kindly sage, but actually two-timing serpent? It's difficult to differentiate his intentions at this point, but they are shadowy, so 'ulterior' motives cannot be ruled out!) . · More on this later! GRRM's imagery serves to reinforce this underlying menace with his repetitive 'teeth' imagery (echoing Bloodraven's 'Raven's Teeth' with their poisonous arrows), the upper and lower rows of 'teeth' projecting into the 'cavern' evoking a devouring mouth (again, white against red imagery respectively), threatening to engulf Bran (similar to our discussion of the guillotine-like portcullis at the twins evoking gruesome steel jaws, presaging 'the bloody feast' of the Red Wedding, into which Rob fatefully entered, ignoring Grey Wind's protestation, for the last leg of his final disillusion and dissolution.) in this vein, mirroring the figurative, the biological process of consumption starting with mastication, followed by the acid and enzymatic degradation of digestion, nutrient absorption and energy consolidation, and ending with excretion of waste products, is in essence a process of having ones selfhood bolstered by another's dissolution. · More on this later! Regarding eating and being eaten, it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. We are informed that Lord B 'draws his life from the tree' and has no need to eat nor drink (eerily like Mel, who could be his daughter..?!), yet from the description it would seem to be the other way around -- i.e., that the tree is eating him! Bloodraven is described as a 'half-corpse half-tree...skeletal...rotted...dessicated...corpse lord...dead man...[with] fraying...withered flesh...[and] yellow bone poking through...a pale ruin...save for a bloody blotch..,' overcome by worms and fungi, with the tree snaking through him, almost as if it were extracting the very life from him, sucking him dry. It would seem, despite his overweening power, Lord Brynden, to all appearances a shrunken, depleted figure, has paid a steep price for those selfsame powers. Supposedly the formidable 'blood raven,' he seems very un-ravenly, in that he is the one who has been ravished/ravened by the tree and not vice versa. · I am in AWE! Great points! · More on this later! Paradoxically, though, rather than killing him, by this process of grotesque mummification he is being preserved over the centuries. The bi-directionality of the flow of energy between Bloodraven (an emblem of 'fire,' being a dragon...'one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire') and the tree (an emblem of 'ice') is an example (of which there are many) of how GRRM deconstructs the 'fire consumes -- cold preserves' dichotomy he himself initially presented. Who is preserving whom; who consuming whom..? Bloodraven's life is being preserved at the expense of its own consumption by the tree. Thus, Bloodraven both consumes and is being consumed by the tree; likewise, the tree both preserves and is being preserved by Bloodraven. Assuming the tree is a symbol of 'ice,' this means that ice preserves by consuming fire! Conversely, fire preserves by consuming ice... · The paradox, of course. Again, oohing and awing! · More on this later! The weirwood system of relations is a kind of mutual parasitism. It's almost creepy how the tree seems to feed off Bran/Bloodraven, just as much as they reciprocally feed off it. From this perspective, @evita mgfs, @Wizz-The-Smith and I have been discussing the Catholic ritual of communion, and exploring the various permutations thereof as it plays out in the text (it's fascinating to hear that GRRM is a Catholic or lapsed Catholic, of which I previously had no idea! Nevertheless, these ritual motifs permeate his work so vividly to be immediately recognizable). From Jon IX AGoT: Symbolic Meanings of Mare Jon Snow’s mount is a mare, a female of the species that figures in breeding and is known as the dame. Since the bastard often wonders about the woman who gave birth to him, it is fitting that he straddles a mare rather than a stallion. Aside from the gender of the beast, horses in literature have many symbolic meanings, and their rich history as representative figures in many cultures speaks to Jon Snow and the road he decides to travel in POV IX. The Symbology of Horse/Mare The horse is a universal symbol of freedom without restraint, because riding a horse made people feel they could free themselves from their own bindings. Also linked with riding horses, they are symbols of travel, movement, and desire. · As the universal symbol of freedom without restraints, the mare plays a pivotal role in Jon letting go of the “restraints” imposed on him after he says his vows and commits himself and his life to the Night’s Watch. Riding the mare, Jon hopes to “free” himself from his black “bindings”. As a symbol of “travel, movement, and desire”, the mare takes Jon away from Castle Black, the vehicle that will transport him toward his “desire” to join his brother Robb in avenging Ned Stark’s death. The horse also represents power in Native American tribes. Native American tribes that possessed horses often won more battles than those who did not. They also had more territory. The number of horses a tribe possessed was telling of how wealthy they were. · Horses are precious commodities for the NW as they are needed for transport, for work, for ranging, for recruiting, and for fighting. · The NW is not inordinately wealthy, yet the horses are tended to in good form as they are necessary for daily activities. Within these cultures and others, the horse is often an emblem of war. · The horses will have roles to play in the future when the brothers go to war with their foes. In mythology, the horse is ever present. The Romans linked horses with Mars, the god of the fury of war. Horses were also seen pulling the chariot of Helios, the sun god. · Even the White Walkers ride on horseback, although the horses they mount have died and are reanimated by a controlling force originating from their masters. In the Celtic mythology, horses were good luck and were harbingers of good fortune. · Although Jon may not feel that his Night’s Watch brothers’ tracking him in the night to prevent him from deserting his post as “good luck” and “good fortune”, that these newly appointed members cared enough to forgo sleep to hunt Jon down and return him before sunrise proves their high regard for Lord Snow. The white horse, as aforementioned, was sacred to the Celts, and strongly associated with Rhiannon and Epona, who occasionally took the form of a white horse. · Celtic mythological figures who take the form of a white horse are similar to Jon Snow’s potential to warg his direwolf Ghost. In folk wisdom, if several horses are seen standing together that means a storm is coming. · Horses often stand together in the novels. A storm is coming – “A Storm of Swords”, in which many factions do battle, some on horses, some on the sea. file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/510b9857f3def9.98104912.pdf The Mares of Diomedes “The Mares of Diomedes, also called the Mares of Thrace, were four man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to the giant Diomedes, the king of Thrace . . . Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse, was said to be descended from these mares”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mares_of_Diomedes · The fact that Diomedes is a “giant” pertains to Jon’s future relationship with the Free Folk. · The fact that Diomedes’ horses ate human flesh may sound unappetizing; however, the prospect that Jon Snow will eat human flesh at some point in the future when he wargs his direwolf Ghost, is a good possibility. Jon’s half-brother Bran has eaten human flesh when he wargs Summer, when he dines on Coldhand’s pork, and when he marries the tree and tastes human blood. The Titan Goddess Selene “SELENE was the Titan goddess of the moon. She was depicted as a woman either riding side saddle on a horse or in a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. “Selene's great love was the shepherd prince Endymion. The beautiful boy was granted eternal youth and immortality by Zeus and placed in a state of eternal slumber in a cave near the peak of Lydian Mount Latmos. There his heavenly bride descended to consort with him in the night”. http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Selene.html · Several parts of Selene’s description seem relevant to Jon Snow’s story arc: 1]. Selene is the goddess of the moon, and the moon is full the night of Jon’s attempted desertion. 2]. Selene is a Titan, and a Titan statue greets visitors to Braavos. 3]. Selene’s chariot is drawn by “winged steeds” – Mormont asks Jon if his horse has wings” “I ordered a watch kept over you., You were seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, you would have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unless you have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?” 4]. Endymion is a “beautiful boy”, and Ygritee thinks Jon Snow is “pretty”. 5]. Selene consorting with Endymion in a CAVE parallels with Ygritte and Jon having “CAVE SEX”. 6]. Zeus places Endymion in a state of eternal slumber. Perhaps a greenseer or a priestess of R’holler will cast a similar spell on a dead Jon Snow, preserving and protecting his corpse until Jon’s warg leaves his direwolf Ghost to return to its true home. The Night Mare “A mare is an evil spirit or goblin in Germanic folklore which rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on bad dreams (or "nightmares"). · Jon’s night ride on his mare makes his mount a “night mare”. · The “goblin” correlates to the unconfirmed “grumkins” that are mentioned periodically in Martin’s novels. · Jon’s attempts to desert his post are thwarted by his Sworn Brothers; hence, the “nightmare” is averted. · Jon’s dreams are sometimes “mightmares” – for example, Jon has a recurring crypt dream in which he fears going down into the dark, in large part because he feels he is not a true Stark as he is bastard born. · That Jon’s dreams are prophetic is a strong possibility, and the force inspiring some of his nightmares may be related to the reigning greenseers. “The mare is often similar to the mythical creatures succubus and incubus. “A succubus is a demon in female form or supernatural entity in folklore (traced back to medieval legend) that appears in dreams and takes the form of a woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. “The male counterpart is the incubus. Religious traditions hold that repeated sexual activity with a succubus may result in the deterioration of health or even death”. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succubus#In_fiction]. · Melisandre may not be demonic, but she may possess supernatural powers. Thus far her overtures toward Jon have not met with his approval. · The nature of warging in general implies that the warg spirit visits a “host” direwolf. That V6S is taught that mating while skinchanged in a “host” animal is an abomination, it stands to reason that some skinchangers did engage in sexual activity under these very conditions. · The comingling of bloodlines may be why such activity is discouraged among skinchangers. It seems that Howland Reed’s son displays characteristics associated with those who sing the song of earth. In this context, let's take for example the word 'host' -- at once communion wafer/bread, weirwood seed (or alternatively 'Jojen'-) paste, Summer or Hodor serving as animal and human warg host respectively, Lord of the Tree (Lord Brynden) or Winterfell (Lord Brandon), or The Lord of All (Lord Jesus Christ) -- 'Lord of the Flies' and its uncomfortable themes of human sacrifice are also naturally invoked (writers feed off each other in a kind of weirwood economy too!) So, there's the dual association with 'host vs. guest' as well as the more uncomfortable, though undeniable connotation of 'host vs. parasite.' Typically, GRRM deconstructs these dichotomies as well (as he does with 'ice' vs. 'fire' and the like). · You’ve GOT IT! MY THEORY! I could never put it into words like you have! Here is an essay I wrote a while ago that touches upon what you are saying, but not as eloquently as your words: Greenseers, Skinchangers, and Wargs Violate the Laws of Hospitality When They Invade the Body of a Host without CONSENT The greenseers, wargs, and skinchangers, by nature of their talents, are visiting the bodies that are in the possession of another animal or human. They invade a “host” and make use of the resources available when they do. The greenseers, wargs, and skinchanger Martin introduces do not ask permission of their hosts before they take up residence or attempt to do so. If skinchanging is perceived as a violation of the laws of hospitality, then limiting recipients of the powers may have been a bargaining tool in the Pact. If visitors come calling with plans for a mental take-over, the intended hosts may be helpless to prevent their occupation. For example, Bran Stark succeeds in his efforts to manipulate the simple-minded Hodor whose fear prevents him from exerting mental powers to thwart another force from accessing his mind in order to use his body for a variety of purposes, some of them selfishly motivated, but others driven by a desire to protect Bran’s comrades who face imminent in danger. At first, Bran skinchanges with Hodor for altruistic reasons. When Hodor’s loud and panicked cries of “hodor” threaten to attract nearby wildlings and expose Bran, his allies, and their hiding place, Bran is triumphant in silencing the gentle giant when Bran slips his skin and temporarily influences Hodor’s wits from the “inside” out. When Bran and company encounter the wights outside the Cave of Skulls, Bran once again skinchanges Hodor, but this time Bran engages Hodor’s fighting spirit and an iron sword as well to battle the dead rising. Again, Bran wishes to safeguard his friends and himself, and since Bran is “broken”, he needs to borrow Hodor’s legs and giant figure to defeat the foes endangering the well-being of innocents seeking the wizard within the Cave of Skulls. However, Bran employs his weak-minded friend to satisfy his own selfish whims whenever he feels bored. Bran takes over Hodor’s senses to explore the tunnels in the cave, to practice wielding a sword, and to join Jojen and Meera at the underground river. Even though Bran is cognizant of Hodor’s fear whenever Bran invades the giant’s mind to his own devices, Bran continues to misuse friend, and doing so seemingly becomes easier and easier for Bran the greenseer to execute as the skinchanging events escalate in number and frequency. Beyond the Wall, V6S fails to skinchange the wildling spearwife Thistle, whom he hopes to claim for his final life. Thistle shreds her face with her fingernails, she gouges out her eyes, and she bites off her tongue. Thistle’s reaction to V6S invading her head space is immediate and deliberate. Moreover, Thistle somehow knows what to do in case of an unwelcomed “guest” – such as random wargs, skinchangers, wizards, priests, and other forces likely to instigate possession. The spearwife expels the intruder. She makes sure that even as a corpse, her eyes and tongue are useless. Thistle deliberately blinds herself, handicapping her sight and her voice when V6S calls upon her to play hostess as his final life as a skinchanger. The Symbology of Hands From the Online Dictionary of Symbology in Literature: · The hand is the most frequently symbolized part of the human body. · It gives blessing, it is expressive. · According to Aristotle, the hand is the "tool of tools." · In general it is strength, power and protection. · However, it can just as easily mean generosity, hospitality and stability; "lend a hand". · It is used in gestures of greeting and friendship (shake hands). · The right and left have different symbols related to each: · right - the rational, conscious and logical, as well as aggressive and anxious, · left - opposite of the right, weakness, decay, death. · However, the two can be juxtaposed to symbolize balance and the middle (The Left Hand of Darkness, LeGuin, its reference to the Tao, See YINANDYANG). · Hand gestures vary in symbol: laying hands on something - blessing, consecration, transference of guilt, healing; raising one's hand - to swear, honesty; hand on heart - love, adoration, salutation; two hands clasped - peace, alliance, friendship; hands at side - negligence, arrogance (on hips); with water - purification, cleanliness, innocence. According to Cooper, Quintilian says, "The hands may almost be said to speak. Do we not use them to demand, promise, summon, dismiss, threaten, supplicate, express aversion or fear, question or deny? Do we not use them to indicate joy, sorrow, hesitation, confession, penitence, measure, quantity, number, and time? Have they not the power to excite and prohibit, to express approval, wonder, shame?" (78). IN REFERENCE TO THE WIGHTS SEEKING A VOICE: From the Prologue, AGoT: "My mother told me that dead men sing no songs," he put in. "My wet nurse said the same thing, Will," Royce replied. "Never believe anything you hear at a woman's tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead." His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest. The above quote confirms that the wights have no voice, based upon what we would might call “old wives’ tales”, with origins in myth and legend and a dab of truth. This reference to song on the first page of the series is too rich not to have some significance, methinks. The wights gather outside Bran’s cave – maybe to hear the Singers? Who will sing the song of ice and fire when the Children of the Forest die? THE UNDYING: CONJECTURE The Undying are fascinating: these puzzling entities are fragile and “passive-aggressive. Dany’s journey in the House of Dust share elements with Bran and his arrival at the warded cave beyond the Wall. Both Bran and Khaleesi pass through strange doors with faces, but anything with a face seemingly echoes the heart trees and the faces carved in their bark by the CotF. The crownless Queen Daenerys Targaryen, aka the Khaleesi, drinks the cloying “blue” of “the shade of the evening”; LynnS stated in a response that Daenerys ingests a narcotic that enhances her visionary acuity, and as Daenerys peers into the ill-lit rooms where she witnesses different vignettes featuring people and places that illicit past memories, that disclose events to come, and that makes demands on “real time”. Bran eats blood-red weirwood paste; and Arya drinks from the cold cup a liquid that tastes lemony. Each “refreshment” “assists” in awakening the powers usually remaining dormant, latent as well, that is, until the world of ice and fire can achieve – and maintain – balance. Khaleesi sees visions of the past, present, and future staged in rooms throughout the HotU; Bran sees the past, present, and future through the roots of trees. Arya will see through the face masks and through the eyes of those she visits by slipping her skin. All three locations are windowless, and the inhabitants “whisper”. But the Undying are marked with corruption, the “blue” defines the central heart that somehow beats as a life force to make the Undying available for an audience. The blue aligns the Undying with death: once the lungs no longer saturate the bloodstream with fresh oxygen, a human’s ectoplasm slowly turns blue, especially in the hands and feet where the circulation is weakest. The shade of the evening is a drink with addictive properties that may somehow link the Warlocks and their charges to the blue aspect of the Undying. Since the warlocks by craft work in magic, this seems logical: a drink with a potency that brings about great insight, aids in opening the “third eye”, and conveys knowledge to the living who seek the truth from those who cheated death. Yet Pyatt Pree and his Undying underestimate Drogon’s flame while over-estimating their skill and confidence when the HotU bursts into flame. The Undying are vulnerable to Drogon’s flame, and they succumb even though they are Undying. The wights with their bright blue eyes perish when attacked with fire at the Wall. In the HoB&W, a poison mixed in the black pool eases a visitor into the Nightlands, guided by Him-of-Many-Faces. These drinks, beverages, poisons, pastes, or potions appear in parallel POV’s, including but not limited to Bran, Dany, and Arya. Sorcery is an ingredient in what is served to visitors; consequently, it awakens elements hitherto dormant in human natures. However, the long-term effects of shade of the evening may result in an “undying” spirit. Also, blue in literature may symbolize knowledge, and the Undying have knowledge, or prophecies, as Dany learns from their life-force during the communication. The fact that they move to bite her neck and drink her blood is vampiric. Maybe the Undying survive on human blood, or maybe they are empowered through a diet of blood. Martin describes the Undying as burning like corn husks, the dragon’s flames eating away at their fragile encasements. The Undying burn up very much like the parchment of ancient scrolls. The Undying may represent a collective knowledge of the warlocks - and other magical forces - which Drogon sets ablaze and ultimately destroys. Similarly, several irreplaceable scrolls are destroyed in the library fire at Winterfell – knowledge lost forever in the flames. The forces that are the old gods of the north preserve their collective knowledge within elements of nature that are, in most cases, indestructible. A devastating loss of knowledge may be why Pyat Pree seeks vengeance. But the Undying tried to harm Dany, so Drogon’s reaction was in defense of his mother. Why did such vulnerable entities presume to attack the “Mother of Dragons” with a baby in tow? Pyat Pree’s quest for vengeance is hypocritical; he lured Dany there under false pretenses. The warlock anticipated Dany’s failure because he had to know the dangers to those who visited the Undying. I AM CLOSING HERE! I WILL NEED TO ADDRESSS THE REMAINDER TOMORROW. THIS IS AN ESSAY OF PRODIGIOUS LENGTH! AGAIN GRRRRRRREAT JOB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illuminated by Fire Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 At the risk of interrupting the (paused) discussions here, I wanted to post here after a long time regarding future planning. For one I would definitely be interested in continuing the re-read with Winds of Winter. I do not know how many of the others would be up to it, but I am confident that we can get this organised. We have gone through five books already, I am sure we can do another. Other than that it could be that I review some of my analysis pieces, especially the second part of the Luwin-Jojen comparison (the part regarding Bran) because I am not really happy with it. I also have in mind to go over the last chapter analyses (the three ADwD ones) and the pieces that got posted after this. I will not make promises that I really get around to all of this, but it is at least what I have in mind. As a side note: The links in the table of content of both re-read threads are broken. MoIaF seems to be inactive at the moment, so I have opened a thread in the help forum, so chances are that it will get fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke-of-Kaisa Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 Hello! New to this thread, but a great re-read! I have really enjoyed all the analysis and comments to be found in this thread! Well done to all involved! I really enjoyed the section about the children of the forest a few pages back. Evita mgfs, I loved the additional analysis you have provided - I loved the link to back to Titanic soundtrack to really get me thinking about Leaf's speech to Bran. The emotions that song brings are totally moving and I agree, just the way Bran must have felt listening to the story of the singers. I couldn't help thinking about James Cameron's movie 'Avatar' when thinking about the children of the forest. I'm sure that if you have watched this movie, you will see many great similarities between the Oematicaya people and the children of the forest. The Oematicaya have mottled skin and their ears are very moveable hearing much more than the human ear. They live in the forest and inside the trees. They are the opposite to the cotf in their stature - being twice that of a human - making humans appear as children by comparison. Although the humans think the Oematicaya are primitive barbarians, the Oematicaya think the humans are morons for being unable to move across the land quietly and see the true beauty of Pandora - the relationships between the deity (Aeywa) that everyone becomes when they die - and the plants and animals of the land. This reminds me of the cotf philosophy that they become one with the god hood when they merge with the weir wood trees. Further to that I also see similarities between Bran and Jake Sulley - the human marine who is paralysed and takes his (dead) brothers place in a scientific space program studying the newly discovered world of Pandora in an 'avatar' body - a body created using the genes of humans mixed with the genes of the native Oematicaya people of Pandora. Although Jake initially begins his journey rather for selfish reasons - a chance at a new life and to win himself through service to the armed forces 'new legs', he soon discovers that in his avatar body, he has a new means of locomotion aside from his unwieldy wheelchair. He can run and be free to move as he pleases. He feels strong and in control of his body and life, much like Bran does when warging Summer's body, and later Hodor. Jake Sully meets an Oematicaya woman - daughter of the clan chief and the clan shaman. He is then taken charge of to train as one of them and later comes into his 'manhood' and is accepted as one of the 'People'. Along this journey to manhood and acceptance into the clan, he learns much and more about the people, culture, history, animals and land of pandora. As well as the significance of the trees and all their interconnected rootsystems and energy. He learns that the Oematicaya people can connect to the animals and trees of pandora and through these connections they can bond and communicate. The trees can hear thoughts and wishes and sometimes they will respond to you. He learns to feel the life force and hear the voices in the trees (the voices of the souls of the past) and he learns to bond and ride both a pandora version of a horse and a dragon. Jake feels terrible for ever being so selfish as to work with the human marines who only want to make war with the 'people' and move them out of their trees so that the humans can access the precious metals to be found underneath the trees - even though he has already been granted his wish for 'new legs' (an expensive operation to repair his broken spine) He becomes the champion for the Oematicaya people in his avatar body and learns to fly the ultimate flying predator (bigger than the other dragons) and though suffering huge losses, the Oematicaya people overcome the 'sky people' (humans) and they eventually rid pandora of all humans except a few scientists who are sympathetic to the plight of Pandora and the 'people'. The movie ends with the shaman and the rest of the people singing to the 'tree of souls' to transfer Jake permanently from his broken human body into that of his avatar body. This works and he is no longer human, but Oematicaya in body and soul. He bonds with the shamans /chieftains daughter for life. I love this movie and really see parallels between Martin's world and James Cameron's world. I wonder if James Cameron gained inspiration from Grrm in this movie? I just thought it interesting to note the similarities in the stories and perhaps Bran is going to become the champion of the cotf and may end up body and soul as one with them? Perhaps Meera - a crannogmans daughter with possible children of the forest ancestry will become his wife? Who knows I guess, fun to speculate though! Bring on the Winds of Winter! :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Illuminated by Fire, I'd be willing to help. On another note, I've really enjoyed the last few entries. Well done, everyone. Very enlightening stuff here. Glad to see the thread had been doing so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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