Weirwood arrows... How do they work?

[three-eyed monkey]

It seems Brandon Snow didn't feel like kneeling and wanted to kill the dragons. We got a glimpse of his plan in Bran's vision, where he is making weirwood arrows. This raises a couple of questions.

1. How do they work? Is it just as simple as weirwood is to dragons as dragonglass is to the Others? I can see how obsidian could be classed as "frozen fire" and why that would be effective against the Others. There's a loose but clear logic there. I don't see it as clearly with weirwoods and dragons.

2. Where did Brandon Snow get the idea? An old book, the Children, old tales or songs, make it up himself?

Bonus crackpot question: can greenseers guide weirwood arrows to their target?

[Mithras]

I think those arrows were smeared with some rare, super creepy poison from the Neck. That is how Brandon Snow wished to kill the dragons and/or riders.

The material had to be weirwood because we know that weirwood arrows are magic. They can be fired to extreme distances with unbelievable accuracy and superstrong firepower enough to pierce thick armors. Bloodraven proved that in the Battle of Redgrass Field.

[OmnomnomPomelo]

And maybe weirwood burns slower, so if you shoot a dragon with normal wooden arrow then it just burns away, but a weirwood arrow can't burn this easily so hurts the dragon more.

But I think too that this Brandon wanted to use some kind of poison too.

[Free Northman Reborn]

DP

[Free Northman Reborn]

I am disappointed at the lack of depth given to Northern culture. Specifically, that Northern noble Houses don't have permanent greenseers serving in a priestly capacity as advisors to them. Similar to the role that a druid would serve in ancient Europe.

Serving as counters to Septons in the South. And maybe even competing with the role of a Maester, who quite frankly is just a glorified clerk.

If there aren't sufficient greenseers for each Northern House, then at the very least there should have been one for House Stark, the Kings in the North. And if the greenseers were no longer true greenseers with magical talent, at the very least they should have been the lorekeepers of the traditions and knowledge of the Old Gods.

The total lack of such a caste in the North is a glaring omission of the series, in my view. And to tie it back to the question asked by the OP, this would then have been the person who advised Brandon Snow of the legendary ability of weirwood arrows.

[AryaNymeriaVisenya]

Weirwood is the poison. What obsidian is to the White Walkers, Weirwood is to dragons. Naturally forming representations of Ice and Fire.

If maesters killed the Targ dragons slowly maybe they were using Weirwood sap from the Oldtown tree?

[Free Northman Reborn]

Except that the Children don't represent the element of Ice. They represent Earth. And weirwoods are linked to their Earth magic, not to Ice magic.

So far in the series we have been directly exposed to magic from the elements of:

Ice

Fire

and Earth .

Outside of the main series -in the World Book - Water magic was also described to us, from ancient Rhoyne.

Furthermore, in the books we have references to Aeromancers, who presumably are practitioners of Air magic, but no such magic has been directly described to us yet.

So, we know that Fire magic is directly opposed to Ice Magic. This makes sense. We also know that Earth magic has some power to resist both Ice and Fire magic. Ice magic is resisted through the ward on Bloodraven's cave, and we have a reference from Jojen that there is "power in living wood as strong as that of Fire", which presumably means that Earth magic is equally capable of resisting Fire magic.

It would therefore seem that while weirwoods (representing Earth magic) has power to resist, damage or do harm to creatures using magic from the other elements, it is not the directly opposing force to either Ice or Fire magic. Hence, while weirwood arrows may therefore have the power to harm dragons, I strongly doubt that it is as catastrophically deadly to dragons as dragonglass is to Others, for example.

In other words, the dragon is not going to explode in a ball of smoke, equivalent to how an Other melts into a puddle of water at the touch of obsidian. But the dragon may well be affected, made more vulnerable or even killed by the weirwood arrows, to a far greater extent than it is by normal weapons.

[TheKingoftheSevenKingdoms]

Except that the Children don't represent the element of Ice. They represent Earth. And weirwoods are linked to their Earth magic, not to Ice magic.

So far in the series we have been directly exposed to magic from the elements of:

Ice

Fire

and Earth .

Outside of the main series -in the World Book - Water magic was also described to us, from ancient Rhoyne.

Furthermore, in the books we have references to Aeromancers, who presumably are practitioners of Air magic, but no such magic has been directly described to us yet.

So, we know that Fire magic is directly opposed to Ice Magic. This makes sense. We also know that Earth magic has some power to resist both Ice and Fire magic. Ice magic is resisted through the ward on Bloodraven's cave, and we have a reference from Jojen that there is "power in living wood as strong as that of Fire", which presumably means that Earth magic is equally capable of resisting Fire magic.

It would therefore seem that while weirwoods (representing Earth magic) has power to resist, damage or do harm to creatures using magic from the other elements, it is not the directly opposing force to either Ice or Fire magic. Hence, while weirwood arrows may therefore have the power to harm dragons, I strongly doubt that it is as catastrophically deadly to dragons as dragonglass is to Others, for example.

In other words, the dragon is not going to explode in a ball of smoke, equivalent to how an Other melts into a puddle of water at the touch of obsidian. But the dragon may well be affected, made more vulnerable or even killed by the weirwood arrows, to a far greater extent than it is by normal weapons.

Wait, ice, fire, earth, water and air magic? what is this, the legend of avatar or something.

:dunce:

In all serious, I agree with what you said.

[Beorn Snow]

I am disappointed at the lack of depth given to Northern culture. Specifically, that Northern noble Houses don't have permanent greenseers serving in a priestly capacity as advisors to them. Similar to the role that a druid would serve in ancient Europe.

Serving as counters to Septons in the South. And maybe even competing with the role of a Maester, who quite frankly is just a glorified clerk.

Where do you think the maester tradition comes from?

One might think that the ancient talking Ravens of old have something to do with greenseers and warging.

It´s not a coincidence that there are first men families all around with weird magical connections. You have the Blackwoods with their old dead weirwood full of ravens (and who just happen to be the maternal ancestors of both Bloodraven and Bran). You have the Starks and Daynes with super old magical swords (original Ice and Dawn), and you have the Hightowers. (And the Hightowers just so happen to rule the city where maesters train, learn magic and ravenry).

Now the maesters today may have been corrupted and try to wipe out magic. But if there is a maester conspiracy it´s mostly directed agains dragons, firemagic and so on. The Hightowers seem to be rather obsessed with magic and prophecy.

[Dragon Seed]

I am disappointed at the lack of depth given to Northern culture. Specifically, that Northern noble Houses don't have permanent greenseers serving in a priestly capacity as advisors to them. Similar to the role that a druid would serve in ancient Europe.

Serving as counters to Septons in the South. And maybe even competing with the role of a Maester, who quite frankly is just a glorified clerk.

If there aren't sufficient greenseers for each Northern House, then at the very least there should have been one for House Stark, the Kings in the North. And if the greenseers were no longer true greenseers with magical talent, at the very least they should have been the lorekeepers of the traditions and knowledge of the Old Gods.

The total lack of such a caste in the North is a glaring omission of the series, in my view. And to tie it back to the question asked by the OP, this would then have been the person who advised Brandon Snow of the legendary ability of weirwood arrows.

Why only the houses in the North? Before the 7 appeared, they worshiped the Old Gods in the South also. Why not Greenseers for Southern houses?

[Free Northman Reborn]

Well the answer is rather obvious. Because the South no longer worships the Old Gods and greenseers have been replaced by Septons. Aside from the fact that the weirwoods were all cut down South of the Neck.

[Mitbert Strangejoy]

Living Weirwood trees are composed of leaves, sap, and wood. The leaves and sap are red, alive, flowing, but also ephemeral. The living force within the Weirwood is what allows it to reproduce. The wood, on the other hand, is the unliving but eternal husk that Weirwood leaves behind. It's white, incapable of conferring reproductive life, and static. In a sense it's "ice"; but ice itself is probably more of a symbol of the eternal and static rather than the living embodiment of otherliness. The otherliness is that eternal, undying, but unliving force. It's passionless, bloodless, but beautiful and strong.

Dragons, fire, etc., are to life and the leaves/sap of weirwood as the others, ice, and static eternal beauty are to the wood of the weirwood. When the Weirwood is alive, it's a combination of these two forces -- a song of ice and fire, so to speak. But when you take its wood and weaponize it, you're isolating the eternal, static (ice) side of the tree.

That's my take.

[John Suburbs]

Except that the Children don't represent the element of Ice. They represent Earth. And weirwoods are linked to their Earth magic, not to Ice magic.

So far in the series we have been directly exposed to magic from the elements of:

Ice

Fire

and Earth .

There is also blood magic and shadow magic.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Blood magic and shadow magic are not elemental magic.

Aside from the fact that I think ALL magic is powered by the sacrificed life force of living things. Meaning Blood magic underlies all other magic. Shadow magic is a direct projection of that life force, while elemental magic is the projection of that life force power through an intermediate element, like Ice, Fire, Earth, Water or Air.

Ultimately, it all stems from blood magic, which in turn is another name for "life force" magic.

[Dragon Seed]

Well the answer is rather obvious. Because the South no longer worships the Old Gods and greenseers have been replaced by Septons. Aside from the fact that the weirwoods were all cut down South of the Neck.

Well, I was talking about before all the trees were cut down. It's a little late for any one in the North to be thinking about bringing greenseers into their house, most Northerners don't even believe in them any more. If they were to be used by each house like Septons are used, then it would have had to been done when people still believed in them and they were actually around to be recruited. So again...... why not southern houses also.

[Beorn Snow]

Also take into account that Greenseers are extremely rare. Bran is told in ADWD that one in a thousand (or something like that) can become a warg and only one in a thousand of those can become a greenseer. It´s simply way to rare for each great house in the north to have one, much less every house in the south as well.

But I suspect some of the old kings and noble families became powerful because of such ties. The Starks defeated warg-kings and were themselves wargs. The Reeds seem to be descended from similar kind of kings (house Mudd, which also has ties with the Starks).

The culture of the north isn´t undeveloped by the author either. Plot is revelation of information at certain times. When the time is right we will know more. (Or never, some things will remain mysterious I suppose).

[Free Northman Reborn]

Dragon Seed

Your point does not make sense.

Every House - North and South - should have had greenseers as a priestly class representing their religion - the religion of the Old Gods. This would have ended thousands of years ago, when the entire South converted to the religion of the Seven, and cut down all the weirwoods. With the old religion gone, so too would have gone the greenseers.

But not so in the North, where the old religion remained, along with the weirwoods that gave them their power. The fact that this did not continue in the North is an error in worldbuilding, in my view. It would have been understandable if the North had converted to the Faith of the Seven. But they did not. So the lack of druid-types in the North is a mystery.

In Bran's vision he sees a white haired woman with a sickle of bronze make human sacrifice to presumably give birth to the Heart Tree of Winterfell. This signifies some type of priestess/druid/greenseer as advisor to House Stark.

Why did this role die out? And why did nothing replace it? The Northern nobles today are almost secular in practice, compared to the South and definitely compared to the real world Middle Ages, where priests occupied a very important role.

[Victarion Chainbreaker]

Furthermore, in the books we have references to Aeromancers, who presumably are practitioners of Air magic, but no such magic has been directly described to us yet.

Mel burns that Florent guy to get favorable winds from Dragonstone to the Wall.

Osha says that wind is the voice of the Old Gods, which Theon later hears.

[Caspoi]

Free Northman Reborn@ Greenseers are really rare you know, there are probably less than one per generation.

[AryaNymeriaVisenya]

Right, so for a second think that Weirwood is not going to work. We have a song of ice and fire, we have Others (ice) and Dragons (fire). We find out there is a natural mineral that can kill Others, a rock formed in the heat of volcanos, Obsidian. So fire kills Ice. What is the opposite? What else have we seen that can fulfill this? We have Bran's vision of a youth making weirwood arrows, likely Brandon Snow to kill Aegon's dragons. We have Jojen's cryptic comment about living wood withstanding fire. To me the pieces fit.