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Weirwood arrows... How do they work?


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You know this scene is interesting from the show:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4049iH6WHxA



I thought it was a foreshadow of Ygritte shooting Jon three times at the end of that year for leaving her. But its three arrows and its following the build up of Arya and bows from the pilot. In the books she can't fire a bow, so I wonder if she will be merged with someone who does? Or she'll learn? Or maybe they just are using them to link her to Jon? I don't know, worth pointing out.







I don't really think that's true. I'll grant you he's the most likely candidate, but I could see it being a young Bloodraven for example, before he lost his eye. Or just some random person, like the woman with the bronze sickle. To get to "weirwood arrows must have been Brandon Snow's plan to stealthily kill the dragons" you have to assume the man in the vision is Brandon, and then assume that he's carving these arrows for that purpose. Then deal with the objections I raised like why just take three arrows, and how the hell was he gonna get close enough and manage to take out all three before they roasted him. So while I wouldn't be at all surprised if you guys turn out to be right, I don't think the theory is firm enough to be casually stated as fact like in the OP.






Not so. Its the Winterfell heart tree. All these things are taking place in front of the tree there. We do not know a young Bloodraven ever went there.


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I get what you're saying, Mitbert. But is the wood of a tree truly dead? The leaves, the sap, the bark, the wood, are all part of the living organism.

I think the three arrows is a literary clue that ties to Aegon's three dragons. According to AWoIaF, Brandon Snow planned to cross the Trident under the cover of darkness and kill the dragons while they slept. Shooting at sleeping dragons would increase his confidence in hitting his target. But yeah, I guess a spare arrow wouldn't hurt.

In most trees, yes, the heartwood is quite dead. (e.g., http://forestry.about.com/b/2013/08/06/how-much-of-a-tree-is-actually-alive.htm). Onlythe outermost layer is alive. But it is also very much my opinion that the non-living cells of a tree are part of the organism's overall structure, and Weirwood is no different. It's a mixture of living and non-living tissue, and that mixture makes it whole (obviously you cannot remove heartwood from a tree and expect it to live). The two parts need each other. I think that's true of the fire and ice elements of the Song of Fire and Ice as well.

But my comment was specifically directed towards the arrows. The arrows clearly are dead wood.

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Not so. Its the Winterfell heart tree. All these things are taking place in front of the tree there. We do not know a young Bloodraven ever went there.

I know it's the Winterfell heart tree. The fact that we don't know a young Bloodraven ever went there does not prove that he never did. We don't know every thing that ever happened to every character.

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It is a dark eyed youth. Bloodraven is an albino. It therefore is not Bloodraven.

He's also described as pale, which I think is consistent with being an albino. But I guess your point is that it's not possible for an albino to have dark eyes? I've never actually met one. Anyway eliminating Bloodraven as a suspect doesn't strengthen the case that it's Brandon. As I said it could be any random Stark.

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Bloodraven had red eyes.

Aye. Any point before Red Grass he would have had two red eyes. Any point after one red eye.

What would be the point of having some random dude making 3 arrows when it could have been some badass true north man getting ready to kill some invading monsters?

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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.

All magics have an opposition: Fire magic is opposed by Ice magic.

The magic of the CotF is more accurately "Life Magic" than Earth Magic. The Arm of Dorne aside, we don't have any evidence that the CotF have any control over "earth", but everything we've seen them do seems to center around the growth and manipulation of living things, plants and animals. It is countered by Blood Magic, which is fueled by the SACRIFICE of living things or at very least the depletion of life-force.

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In most trees, yes, the heartwood is quite dead. (e.g., http://forestry.about.com/b/2013/08/06/how-much-of-a-tree-is-actually-alive.htm). Onlythe outermost layer is alive. But it is also very much my opinion that the non-living cells of a tree are part of the organism's overall structure, and Weirwood is no different. It's a mixture of living and non-living tissue, and that mixture makes it whole (obviously you cannot remove heartwood from a tree and expect it to live). The two parts need each other. I think that's true of the fire and ice elements of the Song of Fire and Ice as well.

But my comment was specifically directed towards the arrows. The arrows clearly are dead wood.

Point well made, Mitbert. I like your idea.

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