Jump to content

What is hiding in the crypts of Winterfell?


Ser Hightower

Recommended Posts

I never actually picked up from the books that there was anything of great secret down there.

Am I supposed to think there is something down there or is this just a fan-favorite theory?

Fan theory. But, it does seem very likely. Without taking the time to find the exact quotes, the evidence involves Lyanna being the only woman with a tomb, the likelihood of R+L=J, missing Rhaegar stuff/missing Targ stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fan theory. But, it does seem very likely. Without taking the time to find the exact quotes, the evidence involves Lyanna being the only woman with a tomb, the likelihood of R+L=J, missing Rhaegar stuff/missing Targ stuff.

Interesting. I never really thought of it.

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's also the theory that the secret tunnels under the Wall go all the way down to the Crypts at Winterfell, which someone revived recently in connection with Benjen, although I can't remember what the connection was.


I heard about this one and I feel like the connection would have to be Mance. It's crazy, but there's much crazier
Link to comment
Share on other sites

an underground tunnel

I'm sure there is a tunnel, but, I think what's in that tunnel is important too and I'm not ruling out an Ice Dragon.  Something scared Hodor.  Why is it always cold in the crypts when it is warm from hotsprings that run under Winterfell everywhere else?  Exception:  Crypt and the pool by the Weirwood.  Both are cold.  I already know about subterranean temperatures, but this isn't logical in that the hot springs are said to run through the walls of Winterfell.  Cat's room was the warmest so, my guess would be the crypts under her room is where a dragon egg might be stashed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never actually picked up from the books that there was anything of great secret down there.
Am I supposed to think there is something down there or is this just a fan-favorite theory?

Ned himself was seen down there by both of his sons.  Something scared Hodor.  I don't think Hodor would be scared of Ned.  So, that's not a fan favorite theory, something definitely scares Hodor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ned himself was seen down there by both of his sons.  Something scared Hodor.  I don't think Hodor would be scared of Ned.  So, that's not a fan favorite theory, something definitely scares Hodor.

IIRC, doesn't everyone that isn't a Stark find it creepy and scary?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A way out of, and in to, Winterfell...

The vault was cavernous, longer than Winterfell itself, and Jon had told him once that there were other levels underneath, vaults even deeper and darker where the older kings were buried.

Bran VII, Game 66
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely a tunnel or a tunnel system

Something important about Lyanna's presence

Potentially more

 

There are so many references to the Winterfell crypts in the books and people are down there a lot

Ned and Robert

Bran and Rickon

Jon's dreams about them-being pulled down there even though he feels like he isn't welcome

Mention of taking Ned's remains there

Theon and Lady D

Plus the highly unusual fact that Lyanna was put down there-the only female Stark to get that honor-which leads everyone to question why Ned had decided to do it and if there is anything inside her crypt like a particular sword or something pertaining to her "promise me, Ned" secret.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IIRC, doesn't everyone that isn't a Stark find it creepy and scary?

"For a moment Eddard Stark was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding.  This was his place, here, in the North.  He looked at the stone figures all around him, breathed deep in the chill silence of the crypt.  He could feel the eyes of the dead.  They were listening he knew and Winter was coming."

 

Apparently not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard about this one and I feel like the connection would have to be Mance. It's crazy, but there's much crazier

It doesn't have to be Mance.  This goes back to Gendel & Gorne.  Ygritte tells Jon the story of Gendel's children.  In the World of Ice & Fire, Gendel and Gorne are brothers who are called upon to settle a dispute between the giants and the children of the forest.  The dispute is over a cavern.  Through trickery, they settled the dispute by having both sides decide they did not want the cavern.  This was after the brothers discovered that the cavern  was a part of a greater chain of caverns that eventually passed beneath the Wall.  This is where the talk of the tunnel that leads to Winterfell comes from. 

 

So, Mance is aware of the story, as Ygritte and the Wildings are aware of the story.  Whether any of them know where the tunnel, or caverns lead to is another thing.  It may be that Bael the Bard knew of it when he stole the daughter of a King of Winterfell, or so it was thought.  It turns out that they had stayed in the crypts of Winterfell.  Now, whether that is true or whether they were somewhere else in that tunnel system no one knows, but there is enough history to suggest that there is more to the Winterfell crypts than is known.

 

Mance uses the story of Bael the Bard as his guise to get into Winterfell...  Bael the Bard = Abel the Bard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont have the quotes at the moment but in Theon's chapters in ADWD, Lady Dustin seems to be very interested in the crypts as well which lends credibility to the importance.  Of course, it could be that she and others suspected Bran and Rickon might have hid down there.  I believe she does actually comment on the missing swords.  Mance also appears to be very interested in the crypts.

 

Honestly, I think there's a few realistic possibilities and its possible more than one are correct.  I dont think its any sort of marriage certificate or anything like that.  Too convenient and would most likely have deteriorated over time.  Its probably a source of knowledge down there.  History about the Starks, possibly their connected to winter/others/cotf.  Possibly knowledge of an ancient pact.  If it was going to be something related to Jon's parentage (which is possible given his dreams) it would probably be Raegar's harp but thats a little tacky to me.

 

I am a big believe in the tunnels theory.  There has been too much focus on caves and tunnels and their connection to the cotf and dawn age.  Also  the fact that there are several more levels that no one goes into anymore means its likely a few different tunnels.  The fact that the tunnels have collapsed suggests that something may have happened down there.  For all of you hopeful fans who believe there is a dragon down there (im not convined btw) it is possible maybe that dragon entered it through the black pool.  Osha suggests it may not have a bottom.  The dragon could have gone as far down as it goes and perhaps entered through a cavern once deep enough.  The disturbance of the dragon could have collapsed the lower levels and he/she could be lying dormant at the moment.  This could be the source of heat.

 

Theres always the possiblity as mentioned above that the original Ice or Lightbringer are down there as well.  Personally, I think both could be there along with the tunnels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there are hot springs down there

the water does flow through castle walls, donno if these are tunnels or smaller ducts

heated by something similar to flames of valyria 

 

maybe dragon, or dragon eggs 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Night's Queen (aka the Great Other) is entombed in the lowest level and sealed by blood magic. It was her capture and imprisonment that caused the Starks to build the Wall (to keep her from the Others) and by doing so they went from being the Lords of Winterfell, vassals of the King of the First Men at the Great Barrow, to the Kings of Winter (the NQ being the subjugated Winter Queen) and in turn forced the subjugation of the Kings of the First Men. That is why the Others want to breach the Wall - they want to end the NQs confinement at Winterfell. I don't believe that Craster's sons become the Others. There may be only one immortal Other (north of the Wall), though if there are more they are in very small number, who has turned Craster's sons into White Walkers (this is what Sam and the rangers in the aGoT encountered). I suspect that the White Walkers made from Craster's sons are ice magic equivalent of dragons (living ice as opposed to living fire) and that the White Walkers control a finite number of wights. But the Other(s) is the one who makes both the wights and the White Walkers who control them and he/they wants the Night's Queen freed. I suspect "he" is the immortal son of the immortal NQ and mortal (and deceased) NK. The NK was in fact executed more than 8000 years ago. But the NQ is immortal which is why she was taken captive for eternal confinement in the crypts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see why it's unlikely or impossible for something of Rhaegar's to be with Lyanna's crypt. Maybe his harp was now her harp. If she loved him, why wouldn't she keep a token of his? I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibilities. And Ned loved and cared about his sister, so why is it far fetched that maybe he enclosed some of her cherished possessions with her? The chances of someone messing with her crypt is probably rather slim in Ned's eyes because he has no idea about what's coming to pass. Robert would probably be the only one he'd have to worry about possibly bothering about her crypt, but Cersei's wrath might probably be enough to keep Robert from doing more than just visiting it.

 

And I'm not saying it has to be a harp, but I mean like there's no magical spell or supreme law that says only Stark artifacts may be present under the crypts. If she had one little thing declaring her love for someone of another house, why shouldn't she be laid to rest with it? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...