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Wow, I Never Noticed That v. 13


Rhaenys_Targaryen

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The cover for A Dance with Dragons is reminiscent of the arms of the newly founded House Thenn (as described in the books).

 

 

The bride's cloak Sigorn fastened about Lady Alys's shoulders showed a bronze disc on a field of white wool, surrounded by flames made of wisps of crimson silk. The echo of the Karstark sunburst was there for those who cared to look, but differenced to make the arms appropriate for House Thenn.

 

The most glaring difference (other than the disc on the cover showing a dragon) is the red flames, though at least one version of the cover has the background being a fiery red. I don't know if I would go so far as to say the disc is bronze on most of them though, other than the one shown on wikpiedia which has the green colour of oxidized bronze. I was actually looking for another quote on another thing when I read the description and went all "Wait a minute..."

 

I'm still looking for quotes and now I found something else...

 

He turned back to the weirwood and studied the carved face a moment. It is not the face we saw, he admitted to himself. The tree's not half as big as the one at Whitetree. The red eyes wept blood, and he didn't remember that either. Clumsily, Sam sank to his knees. "Old Gods, hear my prayer. The Seven were my father's gods but I said my words to you when I joined the Watch. Help us now. I fear we may be lost. We're hungry too, and so cold. I don't know what gods I believe in now, but... please, if you're there, help us. Gilly has a little son." That was all he could think to say. The dusk was deepening, the leaves of the weirwood rustling softly, waving like a thousand blood-red hands. Whether Jon's gods had heard him or not he could not say.

 

 

Then, by the door, one of the shadows moved. A big one.

This is still a dream, Sam prayed. Oh, make it that I am still asleep, make it a nightmare. He's dead, he's dead, I saw him die. "He's come for the babe," Gilly wept. "He smells him. A babe fresh-born stinks o' life. He's come for the life.

 

This is in the same chapter, the one where Sam kills wighted Small Paul and meets Coldhands. It seems both Bloodraven (assuming he sent Coldhands) and the wights/Others heard Sam's prayer to the weirwood. The mention of Gilly's son seems like the trigger for the wights to come, especially since Small Paul shows up and barely even cares about Sam.

I wonder how the Others heard the weirwood prayer. Do they have their own way of accessing the weirnet? Is there some ancient Other sitting in a tree somewhere? I assume it's the Others sending the wights, and not say, Bloodraven, since 1. The Others likely control the wights, and 2. Coldhands is more likely to be sent by Bloodraven, suggesting conflicting interests. As to why he was so close I don't know. Perhaps he was already on his way down towards the Wall, to guide Bran & Co to Bloodraven. Perhaps he was hanging out around the wights, I don't think they care about him much since he's already dead.

 

Alright, to the reason I actually started this post:

 

The eyes of the wights.

 

They are all blue, we know that. They apparently stop being blue when they die. But there seems to be a way of telling whether they are dormant or active. Some quotes:

 

 

Paul's hands were coal, his face was milk, his eyes shone a bitter blue. - ASOS, Samwell III

 

 

The right eye was open. The pupil burned blue. It saw. - AGOT, Prologue

 

 

The sword laid the intruder open to the bone, taking off half his nose and opening a gash cheek to cheek under those eyes, eyes, eyes like blue stars burning. - AGOT, Jon VII

 

 

"Might be they didn't die here. Might be someone brought 'em and left 'em for us. A warning, as like." The old forester peered down suspiciously. "And might be I'm a fool, but I don't know that Othor never had no blue eyes before." - AGOT,Jon VII

 

In this last one there is nothing about the eyes burning, shining, glowing, or anything other than just being blue in colour. I'm sure others have noticed this detail before, it's just something that struck me as I just started rereading the books and read the first quote about Waymar Royce's eyes. That quote is the only one where the pupil is mentioned. It's also one of five mentions of pupils in the series, the others being about Waymar's left pupil, which is blinded by a shard from his sword, and once about Tywin, Sweetrobin and the banner of Euron Greyjoy.

There is nothing on Waymar's irises being blue.

 

One last quote about wighted eyes:

 

And in the pits where her (Thistle) eyes had been , a pale blue light was flickering, lending her coarse features an eerie beauty they had never known in life. - ADOS, Prologue

Thistle clawed her eyes out when Varamyr skinchanged into her.

 

Is it crazy that I think the irises turn blue over time? Waymar and Thistle are freshly wighted. Waymar only has blue pupils, as far as Will notices. Thistle doesn't even have eyes (which kind of makes me think nothing about her should glow blue). Othor and Jafer Flowers had been dead and likely wighted for days, Small Paul too. Othor and Jafer's eyes are just described as blue, until they rise again, when they start shining.

Coldhands on the other hand, is definitely dead, but he is not said to have blue eyes. Does this mean something else resurrected him? He shares pretty much everything else with the wights, other than intelligence. Or was he briefly wighted, but not long enough to leave his eyes blue? Or maybe her died as a wight and then came back...  :eek:  Okay, this is getting too crackpot.

So, Active wights = Burning/shining blue eyes, Dormant wights = simply blue eyes. Dead-dead wights = regular colour. The light likely stems from the pupil, or the area around there.

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^Pay attention to the weather in the Othor/Jafer chapter. It was very warm when Jeor went out to recover the bodies. But after they were brought under the Wall. The Others sent a cold wind to wake 'em up.

 

I just read this part yesterday. I thought the weather matched Jons mood.

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^Pay attention to the weather in the Othor/Jafer chapter. It was very warm when Jeor went out to recover the bodies. But after they were brought under the Wall. The Others sent a cold wind to wake 'em up.

Interestingly enough, the days before the prologue of AGOT takes place, the Wall is said to have been weeping as well.

 

Either the Others come with the cold, or the cold comes with the Others. My guess, currently, would be that the cold comes with the Others, which then perhaps means that the Others were nearby when Jafar and Othor 'woke' and attacked the men at CB..

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In my current re-read (re-read 4) of the series and it has taken me this long to realise that Arya wargs into a cat in ADWD. As Blind Beth she goes to an inn, and a cat comes to sit on her lap.  She wargs the cat and sees a group of men at another table.  She then takes the cat back to the HOBAW with her, and wargs it again the following morning when talking to the kindly man.  I think this makes Arya the first of the Stark children (other than Bran) to warg someone/something other than their direwolf? 

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Daenerys talks about Hizdahr's crown being derived from her own. I believe she mentions it while talking to Quentyn.
 
But what is neat, is that when she hops into the pit, to tame, and then ride Drogon, she loses a sandal.
 
"The queen took off her sandal, the king took off his crown..."


Ha. Not even GRRM realised that one.
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Daenerys talks about Hizdahr's crown being derived from her own. I believe she mentions it while talking to Quentyn.
 
But what is neat, is that when she hops into the pit, to tame, and then ride Drogon, she loses a sandal.
 
"The queen took off her sandal, the king took off his crown..."


Very clever :)
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This passage from one of Theon's chapters in Dance

 

 

And even such as these made mock of Theon Turncloak. Let them laugh. His pride had perished here in Winterfell; there was no place for such in the dungeons of the Dreadfort. When you have known the kiss of a flaying knife, a laugh loses all its power to hurt you.

 

made me immediately think of Tywin

 

 

"Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly." Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She climbed the steps to stand above the bier. "He could never abide being laughed at. That was the thing he hated most."

...

"We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them."

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From Davos IV Dance, after Davos has treated with Lord Manderly and learned he must sail to Skagos :
 

 

 

But there were other places in this world where men were known to break their fast on human flesh.
 

From The Prince of Winterfell:

 

The Lord of White Harbor had furnished the food and drink, black stout and yellow beer and wines red and gold and purple, brought up from the warm south on fat-bottomed ships and aged in his deep cellars. The wedding guests gorged on cod cakes and winter squash, hills of neeps and great round wheels of cheese, on smoking slabs of mutton and beef ribs charred almost black, and lastly on three great wedding pies, as wide across as wagon wheels, their flaky crusts stuffed to bursting with carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, mushrooms, and chunks of seasoned pork swimming in a savory brown gravy. Ramsay hacked off slices with his falchion and Wyman Manderly himself served, presenting the first steaming portions to Roose Bolton and his fat Frey wife, the next to Ser Hosteen and Ser Aenys, the sons of Walder Frey. "The best pie you have ever tasted, my lords," the fat lord declared. "Wash it down with Arbor gold and savor every bite. I know I shall."

True to his word, Manderly devoured six portions, two from each of the three pies, smacking his lips and slapping his belly and stuffing himself until the front of his tunic was half-brown with gravy stains and his beard was flecked with crumbs of crust.

 

 

"We should have a song about the Rat Cook," he was muttering, as he staggered past Theon, leaning on his knights. "Singer, give us a song about the Rat Cook."

 

Thanks to Frey pies, Skagos isn't the only place men eat human flesh.

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From Davos IV Dance, after Davos has treated with Lord Manderly and learned he must sail to Skagos :
 

 

From The Prince of Winterfell:

 

Thanks to Frey pies, Skagos isn't the only place men eat human flesh.

 

Oh, that's a good one; seems kinda obvious now. Cannibalism does seem to becomes a theme in the fifth book: the "pork" Coldhands brings to Bran, Hodor, and the Reed; the four cannibals that Stannis burns; Varamyr eating the woman and her baby through his wolf pack.

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