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Small Questions v. 10105


Rhaenys_Targaryen

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1 hour ago, Blue Tiger said:

Twelve houses of the heavens are constellations. They have different names in different cultures, but in Westeros they are known as:

- Crone's Lantern

- Galley

-Ghost

- Ice Dragon

- King's Crown (called Cradle by the Free Folk)

- Moonmaid 

- Shadowcat

- Sow

- Stallion (called Horned Lord by the Free Folk)

- Sword of the Morning

There are also 7 known Wanderers (most likely planets). Followers of the Faith of the Seven belive that each of them is associted with one of gods. Red Wanderer is Smith, it's also known as Thief among the Free Folk.

You can read more about astronomy of Westeros here: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Astronomy

 

Thank You!!! 

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18 hours ago, Blue Tiger said:

Twelve houses of the heavens are constellations. They have different names in different cultures, but in Westeros they are known as:

- Crone's Lantern

- Galley

-Ghost

- Ice Dragon

- King's Crown (called Cradle by the Free Folk)

- Moonmaid 

- Shadowcat

- Sow

- Stallion (called Horned Lord by the Free Folk)

- Sword of the Morning

There are also 7 known Wanderers (most likely planets). Followers of the Faith of the Seven belive that each of them is associted with one of gods. Red Wanderer is Smith, it's also known as Thief among the Free Folk.

You can read more about astronomy of Westeros here: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Astronomy

 

Where is it confirmed that those constellations are the Twelve Houses of Heaven? 

Quote

Ghost was gone when the wildlings led their horses from the cave. Did he understand about Castle Black? Jon took a breath of the crisp morning air and allowed himself to hope. The eastern sky was pink near the horizon and pale grey higher up. The Sword of the Morning still hung in the south, the bright white star in its hilt blazing like a diamond in the dawn, but the blacks and greys of the darkling forest were turning once again to greens and golds, reds and russets. And above the soldier pines and oaks and ash and sentinels stood the Wall, the ice pale and glimmering beneath the dust and dirt that pocked its surface.

Jon IV, Storm 30

The colors are just a description of the sunrise and a reminder that we are in autumn. The more interesting thing here is the Sword of the Morning constellation on the southern horizon, as seen north of the Wall. Forget for the moment that a 700-foot wall of ice should have blotted out the southern horizon from the view of a man (even if he is the special snowflake) standing on the ground just north of the Wall. Rather, concentrate on the shape of the constellation and the bright white star in its hilt blazing like a diamond in the dawn. It should be a cross with a very bright star at one end. Well, that is Crux, also known as the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross, of course, is a small, cross-shaped constellation, with a first-magnitude star (the brightest stars in the night sky), at its bottom end, called Alpha Crucis, also known as Acrux. The analogy is not perfect though. Acrux is at the end that would be the point of the sword, and in any event, it is a blue star. Gamma Crucis, also known as Gacrux is the star that would be the sword’s hilt, and Gacrux is red. The other problem is that the Southern Cross is not observable from north of the 26th parallel (South Florida).

That an ASOIAF constellation resembles one of our own should not be surprising since several celestial bodies described in ASOIAF mirror our own. The George had just given us a little more astronomy in Jon’s preceding chapter in Storm. . .

Quote

So many stars, he thought as he trudged up the slope through pines and firs and ash. Maester Luwin had taught him his stars as a boy in Winterfell; he had learned the names of the twelve houses of heaven and the rulers of each; he could find the seven wanderers sacred to the Faith; he was old friends with the Ice Dragon, the Shadowcat, the Moonmaid, and the Sword of the Morning. All those he shared with Ygritte, but not some of the others. We look up at the same stars, and see such different things. The King's Crown was the Cradle, to hear her tell it; the Stallion was the Horned Lord; the red wanderer that septons preached was sacred to their Smith up here was called the Thief. And when the Thief was in the Moonmaid, that was a propitious time for a man to steal a woman, Ygritte insisted. "Like the night you stole me. The Thief was bright that night."

Jon III, Storm 26

The twelve houses of heaven correspond to the zodiac; the seven wanders correspond to the classical planets of antiquity (i.e., the Sun and Moon and the five planets visible to the naked eye, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), and the red wanderer corresponds to Mars. The Moonmaid most likely corresponds to Virgo since there is a whole bunch of astrology mumbo jumbo about when Mars is in Virgo.

The first mention of an “ice dragon” follows Bran’s realization that the old powers are real. He then asks Osha how to go north, and what he might find. Osha tells him to look for the Ice Dragon, and to chase the blue star in the rider's eye. (It should be noted that after this mention as the blue star in the rider’s eye, it is afterward referred to as the blue star in the dragon’s eye. Since Jon tells us later that the Wildings’s nomenclature for celestial bodies is slightly different than the nomenclature used south of the Wall, this is not necessarily an inconsistency.)

Thus, we learn that the Ice Dragon is a constellation, and that the blue star in the dragon’s eye is a pole star. Currently (more on that in a moment), the north pole star in our sky is Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. Thus, it appears that the star in the dragon’s eye that points north corresponds to Polaris. But there are differences here too. Polaris is more white than blue, and Ursa Minor is a little bear, not a dragon. However, Ursa Minor is bordered by Draco, which is a dragon, in the north sky, and one of the stars in Draco is Thuban, which is more blue than white.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting: The Southern Cross was visible from the British Isles, Canada, Alaska, and Russia 10,000 years ago, and it will be visible from those regions again after another 15,000 years. This is due to the motion of the Earth called axial precession. This is the motion you see in a wobbling top as it starts to slow. The Earth’s axial precession takes about 26,000 years to complete.

Due to this axial precession, the north star 6,000 years ago was Thuban, a blue star in Draco! And while you might not have been able to see Acrux from Scotland 6,000 years ago, you would have been able to see it from England.

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22 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Where is it confirmed that those constellations are the Twelve Houses of Heaven? 

Jon IV, Storm 30

The colors are just a description of the sunrise and a reminder that we are in autumn. The more interesting thing here is the Sword of the Morning constellation on the southern horizon, as seen north of the Wall. Forget for the moment that a 700-foot wall of ice should have blotted out the southern horizon from the view of a man (even if he is the special snowflake) standing on the ground just north of the Wall. Rather, concentrate on the shape of the constellation and the bright white star in its hilt blazing like a diamond in the dawn. It should be a cross with a very bright star at one end. Well, that is Crux, also known as the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross, of course, is a small, cross-shaped constellation, with a first-magnitude star (the brightest stars in the night sky), at its bottom end, called Alpha Crucis, also known as Acrux. The analogy is not perfect though. Acrux is at the end that would be the point of the sword, and in any event, it is a blue star. Gamma Crucis, also known as Gacrux is the star that would be the sword’s hilt, and Gacrux is red. The other problem is that the Southern Cross is not observable from north of the 26th parallel (South Florida).

That an ASOIAF constellation resembles one of our own should not be surprising since several celestial bodies described in ASOIAF mirror our own. The George had just given us a little more astronomy in Jon’s preceding chapter in Storm. . .

Jon III, Storm 26

The twelve houses of heaven correspond to the zodiac; the seven wanders correspond to the classical planets of antiquity (i.e., the Sun and Moon and the five planets visible to the naked eye, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), and the red wanderer corresponds to Mars. The Moonmaid most likely corresponds to Virgo since there is a whole bunch of astrology mumbo jumbo about when Mars is in Virgo.

The first mention of an “ice dragon” follows Bran’s realization that the old powers are real. He then asks Osha how to go north, and what he might find. Osha tells him to look for the Ice Dragon, and to chase the blue star in the rider's eye. (It should be noted that after this mention as the blue star in the rider’s eye, it is afterward referred to as the blue star in the dragon’s eye. Since Jon tells us later that the Wildings’s nomenclature for celestial bodies is slightly different than the nomenclature used south of the Wall, this is not necessarily an inconsistency.)

Thus, we learn that the Ice Dragon is a constellation, and that the blue star in the dragon’s eye is a pole star. Currently (more on that in a moment), the north pole star in our sky is Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. Thus, it appears that the star in the dragon’s eye that points north corresponds to Polaris. But there are differences here too. Polaris is more white than blue, and Ursa Minor is a little bear, not a dragon. However, Ursa Minor is bordered by Draco, which is a dragon, in the north sky, and one of the stars in Draco is Thuban, which is more blue than white.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting: The Southern Cross was visible from the British Isles, Canada, Alaska, and Russia 10,000 years ago, and it will be visible from those regions again after another 15,000 years. This is due to the motion of the Earth called axial precession. This is the motion you see in a wobbling top as it starts to slow. The Earth’s axial precession takes about 26,000 years to complete.

Due to this axial precession, the north star 6,000 years ago was Thuban, a blue star in Draco! And while you might not have been able to see Acrux from Scotland 6,000 years ago, you would have been able to see it from England.

 

Oh... Excuse me. I thought I was in the "small questions" forum. 

(Backs out of the room slowly)

 

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2 hours ago, Lost Umber said:

 

Oh... Excuse me. I thought I was in the "small questions" forum. 

(Backs out of the room slowly)

 

It is. Sorry for the long, off-topic answer. I think I'll back out slowly now...

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3 hours ago, Lost Umber said:

 

Oh... Excuse me. I thought I was in the "small questions" forum. 

(Backs out of the room slowly)

 

There's an emoticon for that you know. 

:leaving:

And it's the Small Questions forum, not the Small Answer forum.  :thumbsup:

ETA: Oops, ninja'd by Illyrio Moparties.

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I used to think grrm named Cersei after Circe, the enchantress who turned men into pigs, but apparently he's been asked this, and it's not so.

Where did he get the name from? Is it common, or are there variants in use? Has it a known meaning?

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16 hours ago, Megaera said:

Stannis's Lightbringer - presumably both Mel and Stannis know its all a glamour right?

Stannis doesn't know exactly, but he has a suspicious mind:

Quote

"... she speaks of signs and swears they point to me ... Lightbringer!" Stannis gave a derisive snort. "It glimmers prettily, I'll grant you, but on the Blackwater this magic sword served me no better than any common steel..."

 

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7 hours ago, CJ McLannister said:

I'm not sure that Mel doesn't believe it either.  She's delusional.

No, she isn't. She is well aware that a lot of what she does is smoke and mirrors. She gets visions and suchlike wrong, but that doesn't mean she is delusional, just wrong. If Lightbringer is glamoured, she knows, because she glamoured it

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16 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

No, she isn't. She is well aware that a lot of what she does is smoke and mirrors. She gets visions and suchlike wrong, but that doesn't mean she is delusional, just wrong. If Lightbringer is glamoured, she knows, because she glamoured it

I think it's more that she thinks that glamouring it makes it Lightbringer.  She's too committed to her belief in Stannis to accept that she's cheating.

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1 hour ago, CJ McLannister said:

I think it's more that she thinks that glamouring it makes it Lightbringer.  She's too committed to her belief in Stannis to accept that she's cheating.

Maybe something like that. She believes absolutely that Stannis is AA, so Lightbringer will arrive one way or another. She's just helping destiny along a bit, so Stannis is recognised as the hero, and gets his legions of supporters in time for the battle for the dawn.

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