Jon’s Magic Mirror and Bran’s Starry Knight: Serwyn and Symeon

[Sly Wren]

Jon’s Magic Mirror and Bran’s Starry Knight

Serwyn and Symeon

An introductory explanation. And perhaps an apology.

The books’ repeated references to Symeon Star-Eyes and Serwyn of the Mirror Shield recently started bugging me. So, here’s my attempt to figure the references out. My current conclusion (subject to change at any moment): Jon’s the next Serwyn of the Mirror Shield. Bran will be a Star-Eyed Knight like Symeon. And both elements are key to the Battle for the Dawn.

ACT I: Jon and the Mirror Shield slay a “dragon.”

PART I: Once upon a time, there was a knight who was never a knight.

 1. Serwyn of the Mirror Shield comes up in Game, Clash, Storm, Dance, The Hedge Knight, and the World Book. That’s a lot of coverage for an ancient figure, no matter how shiny his shield is.

2. Serwyn may be known as a Kingsguard knight, but he was definitely not Kingsguard. The story is much, much older than the Kingsguard. Older even than Westerosi knights.

And besides the legendary kings and the hundreds of kingdoms from which the Seven Kingdoms were born, stories of such as Symeon Star-Eyes, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, and other heroes have become fodder for septons and singers alike. Did such heroes once exist? It may be so. But when the singers number Serwyn of the Mirror Shield as one of the Kingsguard—an institution that was only formed during the reign of Aegon the Conqueror—we can see why it is that few of these tales can ever be trusted. The septons who first wrote them down took what details suited them and added others, and the singers changed them—sometimes beyond all recognition—for the sake of a warm place in some lord's hall. In such a way does some longdead First Man become a knight who follows the Seven and guards the Targaryen kings thousands of years after he lived (if he ever did). The legion of boys and youths made ignorant of the past history of Westeros by these foolish tales cannot be numbered. World Book: Ancient History: The Age of Heroes.

PART II: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

1. Serwyn’s from Westerosi antiquity. . . somewhere. I think he’s from the Battle for the Dawn. (And that there’s a good chance he’s tied to House Cerwyn). But, how to textually pin down his importance? Well, he used a mirror shield—so let’s start there.

2. There are no mirrored shields in the novels. Nor do we have mirrors used offensively or defensively.

3. But there is a defensive structure that’s one big mirror: the Wall. Throughout the novels, we’re told that the Wall reflects light—it changes its mood and appearance based on ambient light.

4. Furthermore, it reflects light out. Sometimes enough light to effectively blind people.

By the sixth hour, Jarl had moved ahead of Grigg the Goat again, and his men were widening the gap. "The Mance's pet must want a sword," the Magnar said, shading his eyes. The sun was high in the sky, and the upper third of the Wall was a crystalline blue from below, reflecting so brilliantly that it hurt the eyes to look on it. Storm, Jon IV

4. And the Wall is actually a mirror for Jon in Dance—Jon can see his reflection in it—though his POV leaves out whether or not he does any preening.

Jon had given his chief captive the largest cell, a pail to shit in, enough furs to keep him from freezing, and a skin of wine. It took the guards some time to open his cell, as ice had formed inside the lock. Rusted hinges screamed like damned souls when Wick Whittlestick yanked the door wide enough for Jon to slip through. A faint fecal odor greeted him, though less overpowering than he'd expected. Even shit froze solid in such bitter cold. Jon Snow could see his own reflection dimly inside the icy walls. Dance, Jon X

5. And if the Wall is the shield, Serwyn’s title makes more sense: “Serwyn of the Mirror Shield” not “and the Mirror Shield.” If Serwyn was a brother of the Watch, he was part of the shield—he did not “wield” it. But he did use it. “I am . . . the shield that guards the realms of men.”

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[Sly Wren]

PART III: These are not the dragons you're looking for.

1. Another known element? The Mirror Shield supposedly helped Serwyn kill a dragon.

"No doubt. Well, Hugor Hill, answer me this.How did Serwyn of the Mirror Shield slay the dragon Urrax?"

"He approached behind his shield. Urrax saw only his own reflection until Serwyn had plunged his spear through his eye."

Haldon was unimpressed. "Even Duck knows that tale. Can you tell me the name of the knight who tried the same ploy with Vhagar during the Dance of the Dragons?"

Tyrion grinned. "Ser Byron Swann. He was roasted for his trouble … only the dragon was Syrax, not Vhagar."

"I fear that you're mistaken. In The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, Maester Munkun writes—"

"—that it was Vhagar. Grand Maester Munkun errs. Ser Byron's squire saw his master die, and wrote his daughter of the manner of it. His account says it was Syrax, Rhaenyra's she-dragon, which makes more sense than Munken's version. Swann was the son of a marcher lord, and Storm's End was for Aegon. Vhagar was ridden by Prince Aemond, Aegon's brother. Why should Swann want to slay her? Dance, Tyrion III

2. Okay—Martin is totally making fun of all us book nerds with this conversation—Tyrion and Haldon spar over which dragon was actually fought this way. And while they are fighting over that detail, they miss the key point. Thanks, George. 

3. The key point of Ser Byron Swann’s attempt against a dragon is that the technique was a dismal failure. Using a mirror to kill a Targaryen-like dragon is insane. And completely useless.

4. Thus, something about the story is off. But it is important enough that it still shows up in multiple novels. So what gives? Unless Serwyn wasn’t fighting a Valyrian dragon.

5. Why would an ancient, very pre-Targaryen figure with a very northern name be fighting a Valyrian dragon? Ancient Westeros wasn’t plagued by dragons. It was plagued by Others. The ice dragons.

6. The Ice Dragon constellation has a bright blue star eye that points north—eyes like the Others. And stories say its breath is horribly cold.  The Others and wights have blue star eyes and the bring cold wind. And come into the cold.

Jon nodded weakly. The door swung open. Pyp led them in, followed by Clydas and the lantern. It was all Jon could do to keep up with Maester Aemon. The ice pressed close around them, and he could feel the cold seeping into his bones, the weight of the Wall above his head. It felt like walking down the gullet of an ice dragon. The tunnel took a twist, and then another. Pyp unlocked a second iron gate. They walked farther, turned again, and saw light ahead, faint and pale through the ice. That's bad, Jon knew at once. That's very bad. Storm Jon VIII

7. As the novels progress, the Wall becomes colder—the cold winds are rising with the coming Others. And the Wall built against the Others grows colder, too. This cold makes Jon think of ice dragons multiple times in Dance.

They rode the winch lift back to the ground. The wind was gusting, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan had told when Jon was a boy. The heavy cage was swaying. From time to time it scraped against the Wall, starting small crystalline showers of ice that sparkled in the sunlight as they fell, like shards of broken glass. Dance, Jon VII

The road beneath the Wall was as dark and cold as the belly of an ice dragon and as twisty as a serpent. Dolorous Edd led them through with a torch in hand. Mully had the keys for the three gates, where bars of black iron as thick as a man's arm closed off the passage. Spearmen at each gate knuckled their foreheads at Jon Snow but stared openly at Val and her garron. Dance, Jon VIII

The snowfall was light today, a thin scattering of flakes dancing in the air, but the wind was blowing from the east along the Wall, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan used to tell. Even Melisandre's fire was shivering; the flames huddled down in the ditch, crackling softly as the red priestess sang. Only Ghost seemed not to feel the chill. Dance, Jon X

8. Thus, I think “ice dragon” is a metaphor/euphemism for “Others.” Perhaps even for what’s behind the Others. That’s what Serwyn fought and defeated, using the Mirror Shield/Wall.

PART IV: Sword? Check. Shield? Check. I am waitin’ for the light to shine!

1. So, if a Mirror Shield does not help kill a Valyrian dragon, how would a mirror help with the Others? Perhaps the Others are absurdly vain and will forget to fight whilst preening?

2. If they are fighting in the Long Night, the Others don’t have to worry about dawn or daylight. But they do have to worry about the real Lightbringer—Dawn.

3. Some of you know I think Jon will wield Dawn. That Dawn is the red blade Jon sees himself wielding in his nightmare battle for the Wall. Aaaand now all of you know I think that.

4. But, Dawn or no, how on earth would one burning sword help against an army of wights and Others in unending darkness? By bringing light.

5. We’ve seen what fake Lightbringer does under Mel’s glamour.

Stannis Baratheon drew Lightbringer.

The sword glowed red and yellow and orange, alive with light. Jon had seen the show before … but not like this, never before like this. Lightbringer was the sun made steel. When Stannis raised the blade above his head, men had to turn their heads or cover their eyes. Horses shied, and one threw his rider. The blaze in the fire pit seemed to shrink before this storm of light, like a small dog cowering before a larger one. The Wall itself turned red and pink and orange, as waves of color danced across the ice. Is this the power of king's blood? Dance, Jon III

6. That’s a freakish amount of light. Imagine how much light the real Lightbringer (Dawn) could bring at the right moment? When Jon invokes the unifying power of the Night’s Watch Oath?

7. If the sword is the light, what’s the shield? It’s a mirror. It reflects light.

The Wall itself turned red and pink and orange, as waves of color danced across the ice. Is this the power of king's blood? Dance, Jon III

8. The Wall reflects fake Lightbringer as it has been reflecting light for 5 books. Stannis’ sword brings light, though no heat. Dawn, however, brings much more light—and heat.

9. And the Dawn and the Wall/Shield go together. They even look like each other.

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. Storm Jon IV

10. Jon dreams of being atop the Wall with that burning sword—Dawn. He’s woken up by a gnarled hand before the whole thing comes to fruition. But imagine the light when the real Lightbringer reflects off of that Mirror Shield Wall.

PART V: Blinded by the light.

1. So how would this help stop the Others and end the Long Night? This is where I get even more speculative. Serwyn’s mirror let him sneak up on the “dragon” and spear him in the eye.

2. Eye-stabbing is a time-honored killing method that badass heroes use on evil foes. Given the emphasis on the star-eyes of the Others and wights, eye-stabbing a new Night’s King as he’s blinded by the Dawn-Shield combo—that might help break the magics.

3. But look at the descriptions of raised wights in the novels—they see. And their blue eyes emit light.

Will rose. Ser Waymar Royce stood over him.

His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from his sword transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye.

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

The things below moved, but did not live. One by one, they raised their heads toward the three wolves on the hill. The last to look was the thing that had been Thistle. She wore wool and fur and leather, and over that she wore a coat of hoarfrost that crackled when she moved and glistened in the moonlight. Pale pink icicles hung from her fingertips, ten long knives of frozen blood. And in the pits where her eyes had been, a pale blue light was flickering, lending her coarse features an eerie beauty they had never known in life.

She sees me. Dance, Prologue

4. But if they are dead, “they” can’t see. Will got it right: “It” saw. The eye is seeing, but Waymar is gone. Something else is seeing. Seeing and emitting light through the eyes.            

5. So, who is behind the wights? Who is seeing through their eyes? There’s a LOT of debate on this. But, one way or another, the wights and Others see for someone or something. And that’s who must be stopped to stop the Others.

6. The wights’ eyes EMIT LIGHT OUT. This is. . . unusual. So, how will the Others and wights, let alone those who see through their eyes react where the light is reflected back at them? When they can only see themselves?

7. I propose that when Lightbringer’s light is reflected back at them, they’ll be blinded. Like the Wildlings were when climbing the Wall. And those behind the Others will be vulnerable and blind.

8. The light that the wights’ and Others’ eyes emit will be shot back through their eyes to whatever is behind them. Stabbed through the eye. Because they can only see themselves (the light they emit).  

9. But if that’s no go—Jon could try a sword or spear through the eye. And if it does turn out to be Bloodraven behind all of this, Meera’s right there with a frog spear. Team work!

PART VI: Serwyn’s side projects: tortured soul saves the girl

1. Not convinced? There’s more! Serwyn was haunted by those he killed.

Beside her, Daario Naharis was sleeping as peacefully as a newborn babe. He had a gift for sleeping, he'd boasted, smiling in that cocksure way of his. In the field, he would sleep in the saddle oft as not, he claimed, so as to be well rested should he come upon a battle. Sun or storm, it made no matter. "A warrior who cannot sleep soon has no strength to fight," he said. He was never vexed by nightmares either. When Dany told him how Serwyn of the Mirror Shield was haunted by the ghosts of all the knights he'd killed, Daario only laughed. "If the ones I killed come bother me, I will kill them all again." He has a sellsword's conscience, she realized then. That is to say, none at all. Dance, Dany VII

2. Jon is haunted. Haunted by those he’s lost—he dreams of killing Ned as a wight. In the same novel as Dany’s Serwyn quote, Jon’s haunted in his nightmare battle by the horror of those he got killed (Ygritte, Robb, Qhorin, etc.).

As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. He slew a greybeard and a beardless boy, a giant, a gaunt man with filed teeth, a girl with thick red hair. Too late he recognized Ygritte. She was gone as quick as she’d appeared.

The world dissolved into a red mist. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. He hacked down Donal Noye and gutted Deaf Dick Follard. Qhorin Halfhand stumbled to his knees, trying in vain to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. “I am the Lord of Winterfell,” Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Dance, Jon XII

3. Plus, Serwyn supposedly saved a maiden from a terrible fate:

She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully. He was so gallant, she thought. The way he had rescued her from Ser Ilyn and the Hound, why, it was almost like the songs, like the time Serwyn of the Mirror Shield saved the Princess Daeryssa from the giants, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil's slanders. Game, Sansa I

4. What could this be? My first temptation is to go to @sweetsunray’s fabulous “Sansa and the Giants” essay. But my idea might stretch sweetsunray’s much too far. And then she might yell at me. 

5. We definitely have Alys Karstark’s being “saved” by Jon. So, that might be it. But I also think Jon may help Sansa when she comes north.

PART VII: Wrapping up—Turn up the volume, Jon.

Bottom line:

1. Serwyn is in the story far too much not to matter.

2. The Wall is noted for its reflective qualities far too often not to be significant.

3. Based on fake Lightbringer, real Lightbringer is likely to bring a LOT of light.

4. Jon has seen part of the future in his nightmare battle—atop the Wall with a red blade burning in his fist.

5. Now Jon just needs to speak his words and light that blade up to 11. And shine!

6. (Aaaand then possibly stab something in the eye.)

Next up: ACT II: Bran's Starry Knighthood

[watcher of the night]

Hm, I like your idea that the wall is a mirror. Why build it from ice?

We also know that the Sword of the Morning is a star that brings dawn, and dawn is the lightbringer.

The Sword of the Morning is also a heritable title and the person has the sword Dawn, which, as the previous logic distates should be Lightbringer, the sword of Azor Ahai.

Now, what can a pale milk glass sword do with a mirror, how could it be "lightbringer"? What if the wall is a parabolic mirror focusing light to a spot and you need a lens to direct this light. What if Dawn such a lens that can gather and direct the light mirrored by the wall, to create a beam of light that can melt ice or anything in front ot it?

Kind of crazy ...

[sweetsunray]

Very nice, @Sly Wren!!!! I really like the idea of the Wall as a "mirror shield" and "ice dragon" possibly being a reference for the Others. After all if Targs are called "dragons", then Others could have been called "ice dragons".

Well, my Sansa and the Giants essay and prediction basically ends with the fall of the Eyrie, House Arryn and Littlefinger and destruction of the Bloody Gate and Gates of the Moon, rather early in the Winter season, and before the Long NIght. Even if I think there is a bigger chance for the Mad Mouse to kidnap Sansa at that point, it might include other characters. She could go to the Royces (with their shield with runes). Maybe she's saved by a Royce. In theory you can refer to my prediction and theorize what will happen to Sansa beyond the disasters I predict, without me "yelling" :p.

However, since George does like to use echoes and parallels, Jon can save a maiden from giants and Sansa can be saved by someone with a shield from giants, and it still not being Jon saving Sansa.

[Sly Wren]

1 hour ago, watcher of the night said:

Hm, I like your idea that the wall is a mirror. Why build it from ice?

1. 

2. Not sure on why ice. I'm all over the place on this--did the Others raise the Wall and the then the Last Hero turned it against them with Ligthbringer? Did the children help Brandon the Builder raise the Wall to first fight the Others and then keep them out? No idea. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Wall got used against those who first raised it--the Others.

1 hour ago, watcher of the night said:

We also know that the Sword of the Morning is a star that brings dawn, and dawn is the lightbringer.

The Sword of the Morning is also a heritable title and the person has the sword Dawn, which, as the previous logic distates should be Lightbringer, the sword of Azor Ahai.

Now, what can a pale milk glass sword do with a mirror, how could it be "lightbringer"? What if the wall is a parabolic mirror focusing light to a spot and you need a lens to direct this light. What if Dawn such a lens that can gather and direct the light mirrored by the wall, to create a beam of light that can melt ice or anything in front ot it?

Kind of crazy ...

I like this--thought the Wall is straight for a big length and serpent shaped for another big length. No mention of a parabola.

Focusing the light could be VERY interesting. Turning the Wall into an offensive weapon.

I fully admit my prejudice that no one person will solve the problem of the Others. Even the Oath is all about unity. Which is why I think Jon may drive them back and perhaps blind those behind them, but someone else might actually kill the battery in the wight factory.

A pack effort form the direwolves?

But I'm basing this on a legend that didn't get fleshed out until Dance, so, who knows?

[Sly Wren]

1 hour ago, sweetsunray said:

Very nice, @Sly Wren!!!! I really like the idea of the Wall as a "mirror shield" and "ice dragon" possibly being a reference for the Others. After all if Targs are called "dragons", then Others could have been called "ice dragons".

1.

2. Yes--Dance is full of the Wall's tie to ice dragons. Seems like Martin is telling us about what that Ice Dragon constellation is tied to. It points north (Others) while the Sword of the Morning hangs in the south (Dawn).

Seems like something's up there.

1 hour ago, sweetsunray said:

Well, my Sansa and the Giants essay and prediction basically ends with the fall of the Eyrie, House Arryn and Littlefinger and destruction of the Bloody Gate and Gates of the Moon, rather early in the Winter season, and before the Long NIght. Even if I think there is a bigger chance for the Mad Mouse to kidnap Sansa at that point, it might include other characters. She could go to the Royces (with their shield with runes). Maybe she's saved by a Royce. In theory you can refer to my prediction and theorize what will happen to Sansa beyond the disasters I predict, without me "yelling" :p.

HA! Yes--I have no idea how Jon would get down to her. Or send something down to her. I could see Bran finding a way to reach her like he did with Jon (when Jon has the dream of Bran as a Tree). 

But the Royces and/or Mad Mouse getting her out makes a lot of sense. Sansa's getting away from Baelish will make me happy per se.

1 hour ago, sweetsunray said:

However, since George does like to use echoes and parallels, Jon can save a maiden from giants and Sansa can be saved by someone with a shield from giants, and it still not being Jon saving Sansa.

Indubitably.