There's no "J" in the Pink Letter.

[Trigger Warning]

George spent 8 months writing the pink letter out with this exact intention. 

[Adam Targaryen]

Honestly, if truly ALL letters are there except Z and J, then maybe it was deliberate. It's not completely implausible and the "Bolt-On" theory is interesting to me. I want to believe this.

[YOVMO]

17 hours ago, Cayrouse said:

We really need the winds of winter to come out soon.

This got an honest lol. 

 

As I was reading OP comment I started doing the brain scan of relevance of the omission of a J in the pink letter and then saw your comment and laughed at myself.

 

Well done!

[YOVMO]

13 hours ago, Walda said:

J is a late addition to the English language.

If you look at old books, you will see they use an I (for example, in the 1611 edition of the King James bible.) Printers on the continent started using J about a century before, when they developed italic fonts (originally, in handwriting, J had begun as an i with added flourish - just as they wrote a double s with a long s and a short s (for example 'congreſs' up to the time of the eleventh congress of the USA), they would write ii as ji, but pronounce it just the same.

Hence there are not that many words with j in them, and quite a few with a soft g rather than a j.

And there is no reason why a person who writes a letter has to use every letter of the alphabet. Jane Austen wrote hundreds, and in all her surviving manuscript there is not an x to be seen.

I'm having difficulty thinking of J words that would fit naturally into a letter like this, anyway. Except that it was addressed to Jon Snow, and in Westeros the J is in play (as we know from when Robert Baratheon sent Eddard the letter telling him Jon Arryn was dead).

Still, it is rather over-familiar if Jon is not a personal acquaintance.  A well educated writer would avoid solecisms like "Jon", and address the "Lord Commander of the Night's Watch" or "Lord Snow" instead.

I suppose the final flourish is allowable, as that is an adjective, not a form of address, but  it would be more correct to use "priestess" for Melisandre, "servants" for the spearwomen, and either "princess" for Shireen or "wife" for Selyse (as whether the letter acknowledges the titles of the false king or not, it should be consistent).

Also, it is sheer southron ignorance to call Mance Raydar's sister by law a princess or  Mance Raydar's son a prince, as wildling titles are not hereditary. Our writer seems aware that Mance cannot retain the title of King-beyond-the-Wall after bending the knee to another king, real or false. It puzzles me that his kith and kin are given titles when he is referred to by name.

And even if we suppose Mance and his family were awarded courtesy titles by the grace of his new ignorant Southron king when he bent the knee, the way this letter is worded, it sounds as if Mance had also surrendered the paternity of his first born, and the conjugal relationship of his dead wife (I can't guess which Selyse would find more objectionable). 

It is far more interesting to me that the letter never says 'Stannis' than that it never says 'Jon'.

ETA: You could make a game of it - rewrite the Pink Letter so it retains it's meaning, but has more J's. The winner is the one with the most J's.

 

And in the latin alphabet Jehovah beings with an "I"

 

Source: Indiana Jones

[RedShirt47]

On 21/05/2016 at 7:40 AM, Cayrouse said:

We really need the winds of winter to come out soon.

The reason the book is taking so long is GRRM is writing the whole book without using the letter J. The Jaime chapters are particularly difficult, hence the delay.

ADOS will be done without using the letter E. So expect that book sometime around 2035.

[Gamel]

On 22/05/2016 at 2:00 AM, YOVMO said:

And in the latin alphabet Jehovah beings with an "I"

 

Source: Indiana Jones

You beat me to it.

 

And J is worth 8 points in English Scrabble, not 10.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ab/83/55/ab83550992a0ad823ab831bc5ff57c7c.jpg

[YOVMO]

Just now, Gamel said:

You beat me to it.

 

And J is worth 8 points in English Scrabble, not 10.

the comment pretty much made itself.

[YOVMO]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 2:21 AM, Braavosi Lemons said:

I did a quick search and couldn't find anyone else talking about this, and it probably means nothing, but the letter "J" is shockingly absent in the pink letter. You can check, it's just not in there. Every other letter is there, with the exception of "Z" which I think is excusable (Z's a stupid letter anyway). But the author, whoever they might be, doesn't include a single "J". Whats more, they seem to go out of there way to avoid using J's, choosing to address the letter "Bastard" instead of "Jon". While this could all easily be a coincidence I choose to believe that it's the key to solving this pink letter mystery. Thoughts? 

So there is no J and no Z? This could be the Pink Letter making a subtle hint that rapper JZ has no place in Winterfell. But JZ is married to Beyoncé and Beyoncé does the song flawless....flawless sounds a lot like faceless....so it is possible that the omission of the JZ is a subtle nod to the fact that Ramsey Bolton is a faceless man who wrote the pink letter with no J or Z to try to hide that fact not realizing that the absence would be conspicuous -- yes, I am going to go with that as a fact 100%

[John Doe]

On 21.5.2016 at 8:40 AM, Cayrouse said:

We really need the winds of winter to come out soon.

That should basically be in everyone's signature by now. 

Maybe Ramsay just doesn't know how to write J's. Writing isn't the primary profession of a lord, much less of a bastard raised by a stable boy named Reek. 

[CJ McLannister]

I think this was an episode of Murder She Wrote.  All we have to do is find the typewriter with a broken J and we'll know who wrote the letter!  

[Damon_Tor]

I'm pretty sure in book 2, chapter 3, the broken typewriter of Winterfell is described in detail. Why would GRRM describe a broken typewriter if not to give us this critical clue?

[YOVMO]

1 hour ago, Damon_Tor said:

I'm pretty sure in book 2, chapter 3, the broken typewriter of Winterfell is described in detail. Why would GRRM describe a broken typewriter if not to give us this critical clue?

I think I read somewhere that Bran the Builder used the J from the typewriter of winterfell as the keystone for the wall. This was obviously because Bran the Builder believed, due to a prophecy, that the letter J would at some point blow the horn of winter and bring the wall he was building down. The prophecy, however, was misread and it wasn't just the letter J but Joramun who had the horn of winter and not just the letter J from the Winterfellean Typerwritter. That, however, might be apocryphal as some stories have it that it wasn't Bran the Builder, but rather Bran the Breaker, the King of Winter, his son,  who, when confronting the 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch had declared himself King and took an undead wife, making the Nightfort his residence, knew that he would need to enlist the help of Joromun, King Beyond the Wall or face possible extinction had a meeting where Joromun laid out his terms for this uneasy alliance. Apparently, until then, Joromun had been known only as Oromun which means bear dung in the language of the ancient free people. Joromun means "enormous genitals" and so Oromun wished that to be his name. However, nowhere north of the wall was there the proper material to forge a J for the Typewriter of the Free Peoples. They simply did not posses this technology which was intended to be passed down generation to generation by the Kings in the North from Bran the Builder (who got his reputation as a builder by forging the J of winterfell and not by his shown prowess in constructing Winterfell, The Wall and Storm's End). While Bran the Breaker refused to share the technology on how the King Beyond the Wall could forge his own J he did give him the J of Winterfell os he could, henceforth, be known as Joromun rather than Oromun. With this the alliance was made and the Night's King was crushed ending his 13 year reign of terror from the Nightfort.

 

Bran the Breaker intended to forge a J as he believed there must always be a J in winterfell (which at the time was spelled WiJterJfJelJl though the J's were all silent.) Bran the Breaker died while attempting to forge the J in a smelting accident. His son, Theon Stark, The Hungry Wolf, took up the project of finishing the J but he ate it it and choked to death (this is why he is called the hungry wolf). Still having no J the project fell to Brandon Stark or Bran the Builder who decided Winterfell didn't need a J and would benefit from a fleet of ships instead. He built his fleet of ships but never finished the J. His son, Bran the Burner, burned all the ships because he thought having a fleet was too much of a distraction from the construction of a new J for winterfell. Meanwhile, Joromun had died Joromun which gave rise to the myth of the horn of joromun...actually a refrence to his enormous genitals, an epitath only possible because of his awesome J but the J was lost. Many people thought that it was the horn that was lost, but it was actually the J as the horn was just a reference to his dong. His son Dorren Stark, while king in the north, tried to trade with the children of the forest to get back Joromun's J rather than build his own. His son ON Stark finally finished the construction of a new J because he thought "on was a stupid name" After building the new J for winterfell he changed it to Jon Stark. He, after that, built the wolfs den and in the process dropped the J in the marshes. This lead to his son, King RIckard Stark, to attack the Marsh king for the missing J but was unable to find it. He died charging his son King Rodrik Stark to build another new J. He tried to do this by bestowing bear island on the Mormonts and hoped in return they would give him a J but, as it turns out, bear island totally sucked and the Mormonts kept and used their J.

King Edrick Snowbeard or Edrick the J-less as he came to be known, spent nearly 100 years as King in the North with no J and it eventually drove him man his Grandson, the Brandon they knew as ice eyes, was said to try to create a new letter even better than a J but failed when he got involved in emancipation efforts. Finally came Benjen the Sweet who reforged the mythical J and said "sweet" which is why he was given that name and named his son Benjen too because J ftw rt? Not much is known about that Benjen other than somewhere in the middle of his reign the J went missing again leading him to become incredibly bitter. Eyron Stark found the J which just happened to be on the side of the privy in a dark corner and for many generations the J was revered. Edderion Stark and Walton the Moonking both kept it in a place of prominence and made visiting dignitaries bow to it. Then came Brandon the bad. So sick of the cult of J worshippers he threw the J down a well. On his deathbed he repented and made a new J in less time than a J had ever been made. Many people think he was called Brandon the Bad for getting rid of the first J but in reality, in the north it was very popular to use "bad" as "good" and when he made the deathbed J everyone said "damn, you bad!" He gave that J to his son who used it as Jorah Stark and then his son Jonos Stark. However, After that, Edwyn the Spring King, so named for his fascination with springs, accidently launched the J with a spring loaded gun and it went so far that some claim it shot directly over the wall. There are some who claim it was moving so fast that it was glowing red and that it was the origin of the red comet, but the time lines don't seem to mesh. After tat King Harlon Stark tried, but failed, to build a new J. But the Bolton's rose against him because of their legendary hatred of J's and Harlon had to starve them out of the deadfort. That took 2 years and the J was never completed. His son Brandon IX Stark, after destroying the Skagosi, finished the J of Winterfell and gifted it to his young son Torrhen who eventually bent the Knee to Aegon the Conqueror. In doing so he Yielded up his crown, his sword and the J all of which were melted down by the fire of Balerion the Black Dread  and added to the Iron throne. Henceforth, all J's flowed from the King and would be taxed upon their use.

 

Of course, this ended when Robb Stark, the Young Wolf, was named King in the North and once again broke from the crown. Obviously his first mission was to finish the war at hand, get home and begin construction of a new J. Unfortunately, after being betrayed by Walder Fray at the Red Wedding on the orders of Tywin Lannister, Robb never returned to winterfell to work on the J.

It is because The north no longer had its own J and had severed ties from the crown and thus couldn't use theirs that the Pink Letter had no J in it.

 

I mean, it is kinda obvious,

[CJ McLannister]

No no.  Ned removed the key so that nobody could ever come up with the "R + L = J" theory.  It was just "R + L =" and nobody knew what that meant so the secret was safe.  The "J" is the secret buried in Lyanna's tomb.  Only Howland Reed knows its there.

[Ebrose]

I feel bad for the OP, but I must admit you guys have come up with some funny stuff 

We all definitely need TWoW soon before we go completely insane (if we still aren't)

[House Beaudreau]

On 5/21/2016 at 0:21 AM, Braavosi Lemons said:

I did a quick search and couldn't find anyone else talking about this, and it probably means nothing, but the letter "J" is shockingly absent in the pink letter. You can check, it's just not in there. Every other letter is there, with the exception of "Z" which I think is excusable (Z's a stupid letter anyway). But the author, whoever they might be, doesn't include a single "J". Whats more, they seem to go out of there way to avoid using J's, choosing to address the letter "Bastard" instead of "Jon". While this could all easily be a coincidence I choose to believe that it's the key to solving this pink letter mystery. Thoughts? 

Yea it pretty awesome that you figure that out but i really don't think it means anything. the real question is "who wrote the pink letter?"

[House Beaudreau]

6 hours ago, John Doe said:

That should basically be in everyone's signature by now. 

Maybe Ramsay just doesn't know how to write J's. Writing isn't the primary profession of a lord, much less of a bastard raised by a stable boy named Reek. 

are you Assuming Ramsay wrote the letter? what makes you so sure?