Arya may have planted a weirwood

[Daendrew]

I think Arya may have planted a weirwood by using Praed's corpse as the initial blood sacrifice.

Quote

Come morning, when Praed did not awaken, Arya realized that it had been his coughing she had missed. They dug a grave of their own then, burying the sellsword where he'd slept. Yoren stripped him of his valuables before they threw the dirt on him. One man claimed his boots, another his dagger. His mail shirt and helm were parceled out. His longsword Yoren handed to the Bull. "Arms like yours, might be you can learn to use this," he told him. A boy called Tarber tossed a handful of acorns on top of Praed's body, so an oak might grow to mark his place.

- A Clash of Kings - Arya II

 

 

[Lommy's Shade]

But an acorn is the seed of an oak tree. It's different than than the seed of a weirwood. In ADWD, the CotF feed Bran a paste made of weirwood seeds and he compares the taste to the acorn paste he ate while traveling with Meera and Jojen. So, they're not the same.

[The Fattest Leech]

31 minutes ago, Lommy's Shade said:

But an acorn is the seed of an oak tree. It's different than than the seed of a weirwood. In ADWD, the CotF feed Bran a paste made of weirwood seeds and he compares the taste to the acorn paste he ate while traveling with Meera and Jojen. So, they're not the same.

I'm on my phone right now so I can't find the exact quote, but John later notices that the Free Folk use different kinds of trees to carve faces into... and maybe this could be a connection? Bran thinks of Arya when he first encounters Leaf at the cave opening. Arya is important to some end, so I can see some overlap. 

[Isobel Harper]

 The one-armed woman died at evenfall. Gendry and Cutjack dug her grave on a hillside beneath a weeping willow. When the wind blew, Arya thought she could hear the long trailing branches whispering, "Please. Please. Please." The little hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she almost ran from the graveside. 

Doesn't sound like Arya made a weirwood, but perhaps weirwoods are not the only tree that people can connect their consciousness to. 

[ravenous reader]

55 minutes ago, Isobel Harper said:

 The one-armed woman died at evenfall. Gendry and Cutjack dug her grave on a hillside beneath a weeping willow. When the wind blew, Arya thought she could hear the long trailing branches whispering, "Please. Please. Please." The little hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she almost ran from the graveside. 

Doesn't sound like Arya made a weirwood, but perhaps weirwoods are not the only tree that people can connect their consciousness to. 

Indeed:

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon V

Just north of Mole's Town they came upon the third watcher, carved into the huge oak that marked the village perimeter, its deep eyes fixed upon the kingsroad. That is not a friendly face, Jon Snow reflected. The faces that the First Men and the children of the forest had carved into the weirwoods in eons past had stern or savage visages more oft than not, but the great oak looked especially angry, as if it were about to tear its roots from the earth and come roaring after them. Its wounds are as fresh as the wounds of the men who carved it.

 

 

[The Fattest Leech]

At my computer now and found it. Apparently other trees can be used as well. This is told through that idea of Arya planting a tree, and for me, it hearkens back the the local idea of "feed the tree", which is a colloquial idea of death feeds a tree and it was up to the farmer to keep his homestead "fed" after he left this plane.  He is buried under a tree to feed it. I am not too far from where George grew up (A few hours drive) so I wouldn't be surprised if he heard the same tales as I did growing up with a farmer grandpa.

A Dance with Dragons - Jon V

"And people burning. Me, most like. With leaves up my nose. I always feared I'd burn, but I was hoping to die first."

Jon glanced back at the face, wondering who had carved it. He had posted guards around Mole's Town, both to keep his crows away from the wildling women and to keep the free folk from slipping off southward to raid. Whoever had carved up the ash had eluded his sentries, plainly. And if one man could slip through the cordon, others could as well. I could double the guard again, he thought sourly. Waste twice as many men, men who might otherwise be walking the Wall.

...

The Lord Steward led the way. Jon rode a few yards back, Dolorous Edd Tollett at his side. Half a mile south of Castle Black, Edd urged his garron close to Jon's and said, "M'lord? Look up there. The big drunkard on the hill."

The drunkard was an ash tree, twisted sideways by centuries of wind. And now it had a face. A solemn mouth, a broken branch for a nose, two eyes carved deep into the trunk, gazing north up the kingsroad, toward the castle and the Wall.

The wildlings brought their gods with them after all. Jon was not surprised. Men do not give up their gods so easily. The whole pageant that Lady Melisandre had orchestrated beyond the Wall suddenly seemed as empty as a mummer's farce. "Looks a bit like you, Edd," he said, trying to make light of it.

...

The wagons continued on their slow way south through frozen mud and blowing snow. A mile farther on, they came upon a second face, carved into a chestnut tree that grew beside an icy stream, where its eyes could watch the old plank bridge that spanned its flow. "Twice as much trouble," announced Dolorous Edd.

The chestnut was leafless and skeletal, but its bare brown limbs were not empty. On a low branch overhanging the stream a raven sat hunched, its feathers ruffled up against the cold. When it spied Jon it spread its wings and gave a scream. When he raised his fist and whistled, the big black bird came flapping down, crying, "Corn, corn, corn."

 

[a black swan]

1 hour ago, Lommy's Shade said:

But an acorn is the seed of an oak tree. It's different than than the seed of a weirwood. In ADWD, the CotF feed Bran a paste made of weirwood seeds and he compares the taste to the acorn paste he ate while traveling with Meera and Jojen. So, they're not the same.

I agree. However, the connection can still mean something different. There are several references to acorns/oak in Arya's chapters. That other trees can be used by Bran to watch and remember like the weirwood.

Quote

 

"What will I know?" Bran asked the Reeds afterward, when they came with torches burning brightly in their hand, to carry him back to a small chamber off the big cavern where the singers had made beds for them to sleep. "What do the trees remember?"

"The secrets of the old gods," said Jojen Reed. Food and fire and rest had helped restore him after the ordeals of their journey, but he seemed sadder now, sullen, with a weary, haunted look about the eyes. "Truths the First Men knew, forgotten now in Winterfell ... but not in the wet wild. We live closer to the green in our bogs and crannogs, and we remember. Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows, they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone."

 

Bran and Arya just have so much in common...

Arya eats acorn paste like Bran does, she passes through Acorn Hall, wears an acorn dress and even calls herself an Oak Tree. Arya is mistaken by Brienne for a girl named Willow. Aya even prays to a Willow speaking to the "tree Gods" as a singer approached. Bran mistakes Leaf for Arya. Both Bran and Arya have been described as a wolf with wings and are both called "squirrels" - the name the Giants call the CoTF. Arya water dances in the "kingdom of leaves" and like Bran, is an excellent tree climber. The similarities with Bloodraven and The Kindly Man and the underground worlds each Stark child lives in: the chambers, tunnels, darkness, and alcoves of dying beings, wearing faces...etc Both are learning to see truly. Old Nan says the blood of Arya Flint (Ned's grandmother) is the reason Bran loves to climb so foolishly. Arya Stark is named after her and House Flint are among the northmen marching to save Ned's little girl. 

 

Bran/Arya have storylines that must cross at some point in the future.

[Isobel Harper]

13 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

At my computer now and found it. Apparently other trees can be used as well. This is told through that idea of Arya planting a tree, which is beautiful in my opinion because, for me, it hearkens back the the local idea of "feed the tree", which is a colloquial idea of death feeds a tree and it was up to the farmer to keep his homestead "fed" after he left this plane. I am not too far from where George grew up (A few hours drive) so I wouldn't be surprised if he heard the same tales as I did growing up with a farmer grandpa.

A Dance with Dragons - Jon V

"And people burning. Me, most like. With leaves up my nose. I always feared I'd burn, but I was hoping to die first."

Jon glanced back at the face, wondering who had carved it. He had posted guards around Mole's Town, both to keep his crows away from the wildling women and to keep the free folk from slipping off southward to raid. Whoever had carved up the ash had eluded his sentries, plainly. And if one man could slip through the cordon, others could as well. I could double the guard again, he thought sourly. Waste twice as many men, men who might otherwise be walking the Wall.

...

The Lord Steward led the way. Jon rode a few yards back, Dolorous Edd Tollett at his side. Half a mile south of Castle Black, Edd urged his garron close to Jon's and said, "M'lord? Look up there. The big drunkard on the hill."

The drunkard was an ash tree, twisted sideways by centuries of wind. And now it had a face. A solemn mouth, a broken branch for a nose, two eyes carved deep into the trunk, gazing north up the kingsroad, toward the castle and the Wall.

The wildlings brought their gods with them after all. Jon was not surprised. Men do not give up their gods so easily. The whole pageant that Lady Melisandre had orchestrated beyond the Wall suddenly seemed as empty as a mummer's farce. "Looks a bit like you, Edd," he said, trying to make light of it.

...

The wagons continued on their slow way south through frozen mud and blowing snow. A mile farther on, they came upon a second face, carved into a chestnut tree that grew beside an icy stream, where its eyes could watch the old plank bridge that spanned its flow. "Twice as much trouble," announced Dolorous Edd.

The chestnut was leafless and skeletal, but its bare brown limbs were not empty. On a low branch overhanging the stream a raven sat hunched, its feathers ruffled up against the cold. When it spied Jon it spread its wings and gave a scream. When he raised his fist and whistled, the big black bird came flapping down, crying, "Corn, corn, corn."

 

The drunkard ashtree reminds me a bit of Tyrion, with his "broken branch for a nose" and, well, being drunk.

The chestnut, maybe of Sansa?  Doesn't she have "chestnut" hair?  I recall several users (the OP, Daendrew included) that corn is an allusion to "seed," and "soul"  The raven in the chestnut tree "cries" for corn, just as Sansa sometimes still cries for her "corn," her "piece of her soul," Lady.

[Dorian Martell's son]

Acorns =/= weirwood seeds. They are not the  same. The free folk beyond the wall carve faced in trees other than weirwoods because like most of humanity they have lost their way and no longer understand green magic.  

[Clegane'sPup]

6 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

Acorns =/= weirwood seeds. They are not the  same. The free folk beyond the wall carve faced in trees other than weirwoods because like most of humanity they have lost their way and no longer understand green magic.  

Hello, hummmmmmmmmm, this is a case for Ser Perry of House Mason. No offense to anyone, I just wanted to talk to this poster because it seems that we have a rather similar outlook. Ignore me, carry on.

[The Fattest Leech]

18 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

Acorns =/= weirwood seeds. They are not the  same.

Agreed.

18 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

The free folk beyond the wall carve faced in trees other than weirwoods because like most of humanity they have lost their way and no longer understand green magic.  

You don't think the mention of the free folk brought their gods with them means that they could "turn on" a tree to the seeing power from the one hooked up to the roots by carving the trees? Or is it Weirwood species only? I'm not talking time travel , just curious.

[Dorian Martell's son]

1 minute ago, The Fattest Leech said:

Agreed.

You don't think the mention of the free folk brought their gods with them means that they could "turn on" a tree to the seeing power from the one hooked up to the roots by carving the trees? Or is it Weirwood species only? I'm not talking time travel , just curious.

I think the magic is weirwood specific. If it wasn't then the first men would not have just cut down the weirwood groves and the Children would have carved faces on any tree after the pact, not just the weirwoods 

 

[The Fattest Leech]

Just now, Dorian Martell's son said:

I think the magic is weirwood specific. If it wasn't then the first men would not have just cut down the weirwood groves and the Children would have carved faces on any tree after the pact, not just the weirwoods 

 

That actually makes sense, and kinda is like how the idea of Bloodraven skinchanging into everything waters down the story and his "powers".

[Dorian Martell's son]

3 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

That actually makes sense, and kinda is like how the idea of Bloodraven skinchanging into everything waters down the story and his "powers".

It would be the most epic nerd troll to have this be true in the end 

[The Fattest Leech]

Just now, Dorian Martell's son said:

It would be the most epic nerd troll to have this be true in the end 

I. Just. Can't. Even.

[Dorian Martell's son]

5 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I. Just. Can't. Even.

Neither can I, but his forum is loaded with folks who believe just that very thing 

[Julia H.]

On 2016. 11. 12. at 6:00 AM, Isobel Harper said:

The drunkard ashtree reminds me a bit of Tyrion, with his "broken branch for a nose" and, well, being drunk.

The chestnut, maybe of Sansa?  Doesn't she have "chestnut" hair?  I recall several users (the OP, Daendrew included) that corn is an allusion to "seed," and "soul"  The raven in the chestnut tree "cries" for corn, just as Sansa sometimes still cries for her "corn," her "piece of her soul," Lady.

My favourite interpretation of the symbolism of those trees comes from the old Jon Snow reread threads on the reread forum. According to this interpretation, the trees symbolize different stages of Jon's life:

Quote

The drunkard was an ash tree, twisted sideways by centuries of wind. And now it had a face. A solemn mouth, a broken branch for a nose, two eyes carved deep into the trunk, gazing north up the kingsroad, toward the castle and the Wall.

The tree may be described as a "drunkard", but it still has a "solemn mouth". It may refer to a Jon who is looking towards the Wall, the North and a new vocation. Where does the "drunkard" come in? Jon was drunk when he first told Benjen that he wanted to join the Night's Watch. The "drunkard on the hill" may mean Jon in Winterfell (fell also means 'hill') drinking during the feast and announcing his intention to take the black. Also, when Jon and his friends were allowed to take the vow, they celebrated with wine. They drank wine again right after Jon was elected Lord Commander.   

Quote

 

The wagons continued on their slow way south through frozen mud and blowing snow. A mile farther on, they came upon a second face, carved into a chestnut tree that grew beside an icy stream, where its eyes could watch the old plank bridge that spanned its flow. “Twice as much trouble,” announced Dolorous Edd.

The chestnut was leafless and skeletal, but its bare brown limbs were not empty. On a low branch overhanging the stream a raven sat hunched, its feathers ruffled up against the cold. When it spied Jon it spread its wings and gave a scream. When he raised his fist and whistled, the big black bird came flapping down, crying, “Corn, corn, corn.”

 

The chestnut tree may be reference to "real-time" Jon, who is at the moment going to Mole's Town to bring food to the wildlings. This tree grew beside "an icy stream" and it stands beside a plank bridge. Ice usually refers to "something Stark", and at the moment Jon is trying to bridge the gap between the wildlings and the Seven Kingdoms. The tree being "leafless and skeletal" with "bare brown limbs" may refer to the fact that Jon has recently lost practically all his loved ones (family, lover, even friends), but he is not "empty-handed" - he is about to give food ("corn") to the starving wildlings of Mole Town. He is also about to give them an offer to join the Night's Watch. The raven can be associated with the Lord Commander status (Jon has inherited Mormont's title as well as his raven, and the raven also played a role in the election).

Quote

Just north of Mole’s Town they came upon the third watcher, carved into the huge oak that marked the village perimeter, its deep eyes fixed upon the kingsroad. That is not a friendly face, Jon Snow reflected. The faces that the First Men and the children of the forest had carved into the weirwoods in eons past had stern or savage visages more oft than not, but the great oak looked especially angry, as if it were about to tear its roots from the earth and come roaring after them. Its wounds are as fresh as the wounds of the men who carved it.

The word watcher may be a serious hint here... The oak tree (the largest and strongest of the trees mentioned) could symbolize a future Jon (he is definitely a "watcher"), a very angry Jon, who is looking at the kingsroad and seems to be ready to go "roaring" after them, i.e., towards the South (they are going southwards). The tree also seems to be about to tear its roots from the earth - why? It also has "fresh wounds". I think this one could be either Jon at the end of ADwD or Jon after ADwD. In the latter case, the fresh wounds would be quite literal. 

[The Fattest Leech]

50 minutes ago, Julia H. said:

My favourite interpretation of the symbolism of those trees comes from the old Jon Snow reread threads on the reread forum. According to this interpretation, the trees symbolize different stages of Jon's life:

...

This is very interesting. I do like this better than an earlier thought that these trees are actual old gods access trees, but are reflections of Jon, who in Dance, claims he is of the old gods himself by way of Ghost. That oak at the end is quite a sight. 

[Isobel Harper]

2 hours ago, Julia H. said:

My favourite interpretation of the symbolism of those trees comes from the old Jon Snow reread threads on the reread forum. According to this interpretation, the trees symbolize different stages of Jon's life:

The tree may be described as a "drunkard", but it still has a "solemn mouth". It may refer to a Jon who is looking towards the Wall, the North and a new vocation. Where does the "drunkard" come in? Jon was drunk when he first told Benjen that he wanted to join the Night's Watch. The "drunkard on the hill" may mean Jon in Winterfell (fell also means 'hill') drinking during the feast and announcing his intention to take the black. Also, when Jon and his friends were allowed to take the vow, they celebrated with wine. They drank wine again right after Jon was elected Lord Commander.   

The chestnut tree may be reference to "real-time" Jon, who is at the moment going to Mole's Town to bring food to the wildlings. This tree grew beside "an icy stream" and it stands beside a plank bridge. Ice usually refers to "something Stark", and at the moment Jon is trying to bridge the gap between the wildlings and the Seven Kingdoms. The tree being "leafless and skeletal" with "bare brown limbs" may refer to the fact that Jon has recently lost practically all his loved ones (family, lover, even friends), but he is not "empty-handed" - he is about to give food ("corn") to the starving wildlings of Mole Town. He is also about to give them an offer to join the Night's Watch. The raven can be associated with the Lord Commander status (Jon has inherited Mormont's title as well as his raven, and the raven also played a role in the election).

The word watcher may be a serious hint here... The oak tree (the largest and strongest of the trees mentioned) could symbolize a future Jon (he is definitely a "watcher"), a very angry Jon, who is looking at the kingsroad and seems to be ready to go "roaring" after them, i.e., towards the South (they are going southwards). The tree also seems to be about to tear its roots from the earth - why? It also has "fresh wounds". I think this one could be either Jon at the end of ADwD or Jon after ADwD. In the latter case, the fresh wounds would be quite literal. 

Very interesting indeed!  Thanks for sharing.

[Light a wight tonight]

I'm stuck on the blood sacrifice part. Sounds like natural causes to me. A sacrifice demands some kind of ritual and actual killing. Not to mention intent.