The Horn of Winter was never made to make the wall fall...

[Ser Harly of Southwell]

So after doing a bit of research it seems that there should be no reason to believe the Horn of Joramun would make the wall fall. In fact, according to the saying all it does is "wake giants from the earth." From this information it seems that people, inside the books, and us as well, jump to the conclusion that this means that the Horn will blow and the wall will fall. This is remarked on in TWOIAF

"The first King-Beyond-the-Wall, according to legend, was Joramun, who claimed to have a horn that would bring down the Wall when it woke "the giants from the earth." (That the Wall still stands says something of his claim, and perhaps even of his existence.)"

Thoughts? I think the horn, if it does anything, will only "wake giants from the earth," whatever that means, and will not make the wall fall. This idea of the horn making the wall to fall is a convenient legend, which Mance uses in his negotiations with Jon, and control of the Freefolk.

 

[Ser Harly of Southwell]

I posted this on the Reddit as well, but thought we could talk about it here too 

[Little Scribe of Naath]

Doesn't "wake the giants from the earth" sound like a metaphor for an earthquake? That could be what GRRM was going for, and I could see an earthquake bringing the Wall down for sure.

[ShimShim]

Ice Dragons....Its a Dragon horn that wakes Ice Dragons....Thats what I want it to be :P. What I actually think, I agree with Little Scribe, I think it causes earthquakes. i think this because I think the horn has the power of the children greenseers, and they are described as singing the song of the Earth. Which I interpret as them having "Earth" magic, unlike the valyrians Fire/Blood magic. 

[Ser Harly of Southwell]

1 hour ago, Little Scribe of Naath said:

Doesn't "wake the giants from the earth" sound like a metaphor for an earthquake? That could be what GRRM was going for, and I could see an earthquake bringing the Wall down for sure.

 

 

True, however it could apply to the waking of the giants that we meet in the books themselves. Consider this

 

Quote

They're not wearing skins, Jon realized. That's hair. Shaggy pelts covered their bodies, thick below the waist, sparser above. The stink that came off them was choking, but perhaps that was the mammoths. And Joramun blew the Horn of Winter, and woke giants from the earth. He looked for great swords ten feet long, but saw only clubs. Most were just the limbs of dead trees, some still trailing shattered branches. A few had stone balls lashed to the ends to make colossal mauls. The song never says if the horn can put them back to sleep. Jon 2, ASoS

4

So all I am saying is that the horn is not nearly as powerful as the legends have made it out to be.

[Little Scribe of Naath]

1 hour ago, ShimShim said:

Ice Dragons....Its a Dragon horn that wakes Ice Dragons....Thats what I want it to be :P. What I actually think, I agree with Little Scribe, I think it causes earthquakes. i think this because I think the horn has the power of the children greenseers, and they are described as singing the song of the Earth. Which I interpret as them having "Earth" magic, unlike the valyrians Fire/Blood magic. 

Buddy, I would be squealing of fangirl excitement if turned out to be Ice Dragons  For some reason I really want to see one in the series.

1 hour ago, Ser Harly of Southwell said:

True, however it could apply to the waking of the giants that we meet in the books themselves. Consider this

 

So all I am saying is that the horn is not nearly as powerful as the legends have made it out to be.

Hm...so you're saying the horn is to call giants to the aid of the person blowing it? That's possible.

Joramun (I think it's the same one) was supposed to have joined hands with the Brandon Stark of the time in Winterfell to defeat the Night's King. If we assume the NK was allied with the Others, Joramun could have possibly called on the giants to help if his people were getting killed.

The possibility I think is most likely that the Horn of Winter may end up calling the Others themselves, analogous to how the dragon horn Euron has can be used to control dragons. It's called the Horn of "Winter", after all. Though in that case it's most probably not just a simple toot of the horn - blood sacrifice or some magic could be involved.

[Emmanuel Liddle]

I think the broken horn that Jon found in the Fist of the First Men is the Horn of Winter, I don't know if is capable of bringing down the wall, but how do you think it will come into the game after Sam used it to pay to Quhuru Mo the travel in the Cinnamon Wind.

[Emmanuel Liddle]

I'm sorry this is something I just found its wrong, I read a Spanish translated version of A Feast For Crows and it is bad translated, I assumed Sam had used the broken horn as part of the payment, as it's said to happen in the version I read, but I just searched for that chapter in the English version and realised of the truth.

Damn I'm glad Sam still has it, I have been ignoring that for years til now.

[The Fattest Leech]

I also think the horn Jon found at the Fist is the Horn of WInter/Joramun.

It was made of bronze and horn and covered in runes, but the bronze is cracked so it doesn't make a sound when Jon tries it.

Jon gives it to Sam and Sam takes it with him to the Citadel... when training as a Maester, bronze is one of your first links you forge. The bronze link is for astronomy and Jon and the north are both heavily associated with bronze, the stars and constallations (the Thief, the Ice Dragon, the Red Wanderer, etc). Bronze is used in the north above and beyond gold, which would be inferior up there. Also, horn is bone and bones remember... just like the North remembers.

Also, Jon and the North are heavily associated with Norse mythology and horns are very important in those myths. Many times, but not all, they are for drinking mead. Well, Jon gives the horn to Sam Tarly... of Horn Hill... and tells Sam to make a drinking horn out of it. How funny would it be if Sam fixed the horn and made a drinking cup out of it??? Or he blew it and did not think anything would happen... but 1,000 leagues away the wall crumbles??? (No, not funny, Leech!)

Anyway, there is more but this is the short version. The only issue that someone brought up in the past is other posters seem to think the horn left with the Cinnamon Wind because Sam took too long

The wall has already figuratively fallen because of the mutiny. Not sure how much will physically fall if the horn is blown.

[Lord Vance II]

Personally I kind of think the horn Sam has is a red herring. Something in the story has got to be, right?

But yeah, I think it has something to do with earthquakes if it is real. 

[The Fattest Leech]

3 hours ago, Lord Vance II said:

Personally I kind of think the horn Sam has is a red herring. Something in the story has got to be, right?

But yeah, I think it has something to do with earthquakes if it is real. 

I think the red herring horn was the one claimed to be real that Mel burned with "Mance"/Rattleshirt. Jon was told it was "the" horn, but he felt it couldn't be right because of the color and especially because the metal wasn't right. 

Either way, we'll know soon.......right? 

[aryagonnakill#2]

12 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I think the red herring horn was the one claimed to be real that Mel burned with "Mance"/Rattleshirt. Jon was told it was "the" horn, but he felt it couldn't be right because of the color and especially because the metal wasn't right. 

Either way, we'll know soon.......right? 

That horn seems to be a dragonhorn imo, if Jon did not read Valyrian, they could have looked like glyphs to him.

 

 

[The Fattest Leech]

Just now, aryagonnakill#2 said:

That horn seems to be a dragonhorn imo, if Jon did not read Valyrian, they could have looked like glyphs to him.

 

 

From pre-Valyrians who could of had dragons in Westeros a long time ago? Bran does see a "huge bat" skeleton in the cave. 

If that is the case, then to me, it seems like all the horns are bogus if a dragonhorn can be introduced, misidentified and burnt in a matter of pages without it doing much of anything. Which is fine, I'm actually not arguing for them necessarily, but it would be cool.  

I think there could be three big geological events coming up and if they happen, someone could claim "the horn did it". The Trident is rising like none have ever seen, may to cut Westeros off at the neck (northern justice), a possible avalanche in the Vale, and possibly an earthquake in the north (waking giants from earth).  

[Maester of Valyria]

Good point about the Horn, OP.

I just want to weigh in quickly about the possibility of earthquakes in the North: they are very possible. The whole of the region beyond the Wall is incredibly geologically active, with at least one tectonic plate boundary that I've identified. Frankly I'm suprised that we don't hear about 'giants being woken from the earth' a bit more, although I suppose the distance factor might go some way to explaining that.

[LordImp]

I'm also beliver in that the horn Jon found is the Horn of Joramun. During his sack on Oldtown Euron will take the horn and blow it , causing the Wall to fall. Thats what i think happens . 

[GyantSpyder]

Here's a crazy idea -

There's been some talk lately about how the free folk have noticed that some of the trees with faces carved on them, especially north of the wall, have not been weirwoods, but oaks and other taller, deciduous hardwoods - and how these faces seem angrier.

Maybe the Horn of Joramun is a sort of "ent-caller" that will awaken these trees so that they will break the wall down.

This meshes with the idea that the Children of the Forest at least at some point wanted to kill humanity and have either created or enlisted or seem to manipulate the Others for this purpose.

[ShimShim]

6 minutes ago, GyantSpyder said:

maybe the Horn of Joramun is a sort of "ent-caller" that will awaken these trees so that they will break the wall down.

I Don't there are enough ents in the SOIAF world to bring down even a portion of the 700 foot tall wall :P. I don't  see them being that powerful. 

[Lady Fishbiscuit]

15 hours ago, Little Scribe of Naath said:

Doesn't "wake the giants from the earth" sound like a metaphor for an earthquake? That could be what GRRM was going for, and I could see an earthquake bringing the Wall down for sure.

Yep, I'm with you on this one.  

There have been numerous mentions of geothermal activity either side of the wall (Winterfell and Hardhome) and there's a massive gorge at the western end of the wall. I think things like earthquakes and volcanic activity would have been attributed to giant underground gods in the first men days. I also think the same is true for the drowned god. Not sure how a horn would cause it but maybe the horn is also metaphorical?

[Lady Fishbiscuit]

13 hours ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I also think the horn Jon found at the Fist is the Horn of WInter/Joramun.

It was made of bronze and horn and covered in runes, but the bronze is cracked so it doesn't make a sound when Jon tries it.

Jon gives it to Sam and Sam takes it with him to the Citadel... when training as a Maester, bronze is one of your first links you forge. The bronze link is for astronomy and Jon and the north are both heavily associated with bronze, the stars and constallations (the Thief, the Ice Dragon, the Red Wanderer, etc). Bronze is used in the north above and beyond gold, which would be inferior up there. Also, horn is bone and bones remember... just like the North remembers.

Also, Jon and the North are heavily associated with Norse mythology and horns are very important in those myths. Many times, but not all, they are for drinking mead. Well, Jon gives the horn to Sam Tarly... of Horn Hill... and tells Sam to make a drinking horn out of it. How funny would it be if Sam fixed the horn and made a drinking cup out of it??? Or he blew it and did not think anything would happen... but 1,000 leagues away the wall crumbles??? (No, not funny, Leech!)

Anyway, there is more but this is the short version. The only issue that someone brought up in the past is other posters seem to think the horn left with the Cinnamon Wind because Sam took too long

The wall has already figuratively fallen because of the mutiny. Not sure how much will physically fall if the horn is blown.

Yes to all of this 

[velo-knight]

The talk of earthquakes have me wondering about the Wall again. I know we just have to suspend our disbelief on the possibility of a 700 foot ice wall, but how would such a structure handle even mild seismic events? I feel like an ice partially-ice structure would do very poorly even in a mild earthquake, and given the size of the Wall, you'd really think some part of it would've been exposed to an earthquake already.