sharp vs. shaggy

[Seams]

I'm trying to write up my notes on ACoK, Bran VII for the direwolf re-read, but I think this becomes a separate topic, even though it has quite a bit of direwolf content.

This Bran POV brings us right back to Jon VIII, the previous chapter analyzed in the direwolf re-read. Similar elements: the Winterfell crypt plays the role of the stone tunnel through the mountain, and Maester Luwin as a dying mentor for Bran is similar to Qhorin, the dying mentor for Jon. We also see Rickon reunited with Shaggydog, reminding us of the Qhorin / Rickon (riQhon) and Qhorin and Shaggydog (eyes like pools of shadow) parallels discussed in the Jon VIII analysis.

With the Luwin / Qhorin comparison in mind, we can go back even further, to take a fresh look at the Bran VII chapter from AGoT, in which Luwin goes into the crypt with Bran and is bitten by Shaggydog. He shows Bran and Rickon a jar full of obsidian arrowheads, tells them about the Children of the Forest and the pact with the First Men, and a raven arrives with news of Ned’s death.

With regard to the “Shaggy” symbolism, there is a brief moment in the crypt in that AGoT/Bran VII chapter that helps to explain a lot of what we see later – and probably hints at things to come for the series as a whole:

“They were the Kings in the North for thousands of years,” Maester Luwin said, lifting the torch high so the light shown on the stone faces. Some were hairy and bearded, shaggy men fierce as the wolves that crouched by their feet. Others were shaved clean, their features gaunt and sharp-edged as the iron longswords across their laps.

Remember that Qhorin asked Jon a couple of times whether his sword was sharp? And do you remember his last word after the tip of Jon’s sword cut his throat? “Sharp.” So we are being given a contrast between shaggy and sharp; direwolves and swords; bearded and cleanshaven. Recall also that both Maester Luwin and Qhorin Halfhand are bitten by direwolves – Luwin bitten by Shaggy when he gestures to show Bran that Ned’s tomb is empty, and Qhorin bitten by Ghost (who is often described as shaggy) when he and Jon fight in order to persuade the wildlings that Jon is a turncloak.

We already knew about the hair / heir pun in the books, most strongly shown in the logic that Cersei’s children should not be heirs of King Robert because they didn’t have Baratheon hair. What further conclusions can we draw by adding in this shaggy vs. sharp (or shaved, haircutting) symbolism: will there be hairy vs. shaved “teams”? Is it a matter of achieving a balance, like a yin / yang thing?

Shaving and haircutting examples: Aegon (The Unlikely) V Targaryen shaved his head and was known as Egg. Dunk cut the braided hair of Rohanne Webber. Tyrion has an ally called Shagga (to whom he provides sharp weapons); Dany has the Shavepate. Tyrion orders Bronn to cut Pycelle’s beard; Khal Drogo never cuts his hair (because he has never been defeated in battle). Arya gets a haircut from Yoren, Dany’s hair burns off in Drogo’s funeral pyre, Cersei is shaved by the Septas, Sansa is supposed to marry a guy called Harry the Heir. And then there is the Bear “all covered with hair” and the Maiden Fair. It becomes apparent that these are very hairy books and we may have a lot of clues to sort out.

Based on the AGoT Bran POV, it’s interesting to note that Stark lords and kings could be either shaggy or sharp. So families may have one predominant hair color yet different ways of wearing their beards within the family. Every (dead) Stark lord has both a sword and a direwolf, however, so it would seem that the shaggy / sharp balance is achieved after death, at least.

Timing might be part of the shaggy / sharp symbolism – someone might start out non-sharp but become sharp later. The author is explicit about wooden training swords used by the Stark boys when they spar with the visiting royal princes; about Arya’s use of a wooden sword when learning from Syrio Forel; about the blunted blade given to Brienne when she fights the bear at Harrenhal. Later, each of the people with a wooden or blunt sword receives a sharp, real sword that becomes important to him or her.

An exception to the pattern of a shaggy to sharp evolution might be Robb Stark, whose wolf is described as a weapon but who never receives the sword Ice that he demands the Lannisters send to him at Riverrun. Catelyn observes that Robb is married to his longsword, but it is a non-descript sword, not the Stark family heirloom. She also notes that Robb might have difficulty beheading Theon for the murders of Bran and Rickon, as Robb’s sword is much duller than Ned’s Valyrian steel sword.

Gendry is introduced to the reader as having shaggy hair and he does not begin to make a sword for himself until the end of ACoK.

I used the search site to check the word “sharp” and found that it is overwhelmingly associated with Starks and Stark POVs in the books. (The first two books, at least. I'll have to go back to the library to check the word in the final three books.) There are some exceptions: Dany observes sharp weapons in use by Dothraki warriors in special (symbolic) circumstances; Tyrion has a sharp tongue; and Stannis and Selyse are both described as having sharp features. Littlefinger, BenJen and Septa Mordane are described as having sharp features.

Shaggy people include Jeor Mormont (particularly his beard), Rickon, Robb, Ygritte and Gendry. Tyrion’s ally, Shagga, several times appears within a paragraph of the word “sharp.”

Shaving and razor references are associated with both words. Shagga says his axe blade is so sharp that he once cut off a man’s head and the man didn’t notice until he tried to comb his hair. In the AGoT prologue, the sword of the White Walker is described: “There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.” Jon tells Arya that the edges of the sword Needle are “sharp enough to shave with” (AGoT, Jon II). Arya sees Ser Ilyn lift her father’s sword in the act of beheading him: "As he lifted the blade above his head, sunlight seemed to ripple and Dance down the dark metal, glinting off an edge sharper than any razor. Ice, she thought, he has Ice." (AGoT, Arya V).

I suspect that the word “razor” will be linked through wordplay with Azor Ahai. Ser Waymar and Ser Ilyn both lift swords high immediately before or after the razor references, so there could be wordplay on “high” and “Ahai” as well.

One more point about Qhorin and Maester Luwin: Qhorin appears in Jon's arc right after Jon discovers the freshly-buried bundle of dragonglass (obsidian) and the broken horn at the Fist of the First Men. Maester Luwin showed a jar full of obsidian arrowheads to Bran and Rickon, and let each of the boys have some arrowheads.

I have gone through several wild and speculative theories about who put the obsidian in the bundle for Ghost and Jon to find, but the parallels between Maester Luwin and Qhorin now lead me to suspect that Qhorin buried the cache with the intention that Jon would find it. He had access to Night's Watch cloaks, and he was in the area but hadn't yet arrived at the camp within the old stone fort at the top of the Fist. The obsidian is also very sharp, and that fits with the sharp / shaggy juxtaposition we see in the motif laid out here.

[Springwatch]

14 hours ago, Seams said:

...

We already knew about the hair / heir pun in the books, most strongly shown in the logic that Cersei’s children should not be heirs of King Robert because they didn’t have Baratheon hair. What further conclusions can we draw by adding in this shaggy vs. sharp (or shaved, haircutting) symbolism: will there be hairy vs. shaved “teams”? Is it a matter of achieving a balance, like a yin / yang thing?

...

I've been avoiding wordplay theories, but this one is brilliant. A person with lots of hair is strong in their family heritage - even if a bastard. Strong in their identity too.

14 hours ago, Seams said:

...

Shaving and razor references are associated with both words. Shagga says his axe blade is so sharp that he once cut off a man’s head and the man didn’t notice until he tried to comb his hair. In the AGoT prologue, the sword of the White Walker is described: “There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.” Jon tells Arya that the edges of the sword Needle are “sharp enough to shave with” (AGoT, Jon II). Arya sees Ser Ilyn lift her father’s sword in the act of beheading him: "As he lifted the blade above his head, sunlight seemed to ripple and Dance down the dark metal, glinting off an edge sharper than any razor. Ice, she thought, he has Ice." (AGoT, Arya V).

...

I also really like the idea that an inheritance can be removed with a sword's edge. Likewise by 'sharp' people.

Another thing I've noticed is the way one person touches another's hair: smoothing it back to create calmness and passivity, ruffling it up to create courage and good spirits. A couple of quotes; first, Sweetrobin demanding lemoncakes, and Alayne trying to manipulate him (and notice the razor blade again!):

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"A hundred?" he wanted to know. "Could I have a hundred?"

"If it please you." She sat on the bed and smoothed his long, fine hair. He does have pretty hair. Lady Lysa had brushed it herself every night, and cut it when it wanted cutting. After she had fallen Robert had suffered terrible shaking fits whenever anyone came near him with a blade, so Petyr had commanded that his hair be allowed to grow. Alayne wound a lock around her finger, and said, "Now, will you get out of bed and let us dress you?"

Jon and Benjen:

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Jon looked up happily as his uncle Ben put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair much as Jon had ruffled the wolf's....

Hair nets might come into this as well. It's hard to prove, but you'd expect the wearer's true nature to have been tamed and civilised by their society.

[Seams]

6 hours ago, Springwatch said:

I've been avoiding wordplay theories, but this one is brilliant. A person with lots of hair is strong in their family heritage - even if a bastard. Strong in their identity too.

I also really like the idea that an inheritance can be removed with a sword's edge. Likewise by 'sharp' people.

Another thing I've noticed is the way one person touches another's hair: smoothing it back to create calmness and passivity, ruffling it up to create courage and good spirits. A couple of quotes; first, Sweetrobin demanding lemoncakes, and Alayne trying to manipulate him (and notice the razor blade again!):

Jon and Benjen:

Hair nets might come into this as well. It's hard to prove, but you'd expect the wearer's true nature to have been tamed and civilised by their society.

The metaphor really does have rich potential. I hadn't even started to think about all those Tyroshi people who dye their hair green and blue.

But I'm glad if you're open to the wordplay, too, because that could also be enlightening (and fun) in sorting out the shaggy, razor and sharp references. In that same Bran VII chapter in ACoK, we see Maester Luwin deliberately "splitting heirs" by separating Bran and Rickon. Many characters experience a "close shave". And then there are names such as Barbrey. She has a barber name, but also a special relationship with the "sword" of Brandon (the uncle) Stark.

Good point about the ways people touch hair. At one point, I took a look at women smoothing their skirts and found it seemed to relate to a desire to calm down a situation, iirc. Maybe hair is used in a similar way. And Sansa's hairnets (Joffrey gave her one that had moonstones in it, before the one she got from Ser Dontos to wear at the wedding feast) must also be relevant. You can't have shaggy hair if your hair is held down by a net, I would think.

Nice catch on the reference to letting Robert Arryn's hair grow long. That bit about Sansa / Alayne winding a "lock" around her finger makes me wonder whether she was locking up Sweetrobin or whether he was locking her into his tangled web.

[Crowfood's Daughter]

I believe it has to do with the long night.  The race of hairy men that was exterminated from essos.  Huzor Amai wore the pelt of the King of the Hairy men.  Huzor Amai is most likely another name for Azor Ahai, the same guy pegged as the grey king. In lorath it is said there was some sort of change of hands between hairy men and a people from the sea.  If you look at it from a fertile/unfertile Grey king perspective, an unfertile person is often hairless (which is most often how the Eunuchsare described) and a hairy person is viewed as having more testosterone.  I think the cutting is symbolic of the dolorous stroke that happened during the Long night.  I hope this makes sense.  I think things make more sense in my head than when they are typed.  The cutting of the pycelle's beard was much like the cutting of Samson's hair, he became older, less majestic, weaker.  Furthermore Drogo's hair was a symbol of strength and his manliness, cutting his hair is a symbol of weakness.  I also see an obvious symbol of transformation, becoming something with the simple gaining or losing of hair.  In a woman's case, cutting her hair gives Arya more masculinity, growing her hair will reveal her appear weaker.

[Seams]

6 hours ago, Crowfood's Daughter said:

I believe it has to do with the long night.  The race of hairy men that was exterminated from essos.  Huzor Amai wore the pelt of the King of the Hairy men.  Huzor Amai is most likely another name for Azor Ahai, the same guy pegged as the grey king. In lorath it is said there was some sort of change of hands between hairy men and a people from the sea.  If you look at it from a fertile/unfertile Grey king perspective, an unfertile person is often hairless (which is most often how the Eunuchsare described) and a hairy person is viewed as having more testosterone.  I think the cutting is symbolic of the dolorous stroke that happened during the Long night.  I hope this makes sense.  I think things make more sense in my head than when they are typed.  The cutting of the pycelle's beard was much like the cutting of Samson's hair, he became older, less majestic, weaker.  Furthermore Drogo's hair was a symbol of strength and his manliness, cutting his hair is a symbol of weakness.  I also see an obvious symbol of transformation, becoming something with the simple gaining or losing of hair.  In a woman's case, cutting her hair gives Arya more masculinity, growing her hair will reveal her appear weaker.

Parts of this ring true - Bran does not seem to be associated with shagginess (in fact, his direwolf fights with Shaggydog over who gets to feed first from a dead horse at the end of ACoK, and Summer forces Shaggy to stop biting Maester Luwin in the crypt). We are told that Bran will not be able to sleep with a woman because of his disability. (By the way, it is a myth that disabled people cannot have sex. Many can and do.)

Some of the people described as having sharp features also seem to be largely celibate or have fertility problems: Stannis and Selyse (maybe the problem is not sharp features, but that Stannis doesn't like his wife much), Littlefinger, BenJen, Septa Mordane.

On the other hand, swords and daggers have a pretty strong phallic symbolism in the books (and in the world at large). Barbrey Dustin directly refers to the blood on Brandon's sword when he had sex with her for the first time. So the sharp sword is a fertility (or sex) symbol in that case.

Maybe the point is that some people wield sharp swords and others are cut by them: When Catelyn shows the dragon-bone dagger to Varys and Littlefinger, Varys inadvertently cuts himself when he picks it up but Littlefinger casually handles it and tosses it across the room without any problem. Shagga son of Dolph constantly threatens to cut of people's manhoods.

Before stumbling across that sharp / shaggy dichotomy, I was thinking that beards represent disguise or subterfuge. Daario and Jon Connington with their blue beards, Littlefinger with his neatly trimmed beard - a lot of the bearded guys struck me as people who are hiding something about themselves. With the little hints about Pycelle's bias toward the Lannisters - and toward Tywin in particular - I thought that the cutting of his beard might be a sign that Tyrion was getting closer to exposing Pycelle's pre-maester identity and motives. I think Jaime shaves during his journey with Brienne toward King's Landing, and we definitely see him becoming a new person through her influence.

On the other hand, Aegon V uses his shaved head as a disguise in the Dunk & Egg stories. The septas shave Cersei as a way of getting her to atone for her past sinful behavior, and encouraging her to become a new person. It remains to be seen whether that will be effective.

In other words, I haven't found a single explanation to explain the meaning of the sharp / shaggy juxtaposition. I may have to do a quick Shagga son of Dolph re-read, because he seems to embody both shagginess and sharpness. He may hold the key to the deeper meaning here.

Edit: It occurs to me, in light of your suggestion that fertility could be connected with shagginess, that to "shag" someone is a slang way of saying to have sex with that person (in the U.S., at any rate). But the verb form is also a term used in baseball practice when a player practices catching balls hit high into the air: shagging pop balls. Because of the juggling symbolism around Littlefinger, Varys and the direwolf Ghost, this could be a deliberate layer of meaning in some of GRRM's uses of the word.

[Blue-Eyed Wolf]

 

14 hours ago, Seams said:

It occurs to me, in light of your suggestion that fertility could be connected with shagginess, that to "shag" someone is a slang way of saying to have sex with that person (in the U.S., at any rate).

There's also Shagwell who is associated with rape.  He's one of the Brave Companions to threaten to rape Brienne until Jaime intervenes.  Shagwell kills Nimble Dick (that name sure is loaded) by bashing his head in.  Brienne kills Timeon and Pyg with Oathkeeper and Shagwell with a dagger.  Hyle Hunt comes along and cuts the heads off the corpses to take back to Maidenpool.  Since the three are associated with rape and a maiden with a sharp blade kills them, cutting the heads off the outlaws is like cutting off their manhoods.

Other Shaggy/bearded men may have an association with menacing masculinity.  Especially with "goat" associations, as goats are symbolic of male virility at best, lechery at worst.  Like Shagwell, Vargo Hoat "the Goat" (he has a distinctive long, pointy beard or goatee) is also a rapist.  Vargo Hoat had Jaime's sword arm cut off, which would be a metaphoric severing of his manhood as Jaime loses his sense of self without it.   

Quote

You did for Vargo with that bite, you know. His ear turned black and started leaking pus. Rorge and Urswyck were for leaving, but the Goat says we got to hold his castle. Lord of Harrenhal, he says he is, no one was going to take it off him. He said it slobbery, the way he always talked. We heard the Mountain killed him piece by piece. A hand one day, a foot the next, lopped off neat and clean. They bandaged up the stumps so Hoat didn't die. He was saving his cock for last, but some bird called him to King's Landing, so he finished it and rode off."

2

 We learn from Jaime that Vargo Hoat didn't get his cock cut off, but he did get his other head cut off.

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When they brought [the head] to him, he found that the Goat's lips had been sliced off, along with his ears and most of his nose. The crows had supped upon his eyes. It was still recognizably Hoat, however. Jaime would have known his beard anywhere; an absurd rope of hair two feet long, dangling from a pointed chin. 

1

A rapist Arya sees in the Riverlands who had his manhood removed who is also bearded.

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There was another dead man beyond the old one, a big red-bearded man with a rotting grey bandage covering his left ear and part of his temple. But the worst thing was between his legs, where nothing remained but a crusted brown hole crawling with maggots.

1

Littlefinger has his goatee and definitely falls into the lecherous goat category for his sexual abuse of Sansa and Jeyne Poole.  His goatee is "little" and he always carries daggers, not swords.  Read into that what you will.

Pycelle is an "old goat" for his lechery.  So perhaps also cutting off the beard is a symbolic gelding.  Both of these guys are stroke their beards a lot. 

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The serving girls tried to talk to her when they brought her meals, but she never answered them. Once Grand Maester Pycelle came with a box of flasks and bottles, to ask if she was ill. He felt her brow, made her undress, and touched her all over while her bedmaid held her down. 

2

As you mentioned Shagga is both shaggy and sharp and he often threatens to cut off manhoods and feed them to the goats.  He's also a virile character.

Quote

"Shagga wants this woman."
"Shagga wants every whore in this city of whores," complained Timett son of Timett.
"Yes," Shagga said, unabashed. "Shagga would give her a strong child."

1

 

16 hours ago, Seams said:

Some of the people described as having sharp features also seem to be largely celibate or have fertility problems: Stannis and Selyse (maybe the problem is not sharp features, but that Stannis doesn't like his wife much), Littlefinger, BenJen, Septa Mordane

Selyse is also known to have prominent facial hair, which speaks of an excessive amount of androgen.  As a symptom of PCOS, it could also lead to fertility issues.  So maybe there's a category of shaggy women.

   

[Seams]

9 hours ago, Blue-Eyed Wolf said:

There's also Shagwell who is associated with rape.  . . .

Other Shaggy/bearded men may have an association with menacing masculinity.  Especially with "goat" associations, as goats are symbolic of male virility at best, lechery at worst.  Like Shagwell, Vargo Hoat "the Goat" (he has a distinctive long, pointy beard or goatee) is also a rapist.  . . .

Pycelle is an "old goat" for his lechery.  So perhaps also cutting off the beard is a symbolic gelding.  . . .

Selyse is also known to have prominent facial hair, which speaks of an excessive amount of androgen.  . . .  So maybe there's a category of shaggy women.  

Excellent! Thanks for the terrific citations from the text, too. This does seem to be a pretty strong association - beards and virility / lechery / male aggression. I usually forget to imagine Daario Naharis as he is described in the books - with a dyed-blue beard styled into three points. It's so absurd that I can't imagine Dany being attracted to someone who looks like that. But there's something sinister about him, with his thumbs stroking the naked women on the hilts of his weapons, even though the relationship with Dany is consensual. That beard is telling us something.

And I bet that Ser Barristan and Daario are supposed to be foils; two opposing influences in Dany's life.

I had completely forgotten about Shagwell, and his likely connection to the shaggy motif. Thanks for bringing him into this. (And this opens up a possible connection to another "link" in the chain of symbolism: the well.) Brienne's quest to find Sansa and Arya instead results in her slaying these men who menaced her (Shagwell, Timeon and Pyg) and/or who were released from a cage as a result of Arya's "Pandora's box" (Rorge and Biter). The first three are killed at the well on Crackclaw Point. Of course, Brienne thinks that she is hunting the fool Ser Dontos, not the fool Shagwell, so there is an association with one of the lecherous men who latch onto Sansa.

Hyle Hunt's role may also be notable, if we're looking at virility vs. celibacy, because he is one of those false suitors who later sees an advantage in marrying Brienne, but isn't really interested in bedding her. (The author does make a point of telling us that Hunt has a natural daughter, however, so he's not entirely unsexed.)

As for Selyse and her facial hair, we do hear her beg Stannis to impregnate her again. She wants more sex than he wants to give.

I'm also recalling the letters from Fat Walda to Roose Bolton. She wants to give him sons to be heirs to the Dreadfort. He likes to have sex with her, but he seems more intent on having leeches on his body. I wonder whether there's a lechery / leech connection?

Your post is persuasive - shagginess almost certainly has something to do with virility and aggression. Very nice points. Thanks.

[Blue-Eyed Wolf]

48 minutes ago, Seams said:

Excellent! Thanks for the terrific citations from the text, too. This does seem to be a pretty strong association - beards and virility / lechery / male aggression. I usually forget to imagine Daario Naharis as he is described in the books - with a dyed-blue beard styled into three points. It's so absurd that I can't imagine Dany being attracted to someone who looks like that. But there's something sinister about him, with his thumbs stroking the naked women on the hilts of his weapons, even though the relationship with Dany is consensual. That beard is telling us something.

And I bet that Ser Barristan and Daario are supposed to be foils; two opposing influences in Dany's life.

It made me think of the folk tale of Bluebeard, a story of a violent man who has been married several times before.  His latest young bride discovers he's killed all his wives in a secret room in their house.  The Robber Bridegroom is also a version of this story.  A young girl finds out her suitor is actually part of a band of outlaws that kidnaps and cannibalizes young girls.  Sorry, the linking system doesn't appear to be working, but the gist of the story is violence against women.  Not that I think Daario is a cannibal, but he is clearly a very violent man and like you say that stroking of his hilts is creepy.

48 minutes ago, Seams said:

Hyle Hunt's role may also be notable, if we're looking at virility vs. celibacy, because he is one of those false suitors who later sees an advantage in marrying Brienne, but isn't really interested in bedding her. (The author does make a point of telling us that Hunt has a natural daughter, however, so he's not entirely unsexed.)

Actually, I think Hyle Hunt (and the other guy that originally started the wager) in a very immature way actually was interested in Brienne.  Not every guy likes the traditional feminity.  It was at first just about maybe competition between two friends (again, immature) to be her suitor.  Then other people found out about it, took it for a sick jest, then it all spiraled out of control.  More people joined in, the stakes get higher, and it gets seriously dangerous for Brienne.  As a result, Brienne does not trust any man that is nice to her.  Who can blame her?  So Hyle Hunt who I think actually felt bad over it but who also knows Brienne would see a direct apology as some kind of trick.  Words are wind.  He needs to show her his atonement.  So he leaves Tarly's service and goes with her.  She thinks he's taking the heads to take credit for himself.  He doesn't.  He hauls 3 stinking, maggoty heads over the very long journey back to Maidenpool.  The smell is so bad he has to ride a distance behind Brienne and Podrick.  He tells everyone Brienne slew all three outlaws, giving her full credit.  It's a big deal.  They made fun of Brienne, but he's proclaiming that she was a better and truer knight than any of them.  He's generally still mocking her, but that's because she doesn't trust anyone that is nice to her and she barely trusts him at all now.  But he also mentions he likes her lips, just like Jaime finds her eyes attractive.  I don't think it's so implausible that some men would find Brienne legit attractive.  I'm not rooting for the guy.  I do think that she's an heiress adds to the attraction, but I do think his actions in AFFC show he is trying to make up for his very poor decision to start that game.  I don't think he ever intended things to go that far, but he does bear responsibility.  He's not a great guy, but I also don't think he's a really unrepentant villain either.  Sorry didn't mean to derail anything, but I think the fact that he did the "castrating" of the Goat's Men does mean something to his character.

 

48 minutes ago, Seams said:

As for Selyse and her facial hair, we do hear her beg Stannis to impregnate her again. She wants more sex than he wants to give.

That makes sense.  Shaggy could still apply to sexual demands even in women.  Even Ygritte with her rat's nest of hair pushes Jon toward a sexual relationship.

48 minutes ago, Seams said:

I'm also recalling the letters from Fat Walda to Roose Bolton. She wants to give him sons to be heirs to the Dreadfort. He likes to have sex with her, but he seems more intent on having leeches on his body. I wonder whether there's a lechery / leech connection?

Leeches and lechery!  That's good!  What about the connection to leche (Spanish for milk) and the way SR seeks out Sansa's breasts to nurse as he did with his mother?  A stretch?   There's Lysa who Sans says smells like "sour milk" when she meets her at the Fingers for her medding to Petyr.  She's pretty demanding for the marriage to happen immediately and the bedding is quite loud with her cries.     

[GloubieBoulga]

Now, I have far better pay attention to the theme sharp/shaggy, and I think I found some things. 

1- "sharp" is reliated to the Others in the prologue not only with the sword but a second time with the cold butchery : 

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The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voices and laughter sharp as icicles.

Curiosly (and funnily), if you take Bran's reflexion when he goes down to the crypts with maester Luwin and if you eliminate the context, you have the phrasis : Others were shaved clean, their features gaunt and sharp-edged as the iron longswords across their laps.

Others are also described as "gaunt", so you have a perfect depicture of Others... of stone. 

Just to continue the link between Others and "sharpness", you have also Bronn, described as a shadow, gaunt and with a sharp sword. Same thing with Sandor Clegane and ser Ilyn Payne. In fact, they all three are the shadowy "hand" and "sword" for some other character : Bronn for Tyrion, Ilyn Payne for the king and almost queen Cersei and Sandor Clegane for Joffrey, but Sandor is deviated and changes his allegiance. 

With the 3 of them, there is also a strong part of predation, especially for "maiden". Sandor Clegane's ambiguous way with Sansa is well known; ser Ilyn far less, but Sansa is very ambiguous with him : 

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She dreamt of footsteps on the tower stair, an ominous scraping of leather on stone as a man climbed slowly toward her bedchamber, step by step. All she could do was huddle behind her door and listen, trembling, as he came closer and closer. It was Ser Ilyn Payne, she knew, coming for her with Ice in his hand, coming to take her head. There was no place to run, no place to hide, no way to bar the door. Finally the footsteps stopped and she knew he was just outside, standing there silent with his dead eyes and his long pocked face. That was when she realized she was naked. She crouched down, trying to cover herself with her hands, as her door began to swing open, creaking, the point of the greatsword poking through …

She woke murmuring, "Please, please, I'll be good, I'll be good, please don't," but there was no one to hear. (Sansa VI, AGOT)

 

The door opening and creaking reminds the door in Aeron Greyjoy dreams, and what Sansa murmures (I'll be good) is exactly the same than Jeyne Poole when Theon and the spearwives find her naked and hidden in the furs. Jeyne rythms with pain, also. 

And for Bronn, he marries the pregnant Lollys and eliminates her mother Tanda and sister Falyse, which makes him only lord of Stokeworth. 

2. Sharp is reliated to birds : 

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A bird called faintly in the distance, a high sharp trill that felt like an icy hand on Catelyn's neck. Another bird answered; a third, a fourth. She knew their call well enough, from her years at Winterfell. Snow shrikes. Sometimes you saw them in the deep of winter, when the godswood was white and still. They were northern birds. (Catelyn VII, AGOT)

If we look to sharp-features characters, you have :

- Benjen the crow

- LF the mockingbird

- Stannis who have a curious and apparently out of context story with a bird : 

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"When I was a lad I found an injured goshawk and nursed her back to health. Proudwing, I named her. She would perch on my shoulder and flutter from room to room after me and take food from my hand, but she would not soar. Time and again I would take her hawking, but she never flew higher than the treetops. Robert called her Weakwing. He owned a gyrfalcon named Thunderclap who never missed her strike. One day our great-uncle Ser Harbert told me to try a different bird. I was making a fool of myself with Proudwing, he said, and he was right." Stannis Baratheon turned away from the window, and the ghosts who moved upon the southern sea. "The Seven have never brought me so much as a sparrow. It is time I tried another hawk, Davos. A red hawk." (Davos I, ACOK)

haha, and the "red hawk" is now Melisandre who uses/creates shadows to kill Stannis' ennemies. Also the same who wants to sacrifice a bastard boy because of his "king blood" ("the seed is strong"). Stannis is also symbolically reliated with the "sharp" lords of Winterfell when Donal Noye compares him to the iron, that's like the iron swords in the crypts.  

- Bronn also is a kind of "cuckoo", kind of birds who invades the nest of other birds and steal it

 

I have two more very interesting quotes, but no more time for long and detailed comment : 

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Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty's laurel in Lyanna's lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark. (Eddard XV, AGOT

 

Here, there is the connection between the crown and the wound, the same that lays in the Iron Throne (described by Ned as "sharp") which can kill. The idea could be that the "crown of the north" (or the winter crown") is lethal for the Starks of Winterfell

The other quote is from Arya's chapter :

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The monsters were still there, but the fear was gone.

Arya got to her feet, moving warily. The heads were all around her. She touched one, curious, wondering if it was real. Her fingertips brushed a massive jaw. It felt real enough. The bone was smooth beneath her hand, cold and hard to the touch. She ran her fingers down a tooth, black and sharp, a dagger made of darkness. It made her shiver.

"It's dead," she said aloud. "It's just a skull, it can't hurt me." Yet somehow the monster seemed to know she was there. She could feel its empty eyes watching her through the gloom, and there was something in that dim, cavernous room that did not love her. She edged away from the skull and backed into a second, larger than the first. For an instant she could feel its teeth digging into her shoulder, as if it wanted a bite of her flesh. Arya whirled, felt leather catch and tear as a huge fang nipped at her jerkin, and then she was running. Another skull loomed ahead, the biggest monster of all, but Arya did not even slow. She leapt over a ridge of black teeth as tall as swords, dashed through hungry jaws, and threw herself against the door.

 

(Arya III, AGOT)

What is interesting is that the reader can easily deduce that the beasts are the old dragon's skull, but the text doesn't speak of dragons. Instead, you have a little reference to Winterfell's crypts, and also to Jon's recurrent dream, when he goes down to the crypts and feels that something don't love him here. 

This Arya's chapter tells also about bastards : the cat "black bastard" described as "the real king of the Red Keep" that Arya is pursuing; and when she is in the caves, searching to  the issue, she hears Varys and Illyrio coming, and their first words she can hear are "... found one bastard". Here, the entire quote : 

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Two men, she made out. Their shadows writhed against the sides of the well, tall as giants. She could hear their voices, echoing up the shaft.

"… found one bastard," one said. "The rest will come soon. A day, two days, a fortnight …" (Arya III, AGOT)