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The blue eyed king who casts no shadow


KingMance

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On 8/21/2017 at 2:58 PM, ravenous reader said:

That's interesting.  There's also the chapter 'The Sacrifice' in which Stannis punishes the soldiers who've been cannibalising.

I completely forgot about that.  It's bad when I'm forgetting things from spoiler chapters of unreleased books because it's been years since I read it.  

 

On 8/21/2017 at 11:03 PM, Frey family reunion said:

The only other source that contains an approximation of  this quote is in something called the The Vision of Aridaeus, part of a 1907 collection, Echos from the Gnosis, by a historian, G.R.S. Mead,  and umm holy shit:

Holy shit indeed.  I looked into it just enough to make sure that the place with no cast shadows was something recorded and Wikipedia wasn't lying to me.  I wish I had gone deeper now.  A lot if not all these visions seem to apply to an archetypal person and it is set up so it applies to more than one specific character.  So Bran is also a blue eyed king who casts no shadows.  I was thinking of this meaning Stannis is like the stormy god of light that punishes the cannibals with the wolf blood curse.  But Bran is a wolf blooded cannibal.  Does this mean that Bran is destined to be his own judge and executioner in his sacrifice for others like people have been saying all along?  It's hard to tell with all the deaths that are only symbolic.  Bran's going to his new cave home while everyone thinks he is dead may represent his punishment. Or there may be more.  

 

 

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It seems to me that there are many possible "blue eyed kings"

 

Stannis - but not sure about no shadow

Jon, but it would require him being a wight

Bran - he will not walk. What sword will he wield - the Original Ice? or perhaps a dragon

Euron -hate the idea but it assumes the red sword is pretty evil - possible

Cold hands - he may be someone significant, probably casts no shadow and has blue eyes. possibly he is the night King

The re-energised Night king

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On 8/20/2017 at 6:07 PM, Frey family reunion said:

And we know that Euron has trafficked in Warlocks and Shade of the Evening:

Oh, I do like this best!  Recall Moqorro's and Benerro's warnings as well:

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion VIII

Griff, with his young prince. Could all that talk of the Golden Company sailing west have been a feint? Tyrion considered saying something, then thought better. It seemed to him that the prophecy that drove the red priests had room for just one hero. A second Targaryen would only serve to confuse them. "Have you seen these others in your fires?" he asked, warily.

"Only their shadows," Moqorro said. "One most of all. A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood."

 

 

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion VII

The priest was pointing at the Black Wall behind the temple, gesturing up at its parapets, where a handful of armored guardsmen stood gazing down. "What is he saying?" Tyrion asked the knight.

"That Daenerys stands in peril. The dark eye has fallen upon her, and the minions of night are plotting her destruction, praying to their false gods in temples of deceit … conspiring at betrayal with godless outlanders …"

 

"Temples of deceit" sounds a lot like the House of Undying where Dany is surrounded by shadows.  Godless outlanders echoes the Damphair's refrain that godless man, Euron will not sit the Seastone chair.   The tall and twisted thing my well be Euron sitting the Iron Throne.

There is also the notion that entering the HoU is a place where the shadow can be trapped:

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

But then black wings buffeted her round the head, and a scream of fury cut the indigo air, and suddenly the visions were gone, ripped away, and Dany's gasp turned to horror. The Undying were all around her, blue and cold, whispering as they reached for her, pulling, stroking, tugging at her clothes, touching her with their dry cold hands, twining their fingers through her hair. All the strength had left her limbs. She could not move. Even her heart had ceased to beat. She felt a hand on her bare breast, twisting her nipple. Teeth found the soft skin of her throat. A mouth descended on one eye, licking, sucking, biting . . .

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys V

Xaro looked troubled. "And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain. It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years. Ghost grass grows in the Garden of Gehane, phantom tortoises have been seen carrying messages between the windowless houses on Warlock's Way, and all the rats in the city are chewing off their tails. The wife of Mathos Mallarawan, who once mocked a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe, has gone mad and will wear no clothes at all. Even fresh-washed silks make her feel as though a thousand insects were crawling on her skin. And Blind Sybassion the Eater of Eyes can see again, or so his slaves do swear. A man must wonder." He sighed. "These are strange times in Qarth. And strange times are bad for trade. It grieves me to say so, yet it might be best if you left Qarth entirely, and sooner rather than later." Xaro stroked her fingers reassuringly. "You need not go alone, though. You have seen dark visions in the Palace of Dust, but Xaro has dreamed brighter dreams. I see you happily abed, with our child at your breast. Sail with me around the Jade Sea, and we can yet make it so! It is not too late. Give me a son, my sweet song of joy!"

 

 

I get the sense that the shadows within the HoU have a counterpart outside the Temple of Deceit.  The Splendor of Wizards is another deceit which may have a counterpart on the outside.

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

Finally the stair opened. To her right, a set of wide wooden doors had been thrown open. They were fashioned of ebony and weirwood, the black and white grains swirling and twisting in strange interwoven patterns. They were very beautiful, yet somehow frightening. The blood of the dragon must not be afraid. Dany said a quick prayer, begging the Warrior for courage and the Dothraki horse god for strength. She made herself walk forward.

Beyond the doors was a great hall and a splendor of wizards. Some wore sumptuous robes of ermine, ruby velvet, and cloth of gold. Others fancied elaborate armor studded with gemstones, or tall pointed hats speckled with stars. There were women among them, dressed in gowns of surpassing loveliness. Shafts of sunlight slanted through windows of stained glass, and the air was alive with the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

A kingly man in rich robes rose when he saw her, and smiled. "Daenerys of House Targaryen, be welcome. Come and share the food of forever. We are the Undying of Qarth."

"Long have we awaited you," said a woman beside him, clad in rose and silver. The breast she had left bare in the Qartheen fashion was as perfect as a breast could be.

"We knew you were to come to us," the wizard king said. "A thousand years ago we knew, and have been waiting all this time. We sent the comet to show you the way."

 

The identity of these three is a good question:  the kingly man and the Qaartheen woman beside him and the wizard king.  There is a suggestion that Quaithe, Benerro and Moqorro have some notion of what transpired in the HoU. 

From the Forsaken Chapter:

Spoiler

Euron sits the Iron Throne with the pale woman beside him.  He sails a sea of blood.

Quote

 

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys V

Dany had laughed when he told her. "Was it not you who told me warlocks were no more than old soldiers, vainly boasting of forgotten deeds and lost prowess?"

 

Xaro looked troubled. "And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain. It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years.

A Feast for Crows - Prologue

Armen looked down his nose at Lazy Leo. He had the perfect nose for it, long and thin and pointed. "Archmaester Marwyn believes in many curious things," he said, "but he has no more proof of dragons than Mollander. Just more sailors' stories."

 

"You're wrong," said Leo. "There is a glass candle burning in the Mage's chambers."

 

A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys II

"Are you here?"

"No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal."

 

Who is Urrathon Night-Walker and where is his house?

 

 

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1 hour ago, LynnS said:

I get the sense that the shadows within the HoU have a counterpart outside the Temple of Deceit.  The Splendor of Wizards is another deceit which may have a counterpart on the outside.

The identity of these three is a good question:  the kingly man and the Qaartheen woman beside him and the wizard king.  There is a suggestion that Quaithe, Benerro and Moqorro have some notion of what transpired in the HoU. 

Dany is in a room with her dragon, a burning sword held over the world, and she meets the three you mention... A kingly man, a wealthy woman, and a wise wizard (priest?)... remind you of anything?

Quote

 

"Oh, I think not," Varys said, swirling the wine in his cup. "Power is a curious thing, my lord. Perchance you have considered the riddle I posed you that day in the inn?"
 
"It has crossed my mind a time or two," Tyrion admitted. "The king, the priest, the rich man—who lives and who dies? Who will the swordsman obey? It's a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. All depends on the man with the sword."
 
"And yet he is no one," Varys said. "He has neither crown nor gold nor favor of the gods, only a piece of pointed steel."
 
"That piece of steel is the power of life and death."
 
"Just so . . . yet if it is the swordsmen who rule us in truth, why do we pretend our kings hold the power? Why should a strong man with a sword ever obey a child king like Joffrey, or a wine-sodden oaf like his father? "
 
"Because these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords."
 
"Then these other swordsmen have the true power. Or do they? Whence came their swords? Why do they obey?" Varys smiled. "Some say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law. Yet that day on the steps of Baelor's Sept, our godly High Septon and the lawful Queen Regent and your ever-so-knowledgeable servant were as powerless as any cobbler or cooper in the crowd. Who truly killed Eddard Stark do you think? Joffrey, who gave the command? Ser Ilyn Payne, who swung the sword? Or . . . another? "
 
Tyrion cocked his head sideways. "Did you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head ache worse?"
 
Varys smiled. "Here, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less."
 
"So power is a mummer's trick?"
 
"A shadow on the wall," Varys murmured, "yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow."


 

The answer is the same of course...

All men must die

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17 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Dany is in a room with her dragon, a burning sword held over the world, and she meets the three you mention... A kingly man, a wealthy woman, and a wise wizard (priest?)... remind you of anything?

"And yet he is no one," Varys said. "He has neither crown nor gold nor favor of the gods, only a piece of pointed steel.

Oh very good!  Here's one for you:

Quote

 

A Storm of Swords - Jon IV

Ghost was gone when the wildings led their horses from the cave. Did he understand about Castle Black? 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.

 

 

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53 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.

What glows like sunset? dawn

 

Well, glowing like sunset... Sunrise is usually described as pink and purple rather than red.

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Prologue

The maester did not believe in omens. And yet . . . old as he was, Cressen had never seen a comet half so bright, nor yet that color, that terrible color, the color of blood and flame and sunsets. He wondered if his gargoyles had ever seen its like. They had been here so much longer than he had, and would still be here long after he was gone. If stone tongues could speak . . .

A Clash of Kings - Prologue

The comet's tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.

 

What glows like sunrise?  The Wall.

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Jon VI

As the stars began to fade in the eastern sky, the Wall appeared before him, rising above the trees and the morning mists. Moonlight glimmered pale against the ice. He urged the gelding on, following the muddy slick road until he saw the stone towers and timbered halls of Castle Black huddled like broken toys beneath the great cliff of ice. By then the Wall glowed pink and purple with the first light of dawn.

 

Is the red sword and the dawn sword the same thing? 

 

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32 minutes ago, LynnS said:

Well, glowing like sunset... Sunrise is usually described as pink and purple rather than red.

What glows like sunrise?  The Wall.

 

 

Is the red sword and the dawn sword the same thing? 

 

I think that's a little selective, but that's just me... sunset and sunrise look much the same after all, in all their red glory:

Pale crimson fingers fanned out to the east as the first rays of the sun broke over the horizon. The western sky was a deep purple, speckled with stars. Tyrion wondered whether this was the last sunrise he would ever see … and whether wondering was a mark of cowardice.

...

 
Finally he gave it up and made his way up top for a breath of night air. The Selaesori Qhoran had furled her big striped sail for the night, and her decks were all but deserted. One of the mates was on the sterncastle, and amidships Moqorro sat by his brazier, where a few small flames still danced amongst the embers.
Only the brightest stars were visible, all to the west. A dull red glow lit the sky to the northeast, the color of a blood bruise. Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave. "What hour is this?" he asked Moqorro. "That cannot be sunrise unless the east has moved. Why is the sky red?
"The sky is always red above Valyria, Hugor Hill."
 
...
 
And the beauty of that sunrise, he remembered that as well: stars strewn across a purple sky, the grass glittering like glass with the morning dew, red splendor in the east.
 
I have also considered that Westeros is known as the Sunset Kingdoms, so I do expect it is a king in Westeros she sees.
 
And of course I keep waiting for the sun to rise in the west and set in the east...
 
Also, there is some irony in the repeated use of "sure as sunrise", in a story where the Long Night lasted a generation, and a Battle for the Dawn was necessary.
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25 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I think that's a little selective, but that's just me... sunset and sunrise look much the same after all, in all their red glory:

Pale crimson fingers fanned out to the east as the first rays of the sun broke over the horizon. The western sky was a deep purple, speckled with stars. Tyrion wondered whether this was the last sunrise he would ever see … and whether wondering was a mark of cowardice.

...

 
Finally he gave it up and made his way up top for a breath of night air. The Selaesori Qhoran had furled her big striped sail for the night, and her decks were all but deserted. One of the mates was on the sterncastle, and amidships Moqorro sat by his brazier, where a few small flames still danced amongst the embers.
Only the brightest stars were visible, all to the west. A dull red glow lit the sky to the northeast, the color of a blood bruise. Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave. "What hour is this?" he asked Moqorro. "That cannot be sunrise unless the east has moved. Why is the sky red?
"The sky is always red above Valyria, Hugor Hill."
 
...
 
And the beauty of that sunrise, he remembered that as well: stars strewn across a purple sky, the grass glittering like glass with the morning dew, red splendor in the east.
 
I have also considered that Westeros is known as the Sunset Kingdoms, so I do expect it is a king in Westeros she sees.
 
And of course I keep waiting for the sun to rise in the west and set in the east...
 
Also, there is some irony in the repeated use of "sure as sunrise", in a story where the Long Night lasted a generation, and a Battle for the Dawn was necessary.

Ah, Valyria and smoking sea.  It depends on where you are located then.  The eastern sky in Westeros is different than Essos or Valyria specifically
 

Quote

 

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion II

They departed Pentos by the Sunrise Gate, though Tyrion Lannister never glimpsed the sunrise. "It will be as if you had never come to Pentos, my little friend," promised Magister Illyrio, as he drew shut the litter's purple velvet drapes. "No man must see you leave the city, as no man saw you enter."

 

 

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22 minutes ago, LynnS said:

Ah, Valyria and smoking sea.  It depends on where you are located then.  The eastern sky in Westeros is different than Essos or Valyria specifically
 

 

Sorry, the first quote was in westeros, before the battle at the Green Fork, and the last was a memory of the same sunrise... it was just a quick search I did for sunrises being red. Even the Valyria one in the middle is a reference to sunrises being red (it just happens to not be a sunrise they are talking about, but Valyria). 

His rondels were golden sunbursts, all his fastenings were gilded, and the red steel was burnished to such a high sheen that it shone like fire in the light of the rising sun.

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29 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Sorry, the first quote was in westeros, before the battle at the Green Fork, and the last was a memory of the same sunrise... it was just a quick search I did for sunrises being red. Even the Valyria one in the middle is a reference to sunrises being red (it just happens to not be a sunrise they are talking about, but Valyria). 

His rondels were golden sunbursts, all his fastenings were gilded, and the red steel was burnished to such a high sheen that it shone like fire in the light of the rising sun.

LOL!  Most of my searches turned up pink and pink and purple sunrises or the first crack of dawn before the sun is fully risen, I suppose.  Or... cooler air and ice particles in the high atmosphere?

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/huddersfields-sky-purple-pink-morning-8260438

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4307110/Sydney-wake-pink-skies-fairy-floss-clouds.html

 

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2 hours ago, LynnS said:

A Clash of Kings - Prologue

The comet's tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.

The Wounded Sky... oh my.

Quote

Plot

The Enterprise, equipped with a radical new "inversion drive" which allows the ship to bend spacetime and transit immense distances instantly, is sent on a mission to the Magellanic Clouds just outside the Milky Way, in order to place navigation beacons for future extra-galactic voyages using the new technology.

The inversion drive is a product of the "creative physics" practiced by the natives of the Hamal star system, a race of crystalline spider-like beings. The chief designer of the drive is aboard, advising Captain Kirk, as the Enterprise makes its first "jump", after outmaneuvering a Klingon squadron which was sent to capture the new technology. Unknown to anyone on the starship, however, the use of the drive destabilizes spacetime itself on a fundamental level, creating a rift or tear through which another, external Universe penetrates and begins to mix with the Enterprise's own, with rapidly spreading, potentially fatal consequences for all life everywhere.

The denouement of the novel follows as Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew, experiencing bizarre, dream-like experiences of other times and worlds during the use of the drive, realize that something is dreadfully amiss. Arriving near the rift and observing the destruction it inflicts on nearby star systems, they discover that the price for traveling distances that would take centuries to cover with warp drive may be the loss of their own Universe. Deliberately using the drive one, final time, they cross the "boundary" between external "reality" and their own collective inner consciousness, where they must together draw on mental, emotional and spiritual strengths to heal the wound that they have caused.

The novel deals intensively with the question of whether reality is an objective thing in and of itself, or a product of conscious perception by humans and other intelligences. Like Duane's other Star Trek novels, it incorporates both real physics and speculative extensions thereof to support the plot.

 

The episode seems to be lost.  I did find a filler...

 

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On 8/23/2017 at 9:12 PM, Unchained said:

 

Holy shit indeed.  I looked into it just enough to make sure that the place with no cast shadows was something recorded and Wikipedia wasn't lying to me.  I wish I had gone deeper now.  A lot if not all these visions seem to apply to an archetypal person and it is set up so it applies to more than one specific character.  So Bran is also a blue eyed king who casts no shadows.  I was thinking of this meaning Stannis is like the stormy god of light that punishes the cannibals with the wolf blood curse.  But Bran is a wolf blooded cannibal.  Does this mean that Bran is destined to be his own judge and executioner in his sacrifice for others like people have been saying all along?  It's hard to tell with all the deaths that are only symbolic.  Bran's going to his new cave home while everyone thinks he is dead may represent his punishment. Or there may be more.  

 

 

I very much agree with the bolded part of your statement.  I wonder if GRRM is using all three blue eyed kings as a stand in for one of the different aspects of Zeus.

In Cook's study of Zeus, he identifies among other aspects a Zeus of the Burning sky, or Aether, which could be Stannis role.  A Zeus of the dark and stormy skies, which could represent Euron, and he has a chapter trying to determine if Zeus Lykaios is a Wolf-God or a Light-God.  Perhaps Bran represents both aspects.

In fact, as Bran's evolution continues and he travels in time through the weirwood, it appears that he communicates through the wind.  Which goes back to what Osha tells Bran about the wind, that this is how the Old Gods communicate.  Perhaps Bran can influence past events through manipulation of wind.

But if GRRM is influenced by the idea of that the souls of the dead casts no shadow, I'm drawn more and more to the idea that Euron certainly fits the role.  The fact that he hasn't aged since Victarion last saw him is telling.  My guess is Euron may be undead.

In the Vision of Aridaeus, that is how one recognized the spirit of the living (like Aridaeus) from the spirits of the dead:

Quote

On hearing this, Thespesius (Aridaeus) set himself the more to use his rational faculties, and taking a closer look, he saw that he had a faint and shadowy outline attached to him, while they [the dead] shone all round and were transparent, though not all in the same way.

This is how the souls of the dead recognize Aridaeus as still being alive, his soul still cast a shadow.

The same idea is played out in Dante's Divine Comedy:

Quote

The sun, that in our rear was flaming red,
  Was broken in front of me into the figure
  Which had in me the stoppage of its rays;


Unto one side I turned me, with the fear
  Of being left alone, when I beheld
  Only in front of me the ground obscured.


"Why dost thou still mistrust?" my Comforter
  Began to say to me turned wholly round;
  "Dost thou not think me with thee, and that I guide thee?


'Tis evening there already where is buried
  The body within which I cast a shadow;
  'Tis from Brundusium ta'en, and Naples has it.


Now if in front of me no shadow fall,
  Marvel not at it more than at the heavens,
  Because one ray impedeth not another

Excerpt From: Dante Alighieri. “The Divine Comedy.”

Here Dante casts a shadow, but his dead guide does not.

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This is the Mel quote that gives it away.

Quote

"No." Perhaps he should have lied, and told her what she wanted to hear, but Davos was too accustomed to speaking truth. "You are the mother of darkness. I saw that under Storm's End, when you gave birth before my eyes."

"Is the brave Ser Onions so frightened of a passing shadow? Take heart, then. Shadows only live when given birth by light, and the king's fires burn so low I dare not draw off any more to make another son. It might well kill him." Melisandre moved closer. "With another man, though . . . a man whose flames still burn hot and high . . .

A man's fire makes the shadow, and Stannis's fires burns so low she dare not draw again from it.

But in the wording of the ice dragon's description is straight symmetry with the vision.

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a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.

Quote

with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed

Translucent of course means light passes through, no shadow.

If we are to take the vision literally, and we probably should because it is a vision, Dany sees it, then Stannis is not yet reached the state that Dany sees him in. He still has a shadow. It suggests another drawing of his soul is yet to come.

Stannis's and Mel's shadow loom large against the wall, and beside those relating to the constellation all the ice dragon foreshadowing is at wall. Ice dragon's breath, the wind off the wall, the tunnels beneath the wall the ice dragon's gullet.

Where things are probably leaning is Stannis's final shadow baby act leading to the rise of the ice dragon, at the wall, from the fallen wall's ice and iron caging (gates, dungeons, winch). Such shadows as Mel brings forth at the wall will be terrible, the spells of the wall like Storm's End, can not be breached by shadows, will probably imprison the shadow Stannis until the wall falls and dragon rises.

We are given something of a description of what life beneath the wings of the ice dragon would look like, by Stannis himself no less.

Quote

King Stannis pointed a finger. "There you err, Onion Knight. Some lights cast more than one shadow. Stand before the nightfire and you'll see for yourself. The flames shift and dance, never still. The shadows grow tall and short, and every man casts a dozen. Some are fainter than others, that's all. Well, men cast their shadows across the future as well. One shadow or many. Melisandre sees them all."

Translucent prisms of ice moving before the moon, sending dancing pale shadows over the earth.

Anyway blue eyed king no shadow = Stannis = ice dragon.

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On 8/27/2017 at 0:52 PM, Frey family reunion said:

I very much agree with the bolded part of your statement.  I wonder if GRRM is using all three blue eyed kings as a stand in for one of the different aspects of Zeus.

In Cook's study of Zeus, he identifies among other aspects a Zeus of the Burning sky, or Aether, which could be Stannis role.  A Zeus of the dark and stormy skies, which could represent Euron, and he has a chapter trying to determine if Zeus Lykaios is a Wolf-God or a Light-God.  Perhaps Bran represents both aspects.

In fact, as Bran's evolution continues and he travels in time through the weirwood, it appears that he communicates through the wind.  Which goes back to what Osha tells Bran about the wind, that this is how the Old Gods communicate.  Perhaps Bran can influence past events through manipulation of wind.

But if GRRM is influenced by the idea of that the souls of the dead casts no shadow, I'm drawn more and more to the idea that Euron certainly fits the role.  The fact that he hasn't aged since Victarion last saw him is telling.  My guess is Euron may be undead.

In the Vision of Aridaeus, that is how one recognized the spirit of the living (like Aridaeus) from the spirits of the dead:

This is how the souls of the dead recognize Aridaeus as still being alive, his soul still cast a shadow.

The same idea is played out in Dante's Divine Comedy:

Here Dante casts a shadow, but his dead guide does not.

@ravenous reader

 

There's is a mention is fire bubbles rising of different colors that seems to be where George got Patchface's rising smoky bubbles from.  

 

It it also says that dying is akin to being initiated into a mystery cult.  Mithras is one inspiration for Jon.  I have been looking into others and I think found a lot of references to Cybele, another mystery cult.  One of her names is the mother of mountains.  I think Viserys's death is another example of the same archetype as Bran dying and entering the net recieving the burning crown like Stannis has.  He dies in front of the mother of mountains.  She has a consort/priest named Attis.  He actually gets castrated under a fir tree like Gargon in the Harrenhall godswood and his soul goes into it.  Jon climbs a mountain that is said to be his mother before meeting Ygritte and dropping the falling bran(d).  In honor of Sybele, they would cut a fir tree, they thought contained Attis, and bring it to a temple to Cybele.  The priests would cut their arms and whirl spilling blood over the tree.  I think that is where George gets his whirling fiery dancers we see at Stannis's Lightbringer forging, the dragon hatching, and lots of other important places.  Also a Sybel causes the Red Wedding.  I am making an essay on it, I think I may finally have enough material to finish.  

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22 hours ago, Unchained said:

@ravenous reader

 

There's is a mention is fire bubbles rising of different colors that seems to be where George got Patchface's rising smoky bubbles from.  

 

It it also says that dying is akin to being initiated into a mystery cult.  Mithras is one inspiration for Jon.  I have been looking into others and I think found a lot of references to Cybele, another mystery cult.  One of her names is the mother of mountains.  I think Viserys's death is another example of the same archetype as Bran dying and entering the net recieving the burning crown like Stannis has.  He dies in front of the mother of mountains.  She has a consort/priest named Attis.  He actually gets castrated under a fir tree like Gargon in the Harrenhall godswood and his soul goes into it.  Jon climbs a mountain that is said to be his mother before meeting Ygritte and dropping the falling bran(d).  In honor of Sybele, they would cut a fir tree, they thought contained Attis, and bring it to a temple to Cybele.  The priests would cut their arms and whirl spilling blood over the tree.  I think that is where George gets his whirling fiery dancers we see at Stannis's Lightbringer forging, the dragon hatching, and lots of other important places.  Also a Sybel causes the Red Wedding.  I am making an essay on it, I think I may finally have enough material to finish.  

A bit off topic, but one of the predominant images associated with Cybele is the Mural Crown.  Which makes me think of the Queenscrown tower which Jon and Ygraine gaze upon while Bran and company hide within.  Another interesting aspect of Cybele, is that when her cult was brought to Rome, they dragged along a black meteorite which was supposed to represent the goddess.  

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There's a lot of Cybele, more to come than is really, such as the scene this is foreshadowing.

Quote

 

Tyrion slept and woke and slept again, and day and night seemed not to matter. The Velvet Hills proved a disappointment. "Half the whores in Lannisport have breasts bigger than these hills," he told Illyrio. "You ought to call them the Velvet Teats." They saw a circle of standing stones that Illyrio claimed had been raised by giants, and later a deep lake. "Here lived a den of robbers who preyed on all who passed this way," Illyrio said. "It is said they still dwell beneath the water. Those who fish the lake are pulled under and devoured." The next evening they came upon a huge Valyrian sphinx crouched beside the road. It had a dragon's body and a woman's face.

"A dragon queen," said Tyrion. "A pleasant omen."

"Her king is missing." Illyrio pointed out the smooth stone plinth on which the second sphinx once stood, now grown over with moss and flowering vines. "The horselords built wooden wheels beneath him and dragged him back to Vaes Dothrak."

 

But it doesn't relate to the topic, as Euron doesn't relate particularly to the Others or Long Night.

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