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Echoes of the Last Hero or separate heroes?


falcotron

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The standard assumption among fandom—and among Maesters, red priests, and Yi Ti scholars, according to the World app—is that the Last Hero, Azor Ahai, Hyrkoon, Yin Tar, etc. are all the same person, and the different myths are all just echoes of the same event that happened in Westeros in the War for the Dawn.

And you can see how this could work. For example, the Yi Ti myth of the Long Night has the Emperor building the Five Forts and then the monkey-tailed girl defeating the Lion of Night, and this is just the Last Hero defeating the Others and Bran the Builder building the Wall in reverse. Not hard to see how small changes like that could creep in over thousands of years and thousands of kilometers.

But the thing is, those Five Forts do exist, and they are as old as the Wall, and there aren't any other myths to explain them. (There is a theory that they were built by Valyrians, but there's the same theory for everything from Hightower to Ib, and, as with all those theories, the timeline doesn't work, and there's no evidence of Valyrians ever coming anywhere near the area.) The fortress city that Hyrkoon built after saving the world also exists, and has no other foundation myth. And so on. That's kind of weird.

And meanwhile, not all of the stories are as easy to match up to the Last Hero as Azor Ahai. The Rhoynar version has their hero traveling to the source of the Rhoyne and getting the river gods to stop fighting and sing a magic song together.

And finally, it seems like the Long Night happened everywhere (although I'm really curious what happened south of the equator, if anyone lives in deep Sothoryos…), but it also doesn't sound like it was equally bad in all places. The entire world covered in night and winter compared to the Rhoyne freezing to half its length aren't really comparable. It's like the post-medieval "little ice age" that had terrible effects around the Atlantic coasts from Europe to Mexico, but was only mildly annoying in Asia.

So, what would it mean if these were all entirely separate events? What would have happened if, say, the river gods sang their song, but the monkey-tailed girl had failed to defeat the Lion? Would the night have receded in western Essos but not far eastern Essos? Or is that not possible because one of them succeeding would be enough somehow, or because the outcome was predestined in the first place?

I suppose we'll get the answer if the Others pass the Wall. What will happen in Braavos or Ib? Will Others climb out of the Shivering Sea, or will they face ice giants or sentient mists or some other threat connected to their own history instead of Westeros's, or will it just get colder and darker and there's nothing they can do about it except help the fight in Westeros?

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5 hours ago, falcotron said:

The standard assumption among fandom—and among Maesters, red priests, and Yi Ti scholars, according to the World app—is that the Last Hero, Azor Ahai, Hyrkoon, Yin Tar, etc. are all the same person, and the different myths are all just echoes of the same event that happened in Westeros in the War for the Dawn.

And you can see how this could work. For example, the Yi Ti myth of the Long Night has the Emperor building the Five Forts and then the monkey-tailed girl defeating the Lion of Night, and this is just the Last Hero defeating the Others and Bran the Builder building the Wall in reverse. Not hard to see how small changes like that could creep in over thousands of years and thousands of kilometers.

But the thing is, those Five Forts do exist, and they are as old as the Wall, and there aren't any other myths to explain them. (There is a theory that they were built by Valyrians, but there's the same theory for everything from Hightower to Ib, and, as with all those theories, the timeline doesn't work, and there's no evidence of Valyrians ever coming anywhere near the area.) The fortress city that Hyrkoon built after saving the world also exists, and has no other foundation myth. And so on. That's kind of weird.

And meanwhile, not all of the stories are as easy to match up to the Last Hero as Azor Ahai. The Rhoynar version has their hero traveling to the source of the Rhoyne and getting the river gods to stop fighting and sing a magic song together.

And finally, it seems like the Long Night happened everywhere (although I'm really curious what happened south of the equator, if anyone lives in deep Sothoryos…), but it also doesn't sound like it was equally bad in all places. The entire world covered in night and winter compared to the Rhoyne freezing to half its length aren't really comparable. It's like the post-medieval "little ice age" that had terrible effects around the Atlantic coasts from Europe to Mexico, but was only mildly annoying in Asia.

So, what would it mean if these were all entirely separate events? What would have happened if, say, the river gods sang their song, but the monkey-tailed girl had failed to defeat the Lion? Would the night have receded in western Essos but not far eastern Essos? Or is that not possible because one of them succeeding would be enough somehow, or because the outcome was predestined in the first place?

I suppose we'll get the answer if the Others pass the Wall. What will happen in Braavos or Ib? Will Others climb out of the Shivering Sea, or will they face ice giants or sentient mists or some other threat connected to their own history instead of Westeros's, or will it just get colder and darker and there's nothing they can do about it except help the fight in Westeros?

The last hero had twelve companions, and most, of not all the hero stories have the protagonist making an epic journey... 

Since the long night lasted a generation (13 years?) it isn't inconcievable that these are the home grown tails of each member of his little party.

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6 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

The last hero had twelve companions, and most, of not all the hero stories have the protagonist making an epic journey... 

Since the long night lasted a generation (13 years?) it isn't inconcievable that these are the home grown tails of each member of his little party.

Yeah, that's a third possibility that I remember someone else bringing up a few years ago. But I don't think it works.

The 12 companions all died on the quest to find the Children. That was already pretty clear from Old Nan's original story ("For years he searched until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog…"), and the TWoIaF entry on the Long Night makes it even clearer. So, if the foreign heroes were the 12 companions, none of them could have been involved in the climactic Battle for the Dawn (as Azor Ahai was, unless the red priests are totally off base and the whole myth is useless*), much less returned home or built new cities the Night ended (as Hyrkoon did).

Of course you could just adjust the theory to say that the foreign heroes weren't the 12 companions, they were the original members of the Watch, who the Last Hero gathered after making his pact with the Children. But then you can't fit the parts of their story that echo the quest for the Children (which sounds like the entire Rhoynish version), and you still can't have them returning home or doing other stuff afterward, because the original Watch members all swore the original oath, stuck around as Bran built the Wall, and spent the rest of their lives guarding it.

You can always fall back on "Well, that's just local misinterpretations over 8000 years", and people merged the story of Hyrkoon who traveled to Westeros to join the Watch with another Hyrkoon who built the first fortress city. But once you go down that road, you might as well accept that the Maesters and Yi Tish scholars are right, and the whole thing is just a local interpretation of the Last Hero story.

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* I suppose you could make it work with Jojen or Hodor as AAR, which would be pretty funny…

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8 hours ago, LordImp said:

I think various cultures had their own "heroes" and threats. For example Yi Ti fighting something from the Grey waste and possibly the Asshai'I facing something from the shadow.

Yeah, that's exactly the possibility I was suggesting.

But that raises all the questions I mentioned: Why did all these separate threats come at around the same time, why did all those heroes win their quests at the same time, and, most of all, how a bunch of separate things ended a single global Long Night.

One possibility is that the Westerosi threat was the important one, and it was the Last Hero who ended the Long Night, and the other heroes just kept their own civilization alive until he did so. But that doesn't fit so well—slaying the Lion of Night and banishing all of his demons sounds like a final victory, not a holding action.

Now that I think about it, I suppose there's another possibility: The closest we have to a firm date for any of these stories is a 5000-year-old book from Asshai that says it happened thousands of years before that. The Westerosi date of 8000 years ago seems to be just a sort of compromise date because the Maesters can't agree with each other to within a few millennia. So, maybe they're all completely independent events, centuries or even millennia apart from us. After more than 5000 years of quiet (from the Valyrians discovering dragons until the Doom?), scholars and theologists looking at all those ancient myths just assumed that it only happened one time, around 8000 years ago, and therefore all the myths must be of the same thing, but they're wrong.

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25 minutes ago, falcotron said:

Yeah, that's a third possibility that I remember someone else bringing up a few years ago. But I don't think it works.

The 12 companions all died on the quest to find the Children. That was already pretty clear from Old Nan's original story ("For years he searched until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog…"), and the TWoIaF entry on the Long Night makes it even clearer. So, if the foreign heroes were the 12 companions, none of them could have been involved in the climactic Battle for the Dawn (as Azor Ahai was, unless the red priests are totally off base and the whole myth is useless*), much less returned home or built new cities the Night ended (as Hyrkoon did).

Of course you could just adjust the theory to say that the foreign heroes weren't the 12 companions, they were the original members of the Watch, who the Last Hero gathered after making his pact with the Children. But then you can't fit the parts of their story that echo the quest for the Children (which sounds like the entire Rhoynish version), and you still can't have them returning home or doing other stuff afterward, because the original Watch members all swore the original oath, stuck around as Bran built the Wall, and spent the rest of their lives guarding it.

You can always fall back on "Well, that's just local misinterpretations over 8000 years", and people merged the story of Hyrkoon who traveled to Westeros to join the Watch with another Hyrkoon who built the first fortress city. But once you go down that road, you might as well accept that the Maesters and Yi Tish scholars are right, and the whole thing is just a local interpretation of the Last Hero story.

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* I suppose you could make it work with Jojen or Hodor as AAR, which would be pretty funny…

Ya, so, I hate to do this, but I think the twelve companions were also the original Nights Watch. What I don't trust is the order of events we've been given... it seems to me that the Night's King's 13 year reign would be about a generation and may well have been the Long Night.

I think the Last Hero made peace with the Others, as opposed to defeating them, and the Battle for the Dawn was to overthrow him after he became the Night's King.

And after all, people do, you know, come back from the dead...

And is Nissa Nissa the corpse bride?

He brought her back to the Nightfort and proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will. For thirteen years they had ruled, Night's King and his corpse queen, till finally the Stark of Winterfell and Joramun of the wildlings had joined to free the Watch from bondage. After his fall, when it was found he had been sacrificing to the Others, all records of Night's King had been destroyed, his very name forbidden.

After all, raising wights or neverborn, or transothering or whatever we're calling this resurrection magic, and "bound his sworn brothers to his will" could easily be the same thing.

But of course it's all wild speculation.

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Man, I have no freaking idea, but I am interested in what others have to say. Assuming Eldric Shadowchaser and Hyrkoon the Hero from the Bone Mountains are homages to the anti-hero Elric of Melnibone and his cousin and evil counterpart Yyrkoon, and if they are more than just homages, the names suggest that the promised prince, princes, or princess in ASOIAF would utilize dark forces, and brutal methods to accomplish objectives. Another interesting notion is that Elric of Melnibone is one aspect of the Eternal Champion, a hero who exists in all dimensions, times, and worlds in the Moorcock Multiverse. The Eternal Champion is chosen by fate to fight for the Cosmic Balance between Chaos and Law (i.e., order). 

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4 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Ya, so, I hate to do this, but I think the twelve companions were also the original Nights Watch.

Then how do you account for the fact that Old Nan's story (and also the Maester's history) explicitly says that they all died on the way to the Last Hero finding the Children? I'm assuming you don't think the original Watch were undead, so… Are you suggesting that the whole quest to find the Children and sign a pact with them was after he'd made peace with the Others, created the Watch, waited a few years, and become Night's King?

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5 hours ago, falcotron said:

 

But that raises all the questions I mentioned: Why did all these separate threats come at around the same time, why did all those heroes win their quests at the same time, and, most of all, how a bunch of separate things ended a single global Long Night.

One possibility is that the Westerosi threat was the important one, and it was the Last Hero who ended the Long Night, and the other heroes just kept their own civilization alive until he did so. But that doesn't fit so well—slaying the Lion of Night and banishing all of his demons sounds like a final victory, not a holding action

We have the theory about the destruction of the second moon that might have sort of boosted magic resulting in all these supernatural threats rising.

I think it is as you said . The LN was ended in Westeros and the other heroes tought it was them . 

Your third possibility is something I can get behind . The long night was one cataclysm and then Asshai and Azor Ahai happend later. 

5 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

hink the Last Hero made peace with the Others, as opposed to defeating them, and the Battle for the Dawn was to overthrow him after he became the Night's King

This is a good idea . I like it! 

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4 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Man, I have no freaking idea, but I am interested in what others have to say. Assuming Eldric Shadowchaser and Hyrkoon the Hero from the Bone Mountains are homages to the anti-hero Elric of Melnibone and his cousin and evil counterpart Yyrkoon, and if they are more than just homages, the names suggest that the promised prince, princes, or princess in ASOIAF would utilize dark forces, and brutal methods to accomplish objectives. Another interesting notion is that Elric of Melnibone is one aspect of the Eternal Champion, a hero who exists in all dimensions, times, and worlds in the Moorcock Multiverse. The Eternal Champion is chosen by fate to fight for the Cosmic Balance between Chaos and Law (i.e., order). 

They're definitely homages, but whether those are meant to mean anything more, I don't know. Most of GRRM's names way outside his main story are clearly just winking references and nothing more. Reading Lovecraft's early Dream Cycle stories won't tell us any secrets about GRRM's Sarnath and Ib, for example. But that doesn't mean all of them are meaningless.

But meanwhile, I think we already know that the hero or heroes that saved the world weren't all pure and good. I mean, Azor Ahai sacrificed the love of his life, an innocent woman, to get the power to win the war—and that's the heroes' version of the story. If we're expecting that one of our heroes is going to be AAR and forge Lightbringer,* we can't be expecting them not to do anything dark. And really, almost all magic in this world is dark magic.

And as for the Eternal Champion—great point, and that puts an interesting twist on things. Because it's a way that these heroes could in one sense all be the same hero, but nevertheless be fighting separate fights in separate places (and maybe even times, as I suggested in my second message) as far as "local history" is concerned.

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* Although, as I've pointed out elsewhere, the AAR prophecy does not say that AAR forges Lightbringer anew from a new Nissa Nissa, it says that he draws a sword from a flame and that sword is Lightbringer. So I don't know why everyone keeps expecting to find a new Nissa Nissa. But, that being said, AAR is still AA reborn, the return of a hero who murdered his wife.

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55 minutes ago, falcotron said:

Then how do you account for the fact that Old Nan's story (and also the Maester's history) explicitly says that they all died on the way to the Last Hero finding the Children? I'm assuming you don't think the original Watch were undead, so… Are you suggesting that the whole quest to find the Children and sign a pact with them was after he'd made peace with the Others, created the Watch, waited a few years, and become Night's King?

In TWOIAF, it's suggested that they might not all have died as in Old Nan's telling. 

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I've been playing with an idea since receiving the most excellent gift of the maps earlier this year.   You lay them out and get lost in the landscapes.   What struck me was how desolate Essos really is, particularly compared to fertile forested Westeros.   I believe a generation is somewhere between 25 and 35 years, shorter for women and longer for men.   Yes, I googed it.   Let's split the difference and call it 30 years.   That's 30 years of ice and snow and cold and dark.  Seems to me Westeros would resemble Essos a whole lot more if the Long Night really happened with full reported force in Westeros.   Who actually has grains stored for 30 years?    Is it even possible?   Essos has miles of area filled with poison and shadow, not to mention plenty of inhabitants who sound mutated to me.   How long did the fall out from Chernobyl last for?   

There seems to be some question regarding the origins of the First Men.   It's obvious Westeros was inhabited by someone prior to the First Men relocating.  How about they came to escape the effects of the Long night in their homeland?  Maybe it was a much milder type of Long Night in Westeros.   Maybe they actually got some sunshine for a while or it wasn't as dire as Old Nan describes.  I'm thinking the First Men and all those after who came to Westeros brought their legends with them.    After thousands of years of oral tradition, as we know the Andals brought the written word to Westeros, perhaps the legends transmuted themselves to local legend rather than legends from their original home in Essos.   Did I mention Essos is a wreck?   

If this or something like it is the case it makes sense to me that a Wall would be built, maybe to separate the Giants and Children from The First Men not unlike we are told.  As to Night's Watch, what says there wasn't an organization of warrior monks dedicated to whatever god the First Men served before they came to Westeros?   

To the discussions above...it has crossed my mind that the 12 companions of the Last Hero may well be all the great heroes from across the world.   That is to say that all the heroes were accumulated along the way during the telling of the story.   

Could be hooey, but I'm still baffled at Westeros lacking the visual ravage of the land that Essos so clearly appears to have. 

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2 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

In TWOIAF, it's suggested that they might not all have died as in Old Nan's telling. 

Where? Because the actual section about the Last Hero makes it pretty clear that they all left or died, and he finished his quest alone:

Quote

In the North, they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves. Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point.

 

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1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

I've been playing with an idea since receiving the most excellent gift of the maps earlier this year.   You lay them out and get lost in the landscapes.   What struck me was how desolate Essos really is, particularly compared to fertile forested

Westeros.Could be hooey, but I'm still baffled at Westeros lacking the visual ravage of the land that Essos so clearly appears to have. 

I think you're missing something huge here:

The near-collapse of western Essos's civilization happened 200 years ago. The near-collapse of Westeros's civilization happened 8000 years ago.* That's 40 times as long. That's way, way more than enough time to repopulate a continent.

Compare it to the Late Bronze Age Collapse in our world. Are Europe and the Near East still devastated just over 3000 years later? Of course not. In fact, it's hard to find any evidence that anything even happened. So, it's not at all surprising that Westeros isn't ravaged the way Essos is.**

And the rest of your post seems like an attempt to answer this problem that isn't a problem. Plus, you seem to be finding inconsistencies in the story as you remember it, that aren't in the actual story, and then building on them. For example:

1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

Maybe they actually got some sunshine for a while or it wasn't as dire as Old Nan describes.

According to Old Nan's tales, and the Maesters, they did get sunshine. Thousands of years of it. The dire Long Night didn't happen until thousands of years after the First Men arrived—after they'd fought with the Children off and one for millennia, then signed the Pact, and then lived so long beyond the Pact that people began to forget it.

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* Yes, I know TWoIaF says 6000 years, and there are some fans who insist on some theory that all the dates are off by a factor of two so it's only 3000. That still doesn't change anything significant.

** In fact, I find it hard to accept how much empty space there is in Essos. 200 years is a pretty long time, and this is a land with city-states of millions of people. I suspect there may actually be poison/radiation/magic preventing most of that land from being resettled (there's a bit of evidence of this in the central Rhoyne travelogue from ADwD), but then it's also possible that GRRM just didn't think it through and his scales are way off, as they are in a few other places. But I think that's way off topic for this thread.

 

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8 hours ago, falcotron said:

Where? Because the actual section about the Last Hero makes it pretty clear that they all left or died, and he finished his quest alone:

 

You quoted the passage yourself. His companions abandoned him or died, one by one. It changed, but did not undermine the basic concept underlying the theory that The Last Hero tale by Old Nan foreshadows the deaths of Jojen, Hodor, Osha, Meera, Rickon, the Liddle they met on their way to the Wall, Sam, Gilly, and Gilly's baby. Some of those characters will die, but some merely abandoned Bran on his journey north. I have a bad feeling about the characters who did not abandon Bran before he passed the Black Gate. 

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5 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

You quoted the passage yourself. His companions abandoned him or died, one by one. It changed, but did not undermine the basic concept underlying the theory that The Last Hero tale by Old Nan foreshadows the deaths of Jojen, Hodor, Osha, Meera, Rickon, the Liddle they met on their way to the Wall, Sam, Gilly, and Gilly's baby. Some of those characters will die, but some merely abandoned Bran on his journey north. I have a bad feeling about the characters who did not abandon Bran before he passed the Black Gate. 

The World Book does backpedle on the companions all dying...

My issue with this is were the Liddle, Sam, Gilley, Osha, Gilley's baby or Rickon ever really companions?

Seems like a giant stretch... I guess Sam walks them through the Night Gate, but none of the others really accompany him at all. Certainly doesn't feel like abandoning.

And to top it off the Last Hero meets the Children after he is all alone... again this doesn't fit.

Not that I have all the answers either, just pointing out stuff that bugs me.

18 hours ago, falcotron said:

Then how do you account for the fact that Old Nan's story (and also the Maester's history) explicitly says that they all died on the way to the Last Hero finding the Children? I'm assuming you don't think the original Watch were undead, so… Are you suggesting that the whole quest to find the Children and sign a pact with them was after he'd made peace with the Others, created the Watch, waited a few years, and become Night's King?

I do think the "original" Nights Watch may have been resurrected by the Nights King... around the same time he took a wife, claimed lands, had a child, and wore a crown...

 
Quote

 

They were white too, and blind. "Who are you?" the door asked, and the well whispered, "Who-who-who-who-who-who-who."
"I am the sword in the darkness," Samwell Tarly said. "I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men." 
"Then pass," the door said. Its lips opened, wide and wider and wider still, until nothing at all remained but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles. Sam stepped aside and waved Jojen through ahead of him. Summer followed, sniffing as he went, and then it was Bran's turn. Hodor ducked, but not low enough. The door's upper lip brushed softly against the top of Bran's head, and a drop of water fell on him and ran slowly down his nose. It was strangely warm, and salty as a tear.

 

You will notice that the Black Gate at the Nightfort opens for Sam without him needing to say any of those prohibitions we're used to hearing tacked on...

it shall not end until my death (odd one to specify)

I shall take no wife

hold no lands

father no children

wear no crowns

win no glory...

All these seem to directly reflect the crimes of the Night's King... who's name was struck from the records... and the Last Hero isn't referred to by name, but certainly won glory. Neither seemed to know much of fear.

"I'm the watcher on the walls" implies to me that the oath predates the wall itself. Or at least that the threat they protect against does.

I suspect that there were Others in the Land of Always Winter before the Long Night. See the old story of Symeon Star Eyes as a possible example of one. I'm just not sure they had any interest in destroying mankind at that point.

But as with most magic we've seen it's only through sacrifice (likely of/by men) that power is gained. As I believe Weirwoods need blood to grow, and sacrifice to make Dragon eggs hatch, and forge Valyrian Steel. Why expect Others to be different, especially given Craster's Sons.

So a magical global catastrophic event? I expect we will find it was caused by men. In this case the Nights King.

Likely he made a "deal with the devil" for the resurrection of his love... seems fitting.

Also, the Night Gates existence may suggest an original connection between the Night's King and the Children of the Forrest. The choice of language in "flew" down from the wall doubly so. If he was a green seer perhaps this is why Brothers of the Nights watch are Crows, and all crows are liers. And of course this fits with the Last Hero story and learning the language of the Children.

But what do I know...

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32 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

The World Book does backpedle on the companions all dying...

My issue with this is were the Liddle, Sam, Gilley, Osha, Gilley's baby or Rickon ever really companions?

Seems like a giant stretch... I guess Sam walks them through the Night Gate, but none of the others really accompany him at all. Certainly doesn't feel like abandoning.

And to top it off the Last Hero meets the Children after he is all alone... again this doesn't fit.

Not that I have all the answers either, just pointing out stuff that bugs me.

All fair points, but just cause all things come round again as Archmaester Ringey writes, does not mean that all things come round again exactly. :) 

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9 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

All fair points, but just cause all things come round again as Archmaester Ringey writes, does not mean that all things come round again exactly. :) 

Fair point, it's just one of those things where I get the feeling I don't have all the pieces arranged right in my head yet...

pleasure as always, cheers

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56 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

So a magical global catastrophic event? I expect we will find it was caused by men. In this case the Nights King.

So you think the Last Hero created the Watch, and Bran built the Wall, before there was any Long Night, and it only happened after the 13th LC declared himself Night's King and sacrificed to the Others to bring his bride back?

And also, all the other heroes were the Last Hero's companions who abandoned him or died before he met the Children and created the Watch, so, for example, whatever Lightbringer was used for, it was something before and unrelated to the Long Night?

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1 hour ago, falcotron said:

So you think the Last Hero created the Watch, and Bran built the Wall, before there was any Long Night, and it only happened after the 13th LC declared himself Night's King and sacrificed to the Others to bring his bride back?

And also, all the other heroes were the Last Hero's companions who abandoned him or died before he met the Children and created the Watch, so, for example, whatever Lightbringer was used for, it was something before and unrelated to the Long Night?

Ok, here goes, but for the record I don't for a second pretend this is more than my current toy theory... and it's not without holes.

I believe the Wall was built by the Night's King during the Long Night (or at least during its start, its creation may have to do with the event itself but that's a rabbit whole in itself)... 

The records of the Night's Watch, in particular the numbering of Lord Commanders is noted as being unreliable and in contradiction with what number LC they say they're on anyway according to Sam. I expect they began as a record of all the heroes, what would become the nights watch, Brandon, the "last hero" is the 13th on the list. Eventually they only added LC's Names. 

Brandon the Builder may well have been the Nights King and Last Hero.

Lightbringer may refer to a dragon. There is evidence of Valyrion-esq stonework in Westeos way before Valyria, but simpler in design. Such as the base of the Hightower on Battle Isle. In fact the base of the Hightower may predate The First Men all together. Perhaps this has something to do with the original conflict as well. It would also help explain how a hero from Essos might get to Westeros to be relevant at all.

The Stark ancestral sword "Ice" is not the same as the one we see Ned wield at the beginning of the books (made from Valyrian Steel) but bears it's name. Dawn is of course the one special sword we know of which isn't Valyrian Steel, but does resemble the description of the Other's weapons. Not to mention the Battle for the Dawn, could be referencing it. It is not however red, and so it's hard for it to be the "red sword of heroes".

And yet we have a story of the Last Hero using a sword of Dragon Steel to slay the others...

It is possible that our last hero began as just that, a hero. His mission may not have been to end the long night however, he may have been looking for help against another threat, after all, it may be the First Men fled across the Neck originally from something. And there are seemingly dragon made ruins around (reminiscent of Ashai) and dragon bones, but no stories of dragons until the conquest. 

We know hear he was hunted by the Others until he was helped by the Children. And that he learned their language. Perhaps this allowed him to communicate with the Others rather than fight them.

It appears the First Men adopted the Children's Old Gods, and protected the Weirwoods instead of cutting them down, after The Pact and the Hammer of the Waters broke the Arm of Dorne. What if breaking the arm was the children's price for the First Men making peace, because the Forst Men had been fleeing Ashai.

Azor Ahai is a legend from Ashai... not exactly a happy place, built from odd black stone that drinks light, it lies beneath a constant shadow. Mayhaps the Others were originally allies of men against this Bloodstone Emperor.

Only after winning the battle on Battle Isle, the battle for the dawn, with his companions and loved one gone, did the Nights King crown himself and usher in the long night.

I still suspect that the Wall, made of ice, with no original gates save possibly the Nights Gate, was not constructed to keep Others north, but rather of the Others design and construction itself. Possibly part of a deal with the Nights King. 

 

Again all highly speculative and in need of though and revision... because it doesn't quite all fit yet, but it's a theory

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