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Who's Watching Through the Dragon Skulls?


Ghost+Nymeria4Eva

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I GoT, we have at least three characters who feel as if the dragon skulls are watching them. Initially, Ned feels like the imposing skulls are watching him:
 

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I was still mounted. I rode the length of the hall in silence, between the long rows of dragon skulls. It felt as though they were watching me, somehow. I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him. His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king’s blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister’s men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited. At last Jaime laughed and got up. He took off his helm, and he said to me, ‘Have no fear, Stark. I was only keeping it warm for our friend Robert. It’s not a very comfortable seat, I’m afraid.’”

 

 

We can dismiss it as Ned feeling superstitious at an emotionally overwhelming moment. Just a peculiar passing feeling, sort of. Then we see the same sentiment in one of Tyrion chapters:

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They liked the fire, he sensed. He’d thrust the torch into the mouth of one of the larger skulls and made the shadows leap and dance on the wall behind him. The teeth were long, curving knives of black diamond. The flame of the torch was nothing to them; they had bathed in the heat of far greater fires. When he had moved away, Tyrion could have sworn that the beast’s empty eye sockets had watched him go.

Then, lastly, when Arya is running off after the cat incident, she gets trapped in the Red Keep and encounters the skulls. Arya, we know by then, is someone who is very observant despite her age. And even she gets the feeling of the skulls watching her:

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“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.

Three very different characters with different motivations getting the same feeling cannot be a coincidence. Is there really someone or something watching through the dragon skulls? Any ideas?

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2 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

I GoT, we have at least three characters who feel as if the dragon skulls are watching them. Initially, Ned feels like the imposing skulls are watching him:
 

We can dismiss it as Ned feeling superstitious at an emotionally overwhelming moment. Just a peculiar passing feeling, sort of. Then we see the same sentiment in one of Tyrion chapters:

Then, lastly, when Arya is running off after the cat incident, she gets trapped in the Red Keep and encounters the skulls. Arya, we know by then, is someone who is very observant despite her age. And even she gets the feeling of the skulls watching her:

Three very different characters with different motivations getting the same feeling cannot be a coincidence. Is there really someone or something watching through the dragon skulls? Any ideas?

It could be the spirit of the dragons themselves, the soul(s) of House Targaryen lingering in their bones. Dragon's skulls would make poor spy eyes- they are just about all in one place.

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8 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

I GoT, we have at least three characters who feel as if the dragon skulls are watching them. Initially, Ned feels like the imposing skulls are watching him:
 

We can dismiss it as Ned feeling superstitious at an emotionally overwhelming moment. Just a peculiar passing feeling, sort of. Then we see the same sentiment in one of Tyrion chapters:

Then, lastly, when Arya is running off after the cat incident, she gets trapped in the Red Keep and encounters the skulls. Arya, we know by then, is someone who is very observant despite her age. And even she gets the feeling of the skulls watching her:

Three very different characters with different motivations getting the same feeling cannot be a coincidence. Is there really someone or something watching through the dragon skulls? Any ideas?

The Targaryens ruled Westeros for three hundred years and people see them as the rightful symbols of authority.  They are always associated with dragons.  Keep in mind, Ned, Tyrion, and Arya have never seen dragons before.  They would be impressed to say the least.  Awed by the majesty of the dragons and more than a little intimidated even if the skulls are mere shadows of when they were living.  It is like visiting Olympus and standing before the throne of Zeus.  I don't think the skulls are conduits.  Arya's pov was wierd and maybe her future is to get eaten by a dragon, which will be even more interesting to me if her arc ended that way as a condiment for Drogon's main course of roasted sheep rather than to die at the River lands.  Tyrion could also end up on the menu.  It will be an honor for a Stark like Arya to get eaten by a dragon.  It will be redemption for Tyrion to give nourishment, in some small capacity, to the dragons.  They could both die knowing they served a useful purpose.   :laugh:

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Well, maybe there's something supernatural going on. But, bear in mind, any eye-like shape triggers our lizard brains into suspecting we're being watched. Consider being alone in a room paneled in knotty pine. Pretty creepy.

Back to the books - I'd suspect there's something more metaphorical than metaphysical going on.

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If I were to make a scientifically wild ass speculative guess, then I would say Rhaegar, with no proof whatsoever, as I don't think we will ever know for sure if there actually was/is anyone looking through the eyes rather it just being a touch of literary prose.

My SWASG is based on the parallel idea that it was Lyanna who was laughing at the wedding of fake Arya to Ramsay fake Bolton in his fake takeover of Winterfell- because everyone knows Ramsay and Roose are frauds... even the old gods :cool4:. (yes, I do think Lyanna was connected to the Knight of Laughing Tree, but not that she was the knight- but that's for another thread ;))

A Dance with Dragons - The Prince of Winterfell

"I take this man," the bride said in a whisper.
All around them lights glimmered through the mists, a hundred candles pale as shrouded stars. Theon stepped back, and Ramsay and his bride joined hands and knelt before the heart tree, bowing their heads in token of submission. The weirwood's carved red eyes stared down at them, its great red mouth open as if to laugh. In the branches overhead a raven quorked.
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Just now, zandru said:

Well, maybe there's something supernatural going on. But, bear in mind, any eye-like shape triggers our lizard brains into suspecting we're being watched. Consider being alone in a room paneled in knotty pine. Pretty creepy.

Back to the books - I'd suspect there's something more metaphorical than metaphysical going on.

I did think it was sort of metaphorical at first, but GRRM repeats the same thing with three different characters. Ned, Tyrion, and Arya have different personalities and they see the world in different ways. Tyrion and Arya are certainly not sentimental type of people. At first, it can be that Ned feels the dragon skulls are watching due to his unease or guilt at the way the rebellion ended. But the other two get the same feeling under very different circumstances. Tyrion has read about dragons before and has seen pictures of them. We know Arya's feelings are quite spot on, as in a literal sense. She doesn't like Joffery or Cersei (in GoT) and we later learn that her instincts were very right. 

That's why it got me thinking. Maybe there's a remnant of that soul magic left even after the dragons die. Maybe GRRM has a plot going on there that might be explored, unless he has already abandoned it. I was hoping there might be other connections that might hint at what's going on here. 

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11 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

I GoT, we have at least three characters who feel as if the dragon skulls are watching them. Initially, Ned feels like the imposing skulls are watching him:
 

We can dismiss it as Ned feeling superstitious at an emotionally overwhelming moment. Just a peculiar passing feeling, sort of. Then we see the same sentiment in one of Tyrion chapters:

Then, lastly, when Arya is running off after the cat incident, she gets trapped in the Red Keep and encounters the skulls. Arya, we know by then, is someone who is very observant despite her age. And even she gets the feeling of the skulls watching her:

Three very different characters with different motivations getting the same feeling cannot be a coincidence. Is there really someone or something watching through the dragon skulls? Any ideas?

Ya know, this also makes me think of Jaime and his "interaction" with the dragon mosaic at the bottom of the well in the Red Keep.

Or not related at all :dunno:

A Feast for Crows - Jaime I

Unless my brother murdered Varys too, and left his corpse to rot beneath the castle. Down there, it might be years before his bones were found. Jaime had led a dozen guards below, with torches and ropes and lanterns. For hours they had groped through twisting passages, narrow crawl spaces, hidden doors, secret steps, and shafts that plunged down into utter blackness. Seldom had he felt so utterly a cripple. A man takes much for granted when he has two hands. Ladders, for an instance. Even crawling did not come easy; not for nought do they speak of hands and knees. Nor could he hold a torch and climb, as others could.
And all for naught. They found only darkness, dust, and rats. And dragons, lurking down below. He remembered the sullen orange glow of the coals in the iron dragon's mouth. The brazier warmed a chamber at the bottom of a shaft where half a dozen tunnels met. On the floor he'd found a scuffed mosaic of the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen done in tiles of black and red. I know you, Kingslayer, the beast seemed to be saying. I have been here all the time, waiting for you to come to me. And it seemed to Jaime that he knew that voice, the iron tones that had once belonged to Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone.
The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate. "Your Grace," Jaime had pleaded, "let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine."
Prince Rhaegar shook his head. "My royal sire fears your father more than he does our cousin Robert. He wants you close, so Lord Tywin cannot harm him. I dare not take that crutch away from him at such an hour."
 
By the way, have any of you read In the House of the Worm? All of this above, including the golden Jaime-type, is written there if you want to take a read. And remember what the worms represent?
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According to the Damphair bones are the memories of the soul.  At least we see this with the wights who only remember they are dead when their bones are crushed.  So I suppose the question is whether the dragon bones contain the memory of a soul.

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5 minutes ago, LynnS said:

According to the Damphair bones are the memories of the soul.  At least we see this with the wights who only remember they are dead when their bones are crushed.  So I suppose the question is whether the dragon bones contain the memory of a soul.

Oh this is good.  I wonder what Davos and his finger bones will say to this. 

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21 minutes ago, Gabbie Roxas said:

Oh this is good.  I wonder what Davos and his finger bones will say to this. 

We may or may not see them again... (probably not, I think the boots may be the important part in this passage, but it is fun to speculate)...

A Dance with Dragons - Melisandre I

Mance Rayder chuckled. "I had my doubts as well, Snow, but why not let her try? It was that, or let Stannis roast me."
"The bones help," said Melisandre. "The bones remember. The strongest glamors are built of such things. A dead man's boots, a hank of hair, a bag of fingerbones. With whispered words and prayer, a man's shadow can be drawn forth from such and draped about another like a cloak. The wearer's essence does not change, only his seeming."
She made it sound a simple thing, and easy. They need never know how difficult it had been, or how much it had cost her. That was a lesson Melisandre had learned long before Asshai; the more effortless the sorcery appears, the more men fear the sorcerer. When the flames had licked at Rattleshirt, the ruby at her throat had grown so hot that she had feared her own flesh might start to smoke and blacken. Thankfully Lord Snow had delivered her from that agony with his arrows. Whilst Stannis had seethed at the defiance, she had shuddered with relief.
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13 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

Three very different characters with different motivations getting the same feeling cannot be a coincidence. Is there really someone or something watching through the dragon skulls? Any ideas?

Three people who are in awe of dragon skulls. Nothing more 

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5 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

Hrm, reading through and wondering why the dragons were not cremated like their human counterparts?  That's just odd if you ask me. 

I seriously can’t remember but, do dragon bones succumb to regular fire? Especially the older, bigger, tougher scaled dragons.  

Other than that, good question. 

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Arya was in the dragon vault twice. It was during her initial visit when she feels their hostility. With her second exposure to the skulls, she thinks that 'they almost feel like old friends..'. 

It seems to signify some change in her relationship with dragons or whoever is keeping watch within them.

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1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

Hrm, reading through and wondering why the dragons were not cremated like their human counterparts?  That's just odd if you ask me. 

I suppose the Targaryens would wish them to be remembered. A way to remind those who sought to dethrone them that they are the Dragonloards.

Just like the Iron Throne, it's a warning.

Interesting thought regarding the bones and if they would be subject to flame. Does the Fire Magic remain after life extinguished (?).

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Could be that it's just ambiance. This is a place built by now deposed Targaryens, and most of the people that were creeped out by the skulls never saw a dragon in their life (some of which Dany has now).

In the north you get the same swinging literary devices with the heart trees. They watch you silently, etc.

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21 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

I did think it was sort of metaphorical at first, but GRRM repeats the same thing with three different characters. Ned, Tyrion, and Arya have different personalities and they see the world in different ways. Tyrion and Arya are certainly not sentimental type of people.

But they're all people, with the same deep-brain tendencies to see "eyes" as looking at them. I think the additional feelings of unease can be explained by the fact that each has a guilty conscience: Ned for helping to overthrow the Targaryens and putting the obviously incompetent Robert on the Iron Throne, Arya because she's lost and afraid of being punished, Tyrion for using this near-sacred space as his private f*ck chamber. Also:

12 hours ago, DireDancer said:

Arya was in the dragon vault twice. It was during her initial visit when she feels their hostility. With her second exposure to the skulls, she thinks that 'they almost feel like old friends..'.

Arya didn't feel guilty this time around. Plus, she's an unusually strong and adaptable personality.

3 hours ago, Jon Fossoway said:

In the north you get the same swinging literary devices with the heart trees. They watch you silently, etc.

I largely agree - except the trees actually ARE watching... The dragon skeletons are just that - dragon skeletons.

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