The Five Forts

[Darth Sidious]

So five fortresses of immense size.  The World of Ice and Fire gave very little information.  Let us speculate using all of the knowledge that we have from all of the written sources that we have.

1. Who built the forts and how long ago?
2. Why were they built?  Who were they guarding against?

[Livesundersink]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih_ZAGCfMY0

The Five Forts are mentioned at 7:25 onwards, comparisons to the wall are made along with local legends of the Long Night and The Others/White Walkers

[Free Northman Reborn]

They were refugee centres in which people  in that part of the world holed up during the Long Night or some other ancient war/cataclysm. The equivalent to prepper bunkers.

Thats my theory. 

[Jon Fossoway]

I was feeding the idea that the Five Forts are very much like the Wall. A place where a militarized order patrols the borderlands. They are currently linked to Yi Ti. Yi Ti is not a glorious empire anymore, but a fractioned feudal state, very much like Westeros. In short: Yi Ti and the Five Forts are a mirror of the Seven Kingdoms and the Wall.

[Lord Lannister]

Seems a take on the great wall of China maybe.

[The Lord of the Crossing]

The extreme size could be the clue.  The enemy was either great in number or great in size.  Or both, like say a tribe of Wundar Wuns.  The thousands it took to defend the forts is proof of a large population.  

The forts serve to remind us that nothing lasts forever.  Man is not invincible.  Great cities and nations rise, live for a while, and then they die.  Which is the fate of Westeros.  That's my opinion.  The seven kingdoms will fall to the WW and the land will start on a clean slate.  New people will rise and build new cities.  Enough time will pass and the great houses of Westeros will be forgotten.

[Dorian Martell's son]

On 6/4/2018 at 7:39 PM, Agent Orange said:

So five fortresses of immense size.  The World of Ice and Fire gave very little information.  Let us speculate using all of the knowledge that we have from all of the written sources that we have.

1. Who built the forts and how long ago?
2. Why were they built?  Who were they guarding against?

1: We don't know because the woiaf is the only source we have. We also don't have a timeline either  

2: To house large numbers of people and large amounts of goods. They were guarding agains the fort builders enemies 

[Josette DuPres]

The Deep Ones?  Empires came and went.  It could date back to the first empire.  It's a nod to The Stone City.

[White Ravens]

The Five Forts are a small detail in GRRM's process of world building and are mentioned in one paragraph of The World of Ice and Fire.  They are mysterious structures from the distant past built buy people who lived several  thousand years ago by a civilization which no longer exists.  They are massive and tower over a thousand feet high and they are made of black stone each wall a single slab of fused rock.  No information is given about how they were constructed or who they defended against.  They are a minor mystery in the ancient past of a land thousands of miles away from Westeros. 

[Lost Melnibonean]

5 minutes ago, White Ravens said:

The Five Forts are a small detail in GRRM's process of world building and are mentioned in one paragraph of The World of Ice and Fire.  They are mysterious structures from the distant past built buy people who lived several  thousand years ago by a civilization which no longer exists.  They are massive and tower over a thousand feet high and they are made of black stone each wall a single slab of fused rock.  No information is given about how they were constructed or who they defended against.  They are a minor mystery in the ancient past of a land thousands of miles away from Westeros. 

But they seem to share a connection with the foundation of the Hightower, no? And perhaps with the Seastone Chair too? 

[White Ravens]

7 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

But they seem to share a connection with the foundation of the Hightower, no? And perhaps with the Seastone Chair too? 

Sure.  They are all very ancient, more ancient than any ruins in our own history, and they are all made of fused black stone.  They are mysteries of the ancients.  Minor embellishments in GRRM's world building process until he chooses to add any new information.  

[Lost Melnibonean]

58 minutes ago, White Ravens said:

Sure.  They are all very ancient, more ancient than any ruins in our own history, and they are all made of fused black stone.  They are mysteries of the ancients.  Minor embellishments in GRRM's world building process until he chooses to add any new information.  

The Seastone Chair is the only one of the three mentioned in the principal books, right? I know the Hightower is in there, but just the tower, and not the foundation, right? 

[White Ravens]

10 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

The Seastone Chair is the only one of the three mentioned in the principal books, right? I know the Hightower is in there, but just the tower, and not the foundation, right? 

I believe you are correct, yes.  Oily black stone.

[Lost Melnibonean]

49 minutes ago, White Ravens said:

I believe you are correct, yes.  Oily black stone.

I would say there is a mystery associated with the Seastone Chair, Nagga's Ribbs, and the Drowned God, that the author does encourage the reader to guess at, at which might have some bearing on the plot of the third main conflict of ASOIAF. And I wonder if the foundation of the Hightower and the Five Forts might provide additional clues, which will be fleshed out as the third main conflict moves from the back burner to the forefront, but I would not be surprised if the foundation of the Hightower and the Five Forts are allusions to something else. Or perhaps they are metatextual gateways to the George's other worlds? 

[White Ravens]

8 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

I would say there is a mystery associated with the Seastone Chair, Nagga's Ribbs, and the Drowned God, that the author does encourage the reader to guess at, at which might have some bearing on the plot of the third main conflict of ASOIAF. And I wonder if the foundation of the Hightower and the Five Forts might provide additional clues, which will be fleshed out as the third main conflict moves from the back burner to the forefront, but I would not be surprised if the foundation of the Hightower and the Five Forts are allusions to something else. Or perhaps they are metatextual gateways to the George's other worlds? 

I  would say that the author has slowly nourished and grown both his story and the world he created for telling that story and that three disparate references to black stones dropped as references at three separate locations in very ancient times is texture for a huge and sprawling tale taking place in the present. 

[Roswell]

1)  The Targaryen ancestors.  They had advanced warning.  I would say longer than the 12 years they got for the doom because the forts took long to build.  

2)  ? White Walkers ?  

[Wolf's Bane]

On 6/7/2018 at 10:33 PM, White Ravens said:

I  would say that the author has slowly nourished and grown both his story and the world he created for telling that story and that three disparate references to black stones dropped as references at three separate locations in very ancient times is texture for a huge and sprawling tale taking place in the present. 

To bring more dimensions to the story, sure.  Dimensions in terms of time.  It makes the past more real.  We don't know how the Peruvians built their stone walls nor do we know for sure how the pharaohs built their pyramids.  But that is what arouses curiosity.  It brings on researchers in the real world.  It brings on posts and theories at the forum in the world of this story.

On 6/4/2018 at 10:39 PM, Agent Orange said:

So five fortresses of immense size.  The World of Ice and Fire gave very little information.  Let us speculate using all of the knowledge that we have from all of the written sources that we have.

1. Who built the forts and how long ago?
2. Why were they built?  Who were they guarding against?

They may not be forts at all.  We are learning more and more about our own pyramids and many people now believe they were not built to house the pharaoh's remains.   For analogy, the five forts were the Noah's Ark during an ancient cataclysm that fell on the east.  It's not man defending against another species.  It's man defending against extreme weather.  The "sun hid its face for year" would bring cold and darkness.  Too many volcanoes going off at once will blanket the atmosphere with debris and block sunlight.  

[Annalee]

Dany will do the same thing Moses did and lead the slaves out of the bay.  The signs are there.  Pyramids, plagues.  Slavery.  Resistant masters who don't want to let the slaves go.  Vaes Toloro is an empty city.  Asshai has room to spare.  The five forts are big enough to house thousands.  There are many places where Mhysa can lead her people to.  

The only people who had the advanced knowledge to build something as large as the five forts are the Valyrians.  They had outposts in the west, Dragonstone.  The Five forts is the outpost on the northeastern end of the empire.  

[Here's Looking At You, Kid]

Walls take time and man power to build.  Whoever built those five walls were very motivated. 

1. Their survival was at stake. (Winter)
2. They were afraid of something. (Others)
3. They were technologically advanced. (Valyria)
4. They knew what was coming for them far enough ahead of time to prepare. (Reliable prophecy)

 

[Bullrout]

On 6/10/2018 at 12:18 PM, Annalee said:

Dany will do the same thing Moses did and lead the slaves out of the bay.  The signs are there.  Pyramids, plagues.  Slavery.  Resistant masters who don't want to let the slaves go.  Vaes Toloro is an empty city.  Asshai has room to spare.  The five forts are big enough to house thousands.  There are many places where Mhysa can lead her people to.  

The only people who had the advanced knowledge to build something as large as the five forts are the Valyrians.  They had outposts in the west, Dragonstone.  The Five forts is the outpost on the northeastern end of the empire.  

The fortresses are as good a place as any to take shelter in when darkness hits the east.  Solid fortification and lots of glass candles will help the ones inside to survive the night.  Storing enough food and water will be key.  A super technologically savvy people gave instructions to the ancients to build the forts to prepare for the long darkness in the same spirit when god told Noah to build the ark.  The works of Erich Von Daaniken and Zecharia Sitchin could have served to inspire George.