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Wow, I never noticed that. Vol. 18


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More Robb/Cat death foreshadowing in Sansa's chapters:

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"It means that he will triumph over his enemies."

Is it true? she wondered. Would the gods be so cruel? Her mother was one of Joffrey's enemies now, her brother Robb another. Her father had died by the king's command. Must Robb and her lady mother die next?"

"I've heard servants calling it the Dragon's Tail."

 

Also, I found it interesting that, "tickling the dragon's tail" was a nickname for the (quite reckless) procedure they used during the Manhattan Project experiments to push the demon core to criticality, risking setting off a nuclear chain reaction. 

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8 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

I think it might be more symbolic than foreshadowing. Dunk refuses the white cloak Ser Eustace gives him because it's too hot and it makes him itchy, but will likely be wearing a white cloak in worst conditions, in a castle consumed by wildfire. I think it could also be symbolic for the only white cloak Dunk will ever wear which is his Kingsguard one. 

Dunk does not refuse Osgrey's cloak. There is quite a bit of emphasis placed on Dunk wearing the cloak in a way that would honor Ser Eustace:

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"I have something for you as well, Ser Duncan. Come." Ser Eustace produced a cloak, and shook it out with a flourish.

It was white wool, bordered with squares of green satin and cloth of gold. A woolen cloak was the last thing he needed in such heat, but when Ser Eustace draped it about his shoulders, Dunk saw the pride on his face, and found himself unable to refuse. "Thank you, m'lord."

"It suits you well. Would that I could give you more." The old man's mustache twitched. "I sent Sam Stoops down into the cellar to search through my sons' things, but Edwyn and Harrold were smaller men, thinner in the chest and much shorter in the leg. None of what they left would fit you, sad to say."

"The cloak is enough, m'lord. I won't shame it."
 
"I do not doubt that." He gave his horse a pat. "I thought I'd ride with you part of the way, if you have no objection."

Dunk also wears the cloak, adding a brooch that expresses the union of Osgrey and Webber, when he leaves Coldmoat to embark on his next adventure:

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The rain was lashing down around them, a thousand cold gray whips upon his back. His cloak was already sodden. It was the white wool cloak Ser Eustace had given him, with the green-and-gold-checkered border. The old knight had pressed it on him once again, as a parting gift. "For your courage and leal service, ser," he said. The brooch that pinned the cloak at his shoulder was a gift as well; an ivory spider brooch with silver legs. Clusters of crushed garnets made spots upon its back.

 

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I never noticed (and thought of the possible implications) of this foreshadowing in Jon's final AGOT chapter.  The chapter starts with Jon leaving the Wall and the NW to head south.  Midway through the chapter, I was really intrigued by this paragraph:

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Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials.  He was ho he was; Jon Snow a bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned.  For the rest of his life - however long that be - he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name.  Wherever he might go throughout the Seven Kingdoms, he would need to live a lie, lest every man's hand be raised against him.  But it made no matter, so long as he lived long enough to take his place by his brother's side and help avenge his father.

I found this particularly interesting on a reread given our forgone conclusions about Jon's parentage.  Upon a reread, we already know that Jon is indeed living a lie (thanks to Eddard), and if he were not living the lie, King Robert would have had "every man's hand raised against him". 

Is it possible that that Jon's future could be tied to that of Aegon in book 6, taking a place by his brother's side and helping to avenge his (their) father?  This foreshadowing would rely on Aegon not being fAegon, which I know is up for debate.  Who knows, but it could be interesting.....

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16 minutes ago, Kingdoms'Rites said:

I never noticed (and thought of the possible implications) of this foreshadowing in Jon's final AGOT chapter.  The chapter starts with Jon leaving the Wall and the NW to head south.  Midway through the chapter, I was really intrigued by this paragraph:

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Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials.  He was ho he was; Jon Snow a bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned.  For the rest of his life - however long that be - he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name.  Wherever he might go throughout the Seven Kingdoms, he would need to live a lie, lest every man's hand be raised against him.  But it made no matter, so long as he lived long enough to take his place by his brother's side and help avenge his father.

I found this particularly interesting on a reread given our forgone conclusions about Jon's parentage.  Upon a reread, we already know that Jon is indeed living a lie (thanks to Eddard), and if he were not living the lie, King Robert would have had "every man's hand raised against him". 

Is it possible that that Jon's future could be tied to that of Aegon in book 6, taking a place by his brother's side and helping to avenge his (their) father?  This foreshadowing would rely on Aegon not being fAegon, which I know is up for debate.  Who knows, but it could be interesting.....

I posted about this sometime ago and got told in no uncertain words that I was wrong because Aegon is fAegon and some other stuff.

I don't believe Aegon is a fake and I think that the implication is a really significant one.

I think the passage you quoted is foreshadowing of things to come. 

I think there is something else worth looking into with a different grouping at the HotU that connects Jon, Robb and Aegon (probably with the dead man at the prow of the ship). 

It's this passage that stands out because as far I can remember, this is the only time we have a different grouping from what we saw at the HotU;

"A dead man in the prow of a ship, a blue rose, a banquet of blood . . . what does any of it mean, Khaleesi? A mummer's dragon, you said. [snip]"

We don't know who the man at the prow of the ship is, but we know who the blue rose is, we know who the man with the wolf's head is, and we think we know who the mummer's dragon is.

Jon Snow, Robb Stark, Aegon. Robb, the guy Jon grew up with and thinks is his half-brother and Aegon the brother he has no idea is his brother. I don't think the grouping is accidental or should be dismissed. 

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On 12/10/2020 at 7:56 PM, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Following the posts about the parallels between Young Griff and Aegon, wide-brimmed straw hat, eye color, trip down the Greenblood / the Rhoyne, trained by hedge knights, give white cloaks to same hedge knights (I think it's a safe bet that Egg was the one who gave Dunk his white cloak), I found some parallels between Daemon II Blackfyre and Daario Naharis. 

When Daario's hair is dyed blue, his eyes look blue.

When Daario dyes his hair purple, his eyes look almost purple.

Daario had plundered himself a whole new wardrobe in Meereen, and to match it he had redyed his trident beard and curly hair a deep rich purple. It made his eyes look almost purple too, as if he were some lost Valyrian. (Daenerys VI, ASoS 71)

Dany mentions Daario's eyes looking almost purple twice more. 

We have something very similar with Daemon Blackfyre, but with his clothing. 

"There you are, Gormy," called the rider on the black, a young man lean and lithe, with a comely, clean-shaven face and fine features. Black hair fell shining to his collar. His doublet was made of dark blue silk edged in gold satin. Across his chest an engrailed cross had been embroidered in gold thread, with a golden fiddle in the first and third quarters, a golden sword in the second and the fourth. His eyes caught the deep blue of his doublet and sparkled with amusement. (The Mystery Knight)

Daemon's doublet is a deep blue, so his eyes catch that color. Furthermore the blue and gold of the doublet are exactly the same colors Daario has dyed his hair, his mustachios and his beard when Dany meets him for the first time.

[snip] and Daario Naharis was flamboyant even for a Tyroshi. His beard was cut into three prongs and dyed blue, the same color as his eyes and the curly hair that fell to his collar. His pointed mustachios were painted gold. (Dany IV, ASoS 42)

So blue, gold, blue is the order of color from hair to beard with Daario. Daemon's doublet is blue with the gold in the center of it. 

Later in The Mystery Knight, Daemon puts on a purple doublet.

"Daemon."
Now half the hall grew quiet. At the high table, the man who'd called himself the Fiddler turned to smile at him. He had donned a purple tunic for the feast, Dunk saw. Purple, to bring out the color of his eyes. (The Mystery Knight)

The same thing happens with Daario when dyed his hair purple.

Are you familiar with this thread

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On 12/15/2020 at 7:15 PM, Alexis-something-Rose said:

You ask me this every time I bring up Daario being a Blackfyre :P

You gave me the link a long time ago. I read some of the first page and I linked the post back to my own post about that Daario. 

God, I wish he would give us new material! 

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  • 2 months later...
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“Valyrian steel,” he declared solemnly, trying to sound as pleased and proud as he ought to have felt.
“I heard of a man who had a razor made of Valyrian steel,” declared Toad. “He cut his head off trying to shave.”

(AGoT Ch 60 Jon VIII)

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somehow Qhorin kept his feet. But in that instant, as he twisted, the opening was there. Jon planted and pivoted. The ranger was leaning away, and for an instant it seemed that Jon’s slash had not touched him. Then a string of red tears appeared across the big man’s throat, bright as a ruby necklace, and the blood gushed out of him, and Qhorin Halfhand fell.

(ACoK Ch 68 Jon VIII)

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I made a thread about this, which unsurprisingly didn't get all that much discussion. I'm gonna post the gist of it here because it was something I had never noticed before.  

I noticed that there's a mountain range in Essos called the Mountains of the Morn that are located near the Five Forts. The location of both is in what would have been the Great Empire of the Dawn. So Mountains of the Morn(ing) and Great Empire of the Dawn.

Then I remembered that Brienne gave us a story about Ser Galladon of Morne. So Morne again here with a very small spelling different, but the same word, which got me wondering if this Galladon wasn't in fact from the Mountains of the Morn in Essos rather than Morne on Tarth. 

Ser Galladon received a sword from the Maiden called the Just Maid. 

When I transposed his story to the Mountains of the Morn, the same elements in it stood out again. There's a Maiden also in the Great Empire of the Dawn, but this one is the Maiden-Made-of-Light, which then got me thinking about a sword that has been described as being alive with light, Dawn. 

So Mountains of the Morn(ing), Great Empire of the Dawn, Maiden-Made-of-Light, Dawn. House Day(ne) would have come from the Mountains of the Morn(ing), located in the Great Empire of the Dawn.

If Dawn was indeed forged in the Mountains of the Morn(ing), then it would be the Sword of the Morning. So maybe the title the Sword of the Morning is a lot more meaningful. Maybe it's an indication as to where the sword came from in the first place. 

Then we have the story that the Just Maid was so potent that no sword could check her. Well, Jaime gave us the story of the fight between Arthur and the Smiling Knight. 

And we have the whole idea of the perfect knight and honor in the story as well. Dawn isn't passed down from father to son. Dawn lays dormant until a new Sword of the Morning claims her. I bet one of the criteria is that the person who becomes the new Sword of the Morning has to embody the qualities of the perfect knight or be close enough to those ideals. And this is how Arthur has been portrayed. Even with his service with the Mad King, everyone who remembers him thinks very highly of him because he embodied a lot of those qualities.

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Pulled up this quote while compiling a post on free companies

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Beneath the standard of a black goat with bloody horns rode copper men with bells in their braids; lancers astride striped black-and-white horses; bowmen with powdered cheeks; squat hairy men with shaggy shields; brown-skinned men in feathered cloaks; a wispy fool in green-and-pink motley; swordsmen with fantastic forked beards dyed green and purple and silver; spearmen with colored scars that covered their cheeks; a slender man in septon’s robes, a fatherly one in maester’s grey, and a sickly one whose leather cloak was fringed with long blond hair.

(ACoK Ch 30 Arya VII)

'Oh, that is interesting', I thought 'what spearmen are they?' 

Searching the book for spearmen soon showed me the only ones with the (green) colored stripes on their cheeks

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A squad of Volantene spearmen stood guard at the river gate. Torchlight gleamed off the steel claws that jutted from their gauntlets. Their helms were tiger’s masks, the faces beneath marked by green stripes tattooed across both cheeks. The slave soldiers of Volantis were fiercely proud of their tiger stripes, Tyrion knew. Do they yearn for freedom? he wondered.

(ADwD Ch 22 Tyrion VI)

So, these spearmen are former slave soldiers from Volantis. Fascinating. 

And then, I noticed this

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Not far from Fishermonger’s Square and the Merchant’s House, shouts erupted from a cross street, and a dozen Unsullied spearmen in ornate armor and tiger-skin cloaks appeared as if from nowhere, waving everyone aside so the triarch could pass through atop his elephant.

(ADwD Ch 6 The Merchant's Man)

The Brave Companions have escaped Unsullied! The Tigers of Volantis are Unsullied from Astapor! (Well, from everywhere, driven by Dothraki and pirate slavers to Astapor as boys). At least, in Quentyn's understanding.

ETA: And just now

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The Dothraki have not ridden against Unsullied since they left their braids at the gates of Qohor.

(ASoS Ch 23 Dany II)

This explains why

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Dany had seen Unsullied guards in the Free Cities, posted at the gates of magisters, archons, and dynasts.

(ASoS Ch 8 Daenerys I)

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I noticed this today for another thread.

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The screaming had stopped by the time they came to Hardin's Tower, but Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun was still roaring. The giant was dangling a bloody corpse by one leg, the same way Arya used to dangle her doll when she was small, swinging it like a morningstar when menaced by vegetables. Arya never tore her dolls to pieces, though. The dead man's sword arm was yards away, the snow beneath it turning red.

I don't know if it can count as a foreshadowing but the wording of this one is tricky. Ser Patrek is compared with a morning-star, I know that Jon refers to a weapon but the choice of words makes you wonder is it a foreshadowing or not.

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21 hours ago, Lilac & Gooseberries said:

I noticed this today for another thread.

I don't know if it can count as a foreshadowing but the wording of this one is tricky. Ser Patrek is compared with a morning-star, I know that Jon refers to a weapon but the choice of words makes you wonder is it a foreshadowing or not.

I think all of the details here are very important. Not sure whether there is foreshadowing, but there are some likely parallels or echoes that might help us to understand the meaning behind the symbols. 

Two other notable characters who use morning stars are Brienne when she wins the melee (defeating Ser Loras, among others) at Bitterbridge and Ser Dontos, who clobbers Sansa with a ripe melon morning star in an attempt to distract and assuage Joffrey, who wants to inflict serious violence on Sansa. Brienne and Ser Dontos are both Renly supporters, for what it's worth. On her quest in the Riverlands, Brienne catches Pod in the ruins of the ancestral home that was the birthplace of Ser Dontos. I believe Pod takes on some of the identity or attributes of Dontos when this happens. 

People have remarked on the football symbolism (American football, known as "gridiron" in other countries, I am told) hidden in the Wun Wun and Ser Patrek conflict: GRRM is apparently a fan of the New York Giants team and he has a friend named Patrick who is a fan of the Dallas (Texas) Cowboys. The symbol associated with the Texas team is a single star (blue and silver team colors) - just like the sigil for the House of Ser Patrek of King's Mountain. So the knight turning into a morning star has an added layer of meaning. 

I may be misremembering, but I think Ser Hugh of the Vale, the young knight killed in the Hand's Tourney by Ser Gregor, also had a sigil of stars. 

The knight losing his sword arm has to be a Jaime Lannister allusion. But the smith Donal Noye also lost an arm and was also killed by a giant. 

Sweetrobin Arryn also swings his doll like a weapon, destroying the wall on the snow version of Winterfell built by Sansa / Alayne and Littlefinger. The statue of Alyssa Arryn in the courtyard at the Eyrie has also lost an arm. 

If I were forced to guess right now, I would say that there are "necessary" elements that have to occur in order to fulfill the repeated story lines as legends bleed into history and then replay again in current events. A giant or true knight using a morning star, a knight losing his sword arm, a bleeding star (comet?), a doll as a weapon. The "menaced by vegetables" line is another clue for us. I think there is a cycle in ASOIAF of vegetables (green, flora) vs. black or brown. Or maybe it's just a cycle of green being reborn under new management, so to speak. I think we are seeing the rise of vegetarian giant Wun Wun and the fall of bloodthirsty Ser Gregor ( = the Mountain = King's Mountain?) in another chapter. Ser Patrek is a Queen's Man, meaning he is loyal to Selyse Florent, whose House wishes it ruled Highgarden and the Reach. Renly is associated with green (his armor, his love for Ser Loras of the green-sigil Tyrell family) so the ascendance of his followers Brienne and Ser Dontos could show a rebirth of Renly-style green in those arcs. 

But I'm sure there's more to it. 

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Patrek's star is blue! - as @Seams says above, but I also just read it on a catch-up read, so it's my wow, i never noticed...

I try to stick inside the books, but I'm getting quite into this foreshadowing, so I'll bring up the report that someone was making models of Melisandre and did a blue version, and apparently GRRM was very pleased with the concept. Or so I heard.

Feels like there's some cool ice/fire mirroring going on. Or it could be that Mel could be turned, and be her own opposite. But anyway, the blue star is suggestive of a blue 'AA', the ice that burns. I like that idea very much.

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@Megorova I have a birthday present for you. (You can read it now, though, if you like.) 

For those who have been hiding under Casterly Rock and have not yet seen any posts about it, Megorova is THE proponent of the theory that Dany's mysterious guide, Quaithe, is a manifestation of Shiera Seastar, one of the Great Bastards of Aegon IV Targaryen and half-sister / lover of Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers and Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers. Megorova also says that Quaithe / Shiera is the Three-Eyed Crow that appears to Bran during his coma. 

In one of my musings on wordplay, it occurred to me that Quaithe might be a barely-hidden anagram of "The Quay," if  "quai" is an alternate spelling of "quay." So I checked online and found confirmation that "quai" is indeed one spelling of the more familiar "quay," which is a word for "a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place." Synonyms are jetty, pier and wharf and some definitions specify that a quay is made of stone. 

So I'm obviously already wondering about wordplay on "quay"  and "key," and thinking of the key that Pate takes from the gauntlet hidden under the bed of Maester Walgrave. There is also a miniature portrait of a beautiful blonde woman in with the key and gauntlet. Could that portrait be an image of Shiera?

I'm also thinking of Catelyn's POV about her return to Riverrun with Robb, Greywind and Theon. There is great correlation between the details of the boat crossing the river ("pass beneath the shadow," etc.) and Quaithe's advice to Dany about how to get home. When they reach the castle, Theon lifts Catelyn out of the boat and sets her on a stone landing. 

Of course, the jewel in the crown here is that the Targaryen-buillt capital is called King's Landing. A quay is a boat landing and, in ASOIAF, The Key / Quay is King's Landing. So we need to pay attention to quays. (Note: I figured out at some point that "fell" is a word for a type of "seam" in sewing. So Winterfell is a type of seam in the fabric of Westeros and now we know that King's Landing is a kind of stone pier. Very different types of features on the landscape but probably both important in journeys to / from the Otherworld.) 

But here's why this may be especially relevant for the Quaithe / Shiera theory.

For the latest piece of analysis of wine symbolism, I had taken a look at grapes and returned to the meeting of Salladhor Saan with Davos at an inn on a stone pier. I have found that inns tend to be magical places where important events can occur or characters can meet up in significant ways - not for nothing is the inn at the crossroads a location where major events occur more than once, for instance. In details of Salladhor Saan's clothing, as well as in his affinity for grapes, I saw allusions to both Shiera Seastar and Bloodraven. (Tl;dr - Saan and Shiera both wear cloth of silver with blue /sapphire and green / emerald ornaments; Shiera has blue and green eyes, iirc. Saan also wears peacock feathers in his hat, which probably alludes to Bloodraven's "a thousand eyes and one" reputation. There are more connections in the links.) 

Because I am hung up on the Salladhor = Shiera / Bloodraven theory, it seems like great confirmation that this now connects to Megorova's Quaithe = Shiera theory through the stone pier. If Quaithe = The Quay / key, it has to be important that Davos meets Salladhor Saan at an inn on a quay (stone pier). The conversation between Salladhor Saan and Davos gives us the story of Azor Ahai, a major figure from Westeros legend that may serve as the model for the central hero's story in ASOIAF. It seems more likely that we would hear this tale from a major figure such as Shiera or Bloodraven instead of just a bit player pirate friend who doesn't seem like a central character in ASOIAF. 

The meeting on the stone pier also gives us a prolonged scene where Saan eats grapes, which are symbolic eyes in GRRM's series of metaphors comparing fruit to body parts. Because eyes are important symbols in ASOIAF (the three-eyed crow; the blindness of Maester Aemon and Arya / Blind Beth; the single eye of Bloodraven, Crow's Food Umber and Timett son of Timett, among others; etc.) the connection between Saan and Bloodraven / the Three Eyed Crow seems to be strengthened by the grape scene. 

I have a lot more thinking and writing to do about grapes / wine, but I think we can connect one more important teller-of-legends and maker-of-prophecies to this Salladhor Saan and Quaithe connection:

- Grapes are the sigil of House Redwyne.

- Olenna Redwyne, the Queen of Thorns, is the major Redwyne character in ASOIAF.

- I think there is a parallel between Olenna and Old Nan, the nanny (and possibly a wet nurse at some point) for generations of Stark children. 

- Aside from the wordplay similarity (Old Nan similar to Ole Nna), they are both physically tiny crones. I believe they are both playing the Game of Thrones but possibly for an older throne that predates the Iron Throne. Both seem to be using a young person (Bran for Old Nan, Margaery and possibly Sansa and others for Olenna) as their game pieces.

- At one point, I speculated that Old Nan was the catspaw (or the puppet master behind the catspaw) but I have also put her forward as a candidate for the Three Eyed Crow. (A bit off-topic, perhaps, but recall, too, that Arya uses the name Nan for a period of time and we know that Arya will become a Faceless Man assassin. Old Nan would be an amazing Faceless Man and reuse of the Nan face by a series of Faceless Men would explain why she seems to live on for many generations beyond a normal lifespan.) (Sorry, no links because many of my old posts seem to be too old to be reached by the search function of this website. If I am able to find the old posts, I will add links.) 

- If the Grapes = Olenna Redwyne = Old Nan equation is accurate, we can link Old Nan to the Bloodraven / Shiera / Salladhor Saan storytellers / prophecy makers. 

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2 hours ago, Seams said:

In one of my musings on wordplay, it occurred to me that Quaithe might be a barely-hidden anagram of "The Quay," if  "quai" is an alternate spelling of "quay." So I checked online and found confirmation that "quai" is indeed one spelling of the more familiar "quay," which is a word for "a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place." Synonyms are jetty, pier and wharf and some definitions specify that a quay is made of stone. 

Yea, quai is the initial French origin for quay.  So “the quai” as an anagram does make sense.  And speaking of Saan, this quote seems of interest:

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He could see Sallador Saan’s flagship Valyrian moored at the quay where Fury and her sisters had once tied up.

Coupling Fury with sisters makes me think of the Greek Furies, or Erinyes.  Three sisters who were the embodiment of vengeance against men who swore false oaths.  

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3 hours ago, Seams said:

For the latest piece of analysis of wine symbolism, I had taken a look at grapes and returned to the meeting of Salladhor Saan with Davos at an inn on a stone pier.

Love your posts... just wanted to point out a detail which has always nagged at me.

Before his meeting with Saan, Davos meets an old friend on the quay:

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A weathered little inn sat on the end of the stone pier where Black Betha, Wraith, and Lady Marya shared mooring space with a half-dozen other galleys of one hundred oars or less. Davos had a thirst. He took his leave of his sons and turned his steps toward the inn. Out front squatted a waist-high gargoyle, so eroded by rain and salt that his features were all but obliterated. He and Davos were old friends, though. He gave a pat to the stone head as he went in. "Luck," he murmured.

A Clash of Kings - Davos I

A faceless gargoyle!

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I've been looking at some parallels between Egg and Aegon for a while and I did post some of them in this thread already.

So we have the wide-brimmed straw hat, which is what Aegon is introduced waving one at his friends. We know Egg has his own wide-brimmed straw hat as well. He is introduced using his hat to wave the flies away. 

We have the eye color. Their eyes look black by lamplight

We have the journeys on poleboats. Egg goes down the Greenblood with orphans, Aegon goes down the Rhoyne with orphans.

Both Egg and Aegon are trained by hedge knights.

I think it's a safe bet that Egg will be the one to give Dunk his white cloak, while Aegon has already given Duck his white cloak.

So I had noticed the similarities in the physique of Dunk and Duck. We don't know how tall Duck is, but he is taller than Aegon who is now as tall as Jon Connington. Both men are brawny and not particularly bright. Both are devoted to the the boys they serve. Both chose their own names. Dunk tacked the Tall to Duncan which may or may not be his real name. And Rolly called himself Duckfield when he received his knighthood.

The thing I had never notice, though, is their names or nicknames. Dunk and Duck. Duck and Dunk. Two names that are just one letter removed from one another. 

I have to think that George was chuckling to himself when he came up with this. 

Seriously. Dunk and Duck.

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So I accidentally thought of another parallel between Longclaw and Blackfyre while looking for something in Jon VIII, AGoT.

Longclaw;

"My son brought dishonor to House Mormont, but at least he had the grace to leave the sword behind when he fled. My sister returned it to my keeping, but the very sight of it reminded me of Jorah's shame, so I put it aside and thought no more of it until we found in the ashes of my bedchamber." (Jon VIII, AGoT 60)

.

"The fire melted the silver off the pommel and burnt the crossguard and grip. Well, dry leather and old wood, what could you expect? The blade, now . . . you'd need a fire a hundred times as hot to harm the blade." (Jon VIII, AGoT 60)

Blackfyre;

The king was clad in battle armor, his mailed hands folded over the hilt of Blackfyre. Since the days of Old Valyria, it had ever been the custom of House Targaryen to burn their dead, rather than consigning their remains to the ground. Vhagar supplied the flames to light the fire. Blackfyre was burned with the king, but retrieved by Maegor afterward, its blade darker but elsewise unharmed. No common fire can damage Valyrian steel. (Fire and Blood - The Sons of the Dragons)

This doesn't really feel like a coincidence, especially since AGoT was written 20+ years ago.

The only two Valyrian bastard swords thus far in the story. One goes in the flames with its owner, a dragon used to light it up. The other also goes into the flames, and it's Jon (who would be a metaphorical dragon) who burns the place down to kill the wight. 

There's no mention about the crossguard of Blackfyre melting which seems to indicate that the sword is made entirely of Valyrian steel. 

I do find it weird that dragon fire is being called common, though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are getting a lot of Jaime foreshadowing in the character of Edmure Tully, I suspect. And where Jaime goes, Brienne is not far away. 

Recall Jaime's situation after the Bloody Mummers sever his arm:

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His hand was always between them. Urswyck had hung it about his neck on a cord, so it dangled down against his chest, slapping Brienne's breasts as Jaime slipped in and out of consciousness. (Storm, Jaime IV)

Instead of a hand tied around his neck, through the magic of wordplay, GRRM gives Edmure a "foot" hanging from his neck.

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Atop the gallows, the Lord of Riverrun stood staring at the trap beneath him. His feet were black and caked with mud, his legs bare. Edmure wore a soiled silken tunic striped in Tully red and blue, and a noose of hempen rope. At the sound of Jaime's footsteps, he raised his head and licked his dry, cracked lips. "Kingslayer?" The sight of Ser Ilyn widened his eyes. "Better a sword than a rope. Do it, Payne."

...

Edmure Tully had collapsed facedown on the scaffold when Ser Ilyn's blade sheared the rope in two. A foot of hemp still dangled from the noose about his neck. Strongboar grabbed the end of it and pulled him to his feet. "A fish on a leash," he said, chortling. "There's a sight I never saw before." (Feast, Jaime VI)

Just as Edmure thought he was being offered a choice between death by sword or death by a rope in that excerpt, Brienne is offered a similar choice by Lady Stoneheart later in AFfC:

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The northman said, "She says that you must choose. Take the sword and slay the Kingslayer, or be hanged for a betrayer. The sword or the noose, she says. Choose, she says. Choose." (Feast, Brienne VIII)

And because of the Brienne / Ser Duncan the Tall parallel, it is probably worth noting that Dunk faced a choice to undergo the Trial of Seven (i.e., fighting with weapons) instead of letting Prince Aerion "Brightflame" cut off his hand and his foot.

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"If I had not fought, you would have had my hand off. And my foot. Sometimes I sit under that tree there and look at my feet and ask if I couldn't have spared one. How could my foot be worth a prince's life? 

...

Well, mighten it be that some morrow will come when I'll have need of that foot? When the realm will need that foot, even more than a prince's life?" (The Hedge Knight)

So we have Jaime with his hand on a cord around his neck, Edmure with "a foot of hemp" around his neck and Brienne with tight ropes around her wrists as well as her neck - and around a tree limb (with the word limb used as a synonym for a human arm or leg?). 

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"Jeyne. Untie my hands. Please. Have pity. The ropes are chafing my wrists. I'm bleeding."

...

They bound Brienne's wrists with rope again and led her from the cavern, up a twisting stony path to the surface. 

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Beneath a crooked willow, the outlaws slipped a noose about her neck, jerked it tight, and tossed the other end of the rope over a limb. (Feast, Brienne VIII)

If you really want to dive deep into the symbolism, you can also loop Vargo Hoat into the motifs. (Keep in mind, there is probably wordplay linking "oath" and "Hoat".) 

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When they brought it to him, he found that the Goat's lips had been sliced off, along with his ears and most of his nose. The crows had supped upon his eyes. It was still recognizably Hoat, however. Jaime would have known his beard anywhere; an absurd rope of hair two feet long, dangling from a pointed chin. Elsewise, only a few leathery strips of flesh still clung to the Qohorik's skull. "Where is the rest of him?" he asked.

No one wanted to tell him. Finally, Shitmouth lowered his eyes, and muttered, "Rotted, ser. And et." (Feast, Jaime III)

What is GRRM telling us with these repeated references to severed body parts hanging around a person's neck, and what does it tell us about the future of Jaime, Edmure and Brienne?

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