What is the importance of the Hrakkar, the White Lion?

[Seams]

If you're open to wordplay clues, the hint I would zero in on for Hrakkar would be the Arakh, a sword-scythe hybrid weapon used by the Dothraki. In giving Dany the skin of the white lion, Drogo is giving her a symbolic weapon that is unique to, prized by and legendary for the Dothraki.

I understand that people feel strongly about the lion and Lannister association, and that has puzzled me, too. Lately, I have tried to see a lot of the sigils and symbols as having more ancient meanings than the associations with current houses. For instance, we know that the Baratheons married into House Durrandon; they came to be associated with the Storm Lord nickname, but the name and symbolism preceded them and was appropriated by the new family. In The Sworn Sword, Ser Eustace Osgrey's pride in the Chequy Lion helped me to realize that the Lannisters probably are not sole owners of the lion symbol.

Having said that, I would acknowledge that there could be a connection between the white lion and Bright Roar, the lost Valyrian steel sword of House Lannister. The sword was lost when a long-ago Lannister went to sea; the pelt of the white lion is hunted and obtained from the (Dothraki) sea. It does seem poetic that Tywin should be obsessed with linking his family to the Iron Throne AND obsessed with having a Lannister Valyrian steel sword. In an ironic twist, GRRM has Drogo and Dany obtain the missing "Bright Roar" by slaying and skinning the white lion, turning it into a cloak. Tywin loses again.

The lion pelt is not a literal weapon, of course: the Dothraki culture doesn't provide for women to wield weapons and Dany turned over to Drogo the weapons given to her as wedding gifts. Those weapons come back to her, however, when Drogo dies. She ends up giving them to her blood riders, I believe, showing the beginning of her consolidation of power as the Khaleesi-in-command. As long as she has the lion pelt, I believe the arakhs can be given to other characters to symbolize that they are part of Dany's posse, becoming aspects of her growing power, not subtracting from her, as the weapons are given away.

Another important weapon that is "given" to Dany is the whip called the Harpy's Fingers. I believe that Kraznys mo Nakloz is a symbolic King Aerys and the handover of the whip is a symbolic moment of Aerys recognizing Dany as his heir.

This is also significant:

3 hours ago, OneFretfulTrout said:

I don’t know if this association is intentional, but some of the animal pelts that appear throughout the books seem to be a combination of the sigil of one family/ person/ institution, and the field colour of another, like...

White lion (Dany) = Lannister + Stark

Red wolf (Jon Con) = Stark + Lannister/ Blackfyre (?)

Shadowcat (Tyrion) = Night’s watch/Benjen + Catelyn

A fusion of the foes/ people they encountered or that otherwise have influenced their storyline?

Or alternatively past and future houses/ alliances/ marriages? It definitely reminds me of the westerosi wedding ceremony... Alys’ wedding in particular, since her cloak is also a combination of 2 families

GRRM does a lot of exploring of combinations such as a Lannister + Frey marriage;  the red and grey steel in Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail representing a Stark / Lannister combination; Long Claw with a wolf hilt; Tyrells moving up from stewards to Lords of Highgarden, etc. The mythical beasts, such as the harpy and the griffin, are part of this exploration of oddball combinations. (Tyrion also may be a chimera of Tywin, Aerys and Johanna.)

The white lion in the high grass may be not just a Lannister and Stark combination, but a Lannister + Stark + Martell combination. (Prince Doran says that he is the grass and Oberyn is the snake in the grass.) Dany uses bundles of grass in the funeral pyre for Drogo and there is a memorable early scene where Ser Jorah tells Dany about the many different kinds of grass in the Dothraki Sea, and the way the grasses change colors in different seasons. (Of course, I suspect "grass" may be related through wordplay to "rags," which opens up another line of thinking about "ragged" characters, the Tattered Prince, etc.)

[The Commentator]

White is purity.  White lambs are sacrificed in the bible.  We know about the three fires.  They are 3 executions but more than that.  They are also sacrifices.  Somebody gets thrown in the fire.  This white lion, whoever it may be, will end up in the coals.  

[Ghost+Nymeria4Eva]

On 6/17/2019 at 8:33 AM, Bowen 747 said:

Dany is the Black Dragon.  The White Lions are the Lannisters. 

What makes you say Dany is the "black dragon"? Do you mean that she's the secret Blackfyre? 

I think someone else has already pointed out, Lannisters are associated with golden dragons, not white ones. 

15 hours ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

White is purity.  White lambs are sacrificed in the bible.  We know about the three fires.  They are 3 executions but more than that.  They are also sacrifices.  Somebody gets thrown in the fire.  This white lion, whoever it may be, will end up in the coals.  

I thought that maybe the lion Drogo killed was a sacrifice of some sorts unbeknownst to them. It was obviously a rare and possibly unique creature. Drogo might have killed an animal associated with the gods, like the direwolves. It was clearly important in the grand scheme of things. Like how Ned was executed after he killed Lady, maybe Drogo's fate was the gods' punishment for him killing the special lion. Either that or the significance comes from Dany wearing the lion pelt (and it later being associated with her).  

 

 

 

[Darth Sidious]

17 hours ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

White is purity.  White lambs are sacrificed in the bible.  We know about the three fires.  They are 3 executions but more than that.  They are also sacrifices.  Somebody gets thrown in the fire.  This white lion, whoever it may be, will end up in the coals.  

White lion = Tyrion or Jaime.  Hopefully Jaime will die by dragon flame. 

 

2 hours ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

I thought that maybe the lion Drogo killed was a sacrifice of some sorts unbeknownst to them. It was obviously a rare and possibly unique creature. Drogo might have killed an animal associated with the gods, like the direwolves. It was clearly important in the grand scheme of things. Like how Ned was executed after he killed Lady, maybe Drogo's fate was the gods' punishment for him killing the special lion. Either that or the significance comes from Dany wearing the lion pelt (and it later being associated with her).  

The actual Hrakkar is of little significance and certainly does not have enough weight in Daenerys Targaryen's story arc to become part of a prophecy for her.   It is merely a symbol.  The vision is Jaime Lannister's future death by execution.   Though it is Jaime who is wearing white.  White lion is a soon to be dead lion.  Like the Hrakkar whose pelt we already have.  

[Darth Sidious]

On 7/7/2019 at 4:58 PM, Seams said:

Having said that, I would acknowledge that there could be a connection between the white lion and Bright Roar, the lost Valyrian steel sword of House Lannister. The sword was lost when a long-ago Lannister went to sea; the pelt of the white lion is hunted and obtained from the (Dothraki) sea. It does seem poetic that Tywin should be obsessed with linking his family to the Iron Throne AND obsessed with having a Lannister Valyrian steel sword. In an ironic twist, GRRM has Drogo and Dany obtain the missing "Bright Roar" by slaying and skinning the white lion, turning it into a cloak. Tywin loses again.

Stumpy Lannister has no use for a VS sword.  Best to just give him a rusty sword from the armory.  Vargo Hoat deprived the lions of their pride by maiming the favored son of the house.  

[Bowen 747]

On 7/9/2019 at 2:40 AM, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

What makes you say Dany is the "black dragon"? Do you mean that she's the secret Blackfyre? 

I think someone else has already pointed out, Lannisters are associated with golden dragons, not white ones. 

 

 

 

 

Black because that is the primary color of the Targaryens.  Black and red.  It is also the color of her dragon, Drogon.  

The Lannisters are not associated with the golden dragon.  They are not dragons.  To be specific, one Lannister is the "white" lion.  This being Jaime Lannister.  His identity as a Kingsguard is the source of the white color.  

[Targaryen Restoration]

White is identity crisis.  Jaime is the white knight.  Jon is the white crow.  Both are false to their oaths.  Jaime is a Kings Guard but he is no true knight.  He dishonored the Kings Guard and all the knights.  He betrayed all of the men he swore to serve.  He's not true to his order.  Jon is not a true man of the watch.  He is more wildling.  He betrayed the Watch many times.  Pycelle is the white maester.  He served many kings but his loyalty was always to Tywin.  Manderly is legally a Bolton subordinate.  The lord of White Harbor is secretly working against the Boltons.

White cloak is Jaime.  The knight who isn't a knight, the kg who isn't a kg.  

 

[H Wadsworth Longfellow]

22 hours ago, Targaryen Restoration said:

White is identity crisis.  Jaime is the white knight.  Jon is the white crow.  Both are false to their oaths.  Jaime is a Kings Guard but he is no true knight.  He dishonored the Kings Guard and all the knights.  He betrayed all of the men he swore to serve.  He's not true to his order.  Jon is not a true man of the watch.  He is more wildling.  He betrayed the Watch many times.  Pycelle is the white maester.  He served many kings but his loyalty was always to Tywin.  Manderly is legally a Bolton subordinate.  The lord of White Harbor is secretly working against the Boltons.

White cloak is Jaime.  The knight who isn't a knight, the kg who isn't a kg.  

 

This is the trope against the color white standing for something good.  White is the color of winter and snow.  The mechanism by which mother nature will use to kill the living.  White is the color of death.   Jaime, Jon, Pycelle are the opposite of the pure because they corrupted the organization they each belonged to.  Their stain is there in the white.