Arya Stark and Braavos "Moon" and "Water"

[YeniAy_Ottoman]

 

First, I apologize for my bad English. I hope you understand what I wrote.

 

Since the beginning of the story, there are many signs about Arya's Braavos adventure; Needle, Water Dance, Jaqen, Syrio Forell are just a few signs of them.

 

We know that GRRM uses myths. First, I want to give a little information about moon and water.

In myths, the moon is sometimes considered a man and sometimes a woman. For example, the moon has an important place in Turkish myths. Cosmologically, the first dead and resurrecting god in the sky is the Moon; 3 days is not seen in the sky and then reborn. In the first period, people perceived this as ‘the death of the moon.. The narratives of heroes ’in all myths of the world have been constructed over‘ Moon.. Moon eclipses in myths have been associated with the belief that the dragon (the wolf-dragon in the Turks) ate the Moon. In the Viking myths, the eclipse is due to the wolves eating the Moon. The same logic exists in Turkish myths; The wolves eat it by attacking the moon and so the moon is kept. According to Eliade, most of the myths about the flood mention that a single human survived the flood and that the surviving man married a ‘moon’ animal. After all, this animal becomes the ancestor of that nation; In the Turks, this month's animal is Gökbörü(grey wolf). Gökbörü is also associated with the concept of wolf-dragon. The ancestor of tribes is a moon animal that causes flooding. Turks often envisioned wolves and dragons together. (The information in this paragraph is quoted from Nuray Bilgili's Turkish Mythology.)

Of course, since the GoT series is inspired by western culture and myths, it is not right to act with a direct reference from Turkish myths, but we can continue by taking elements that are ‘common an from the authors. In fact, Scandinavian myths and Turkish myths have some things in common. The Wolf and Moon section is an example.

Those who are interested in astrology know that the ‘moon’ is associated with the water element, and you are all familiar with the wolf-moon relationship in both world myths and legends.

A post about the relationship between the moon and the water from Hermetics site.

"Water ... Its characteristics are opposite to fire. It contains the female element. In ancient times, life was believed to start from the sea. The sea was seen as the womb of a mother goddess who ruled the moon. Because of the reflection of water, the ancients considered her as a symbol of wisdom, privacy and privacy. The fire element represents the consciousness and the water element the subconscious, the fire contains the sun, the ruler of the day, the moon contains the moon, the water rises to the sky, the water falls to the ground, and melts all kinds of matter within the water. So it can be life-giving, it can be poisonous. It can be clean, it can also be polluting. But it is purely life-giving and purifying. Its astrological features are sensuality, sensitivity and intuition.

Summary: Moon + Water (Ice) + Night + Wolf... all connected. Remember, ice and snow are frozen water.

After seeing the relationship between the moon and water and its meaning in myths, let's start to look for traces of it in the series.

The youngest of these cities, Braavos(moon and water) was founded by escaped fleeing the grasp of Valyria the Freehold( sun and fire). According to the histories of Braavos, it was a group of slave women from the lands of Jogos Nhai, the moonsingers, who predicted where shelter could be found. Thus, the slaves travelled to the distant lagoon, hidden away from sight of the dragonlords by the wall of hills covered with pine trees and the fog covering the lagoon. The largest temple in the city is the Moon temple.

"The Moonsingers led us to this place of refuge, where the dragons of Valyria could not find us," Denyo said. "Theirs is the greatest temple."

On many sides of Braavos you can find some signs of the moon / crescent; For example the Moon Pool is one of the quite popular spots. Moon Shadow; Moon Goddess, Moon Temple etc.

 

"Sealords," said Yorko. "The Isle of the Gods is farther on. See? Six bridges down, on the right bank. That is the Temple of the Moonsingers."

It was one of those that Arya had spied from the lagoon, a mighty mass of snow-white marble topped by a huge silvered dome whose milk glass windows showed all the phases of the moon. A pair of marble maidens flanked its gates, tall as the Sealords, supporting a crescent-shaped lintel.

The temple of FM's that attracts my attention the most. What were they doing there for the gift of mercy? They were dying by drinking poisoned ‘sweet’ water. What did say the text about water? "So it can be life-giving or poisoning."

At the top she found a set of carved wooden doors twelve feet high. The left-hand door was made of weirwood pale as bone, the right of gleaming ebony. In their center was a carved moon face; ebony on the weirwood side, weirwood on the ebony. The look of it reminded her somehow of the heart tree in the godswood at Winterfell. The doors are watching me, she thought. She pushed upon both doors at once with the flat of her gloved hands, but neither one would budge.

Even in the temple's chairs, there are faces this moon.

The apprentices were holding jugs of wine in their hands, but Arya was holding a water jug. If you remember, when she first came to this house, she had someone drink poisonous water with her hands.

Since the first book, Arya interacts directly or indirectly with the moon / water and its associated Braavos / FMs.

In the first book, Jon gave Arya an assassin sword of Braavos, and then she was trained by a teacher to become a WATER DANCER. Even water dance is a fighting technique used by Braavos warriors. His father also referred to her as “MOON..." Also, remember that she lives in a cold geography covered by ice / snow.

Wolves are a moon animal and she has a direwolf. Also she likes cats and Braavos a good place for cats. (Cats are moon animal too. Cats are associated with the Egyptian goddess Bastet.)

Bastet is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children. As with many Egyptian deities, she also played a role in the afterlife as a guide and helper to the dead although this was not one of her primary duties. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra and is associated with the concept of the Eye of Ra (the all-seeing eye) and the Distant Goddess (a female deity who leaves Ra and returns to bring transfromation). https://www.ancient.eu/Bastet/  

...

"Just so. Now we will begin the dance. Remember, child, this is not the iron dance of Westeros we are learning, the knight's dance, hacking and hammering, no. This is the bravo's dance, the water dance, swift and sudden. All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die." He took a step backward, raised his own wooden blade. "Now you will try to strike me."

When Arya had to leave her identity behind, she threw all Arya belongings (except the needle) into the water. We can see this action as an attempt to throw the Arya identity into consciousness. Remember, water represented the subconscious.

On his journey from KL to Braavos, Arya meets Jaqen, an FM who is also from Braavos, and is directed by him to Braavos / FM. While Arya was serving there, she was sent to a man selling seafood to learn the Braavos language, but also returned from time to time to bring her knowledge to FMs. When's she coming back? When the darkness falls and the moon comes out. (dark moon)

Cat would always find the kindly man waiting for her when she went creeping back to the temple on the knoll on the night the moon went black. "What do you know that you did not know when you left us?" he would always ask her.

...

"All men must serve." And so she did, three days of every thirty. When the moon was black she was no one, a servant of the Many-Faced God in a robe of black and white. She walked beside the kindly man through the fragrant darkness, carrying her iron lantern. She washed the dead, went through their clothes, and counted out their coins. Some days she still helped Umma cook, chopping big white mushrooms and boning fish. But only when the moon was black. The rest of the time she was an orphan girl in a pair of battered boots too big for her feet and a brown cloak with a ragged hem, crying "Mussels and cockles and clams" as she wheeled her barrow through the Ragman's Harbor. (See? When the moon was black for 3 days. )

...

"The moon will be black tonight," she reminded him.

"Best you pray, then." Brusco shoved the boots aside and poured out the coins to count them. "Valar dohaeris."

...

But before the waif could answer, the kindly man stepped into the chamber, smiling. "You have returned to us."

"The moon is black."

"It is. What three new things do you know, that you did not know when last you left us?"

If you noticed that they are saying "the moon is going to be black" or moon is called black, we usually say “there is no moon in the sky today". But they call the moon is black. This is remarkable. In addition, Arya often calls himself NIGHT WOLF. And there is moon of course.

 

She was the night wolf. But only when she dreamed...Not for me. Her nights were bathed in moonlight and filled with the songs of her pack, with the taste of red meat torn off the bone, with the warm familiar smells of her grey cousins. Only during the days was she alone and blind.

...

"How long must I be blind?" she would ask.

"Until darkness is as sweet to you as light," the waif would say, "or until you ask us for your eyes. Ask and you shall see."

...

She took a breath to quiet the howling in her heart, trying to remember more of what she'd dreamt, but most of it had gone already. There had been blood in it, though, and a full moon overhead, and a tree that watched her as she ran.

We can give an example of the wolves' relationship with the moon in Jon's dream.

The white wolf raced through a black wood, beneath a pale cliff as tall as the sky. The moon ran with him, slipping through a tangle of bare branches overhead, across the starry sky... In another place, his little sister(Arya-Nymeria) lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her

Wolves always sing to the moon. Why? Because they are moon animal, like dragons are sun animal.

The wolves 'connection with the moon and the wolves' connection with the Stark children are remarkable. Especially Braavos is the city of the moon and water, this is the symbol. Arya also interacts quite closely with this city. So, what the point? Easy. Remember my theory about "the campions"

https://www.reddit.com/r/pureasoiaf/comments/cvceq7/spoilers_extended_a_song_of_ice_and_fire/

Thank you for read.

[Narsil4]

11 hours ago, YeniAy_Ottoman said:

we usually say “there is no moon in the sky today". But they call the moon is black. 

Black Moon may be referring to a New Moon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_moon

Quote

The term black moon refers to an additional new moon that appears in a month or in a season. It may also refer to the absence of a full moon or of a new moon in a month.

That seems to last for 3 days.

Quote

"All men must serve." And so she did, three days of every thirty. When the moon was black she was no one, a servant of the Many-Faced God in a robe of black and white.

There also seems to be the suggestion thats a good time for magic. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_moon

Quote

In some aspects of paganism, particularly amongst Wiccans, the black moon is considered to be a special time when any rituals, spells, or other workings are considered to be more powerful and effective. Others believe rituals or workings should not be conducted at these times.

I've found lines like this to be pretty interesting. 

Quote

The moon was a black hole in the sky. Wolves howled in the wood, sniffing through the snowdrifts after dead things.

And I have had to wonder if the description of the moon as a hole is more than just poetic language. 

Perhaps the world being a hollow earth like the show depicted it in the opening credits.  

[Annalee]

The best theories are those which do not depend on too many assumptions.  Anyhow, Arya's arc does not seem too complicated to me.  A child born into the nobility witness her family's ruin (mostly their own fault) and becomes mad with grief.  She jumps on the revenge train and takes out her issues on innocent people.  Daeron.  The old man selling insurance.  Her story is how not to handle grief and it will not come to a happy ending for her.  She's not the only one to lose family.  Most people dealt with it and moved on.  The war her family was a major part of orphaned a lot of youngsters and most of them did not become murderers.  She is more than cracked.  She's shattered.