Glass Candles: how they work, Jaquen's role at the Citadel, and how the Citadel used them

[sweetsunray]

7 hours ago, LynnS said:

I also wonder about convergent evolution:

This aligns with our idea to propose another set of magic - ice magic. Each type of strain of magic has similar aspects, with each type of magic there's a way of seeing. There's seeing in fires and glass candles, green dreams and green seeing, shade of the evening for the Undying, the non-magical manmade but illusionary Myrish spyglasses, and as we propose ice eyes and wight eyes (ice mirrors). There's also some similar power over controling other people/animals: for fire we have dragonriding, for green we have skinchanging. The non magical equivalent is wearing someone else's cloak or skinning. For ice we have wighted humans and animals as mobiles.

Notice how "faces" are part of it too - the manticore with the human face for its exoskeleton at Qarth in revenge for the Undying, the faces that the FM wear, the manmade faces carved into trees, the glamoring done by Mel as fire priestess. And thus there must be a manner in which the Others uses faces. And since often those faces are part of a disguise, except for trees as "faces" aren't necessary or required to see, the Others are not what they appear to be.

[LynnS]

Have you read Ender's Game or considered Orson Scott Card's influence on Martin?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game

Here's an interesting essay on Creating the Innocent Killer.  It seems to me that thatf Martin is creating such a role for Bran.

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The possibility that Stryka may have a legitimate reason to object to Ender’s behavior is never considered—her qualms are “fashion.”  A page later, Ender identifies Stryka’s real motivation (which Ender knows but she does not) as a fear of the stranger.  In this case the stranger is not the aliens exterminated by Ender, but Ender himself.  Stryka’s concern for the genocide of the buggers, which might be interpreted as arising out of a concern for the humanity of the “other,” is presented instead as an example of scapegoating the “other”—but in this case the other is redefined as the exterminator,  not the exterminated.  This is a very clever stratagem:  those of us concerned about understanding the “other” are redirected from worrying about the alien to worrying about the killer of the alien, and thus our condemnation of genocide reemerges as a sign of our prejudice and small-mindedness. Ender is not the victimizer, but the misunderstood victim of others’ fear and prejudice.

Source: https://johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website/creating-the-innocent-killer

ETA: https://georgerrmartin.com/about-george/on-writing-essays/the-preface-that-never-was-by-george-r-r-martin/

[sweetsunray]

Another idea on the House of the Undying...

So let's say the indigo heart is comparable to the maw Shade of Sandkings. Then the 4 Undying (who have become former shades of their youthful selves) are the mobiles (or they are 4 maws working together) who try to tear Dany to pieces, while the WARlocks such as Pyat Pree are the equivalent of Wo of Sandkings (or Simon Kress), bringing in the prey. Oh and remember that "goblin" in the Outer Limits version... we have our goblin/dwarf at the doorway of the HotU.

[LynnS]

1 hour ago, sweetsunray said:

Another idea on the House of the Undying...

So let's say the indigo heart is comparable to the maw Shade of Sandkings. Then the 4 Undying (who have become former shades of their youthful selves) are the mobiles (or they are 4 maws working together) who try to tear Dany to pieces, while the WARlocks such as Pyat Pree are the equivalent of Wo of Sandkings (or Simon Kress), bringing in the prey. Oh and remember that "goblin" in the Outer Limits version... we have our goblin/dwarf at the doorway of the HotU.

This bunch:

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

But then black wings buffeted her round the head, and a scream of fury cut the indigo air, and suddenly the visions were gone, ripped away, and Dany's gasp turned to horror. The Undying were all around her, blue and cold, whispering as they reached for her, pulling, stroking, tugging at her clothes, touching her with their dry cold hands, twining their fingers through her hair. All the strength had left her limbs. She could not move. Even her heart had ceased to beat. She felt a hand on her bare breast, twisting her nipple. Teeth found the soft skin of her throat. A mouth descended on one eye, licking, sucking, biting . . .

Likely presenting themselves this way at first:

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

Beyond the doors was a great hall and a splendor of wizards. Some wore sumptuous robes of ermine, ruby velvet, and cloth of gold. Others fancied elaborate armor studded with gemstones, or tall pointed hats speckled with stars. There were women among them, dressed in gowns of surpassing loveliness. Shafts of sunlight slanted through windows of stained glass, and the air was alive with the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

A kingly man in rich robes rose when he saw her, and smiled. "Daenerys of House Targaryen, be welcome. Come and share the food of forever. We are the Undying of Qarth."

"Long have we awaited you," said a woman beside him, clad in rose and silver. The breast she had left bare in the Qartheen fashion was as perfect as a breast could be.

"We knew you were to come to us," the wizard king said. "A thousand years ago we knew, and have been waiting all this time. We sent the comet to show you the way."

"We have knowledge to share with you," said a warrior in shining emerald armor, "and magic weapons to arm you with. You have passed every trial. Now come and sit with us, and all your questions shall be answered."

 

Some of them may have escaped when Dany burns the HoU:

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys V

Dany had laughed when he told her. "Was it not you who told me warlocks were no more than old soldiers, vainly boasting of forgotten deeds and lost prowess?"

Xaro looked troubled. "And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain. It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years. Ghost grass grows in the Garden of Gehane, phantom tortoises have been seen carrying messages between the windowless houses on Warlock's Way, and all the rats in the city are chewing off their tails. The wife of Mathos Mallarawan, who once mocked a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe, has gone mad and will wear no clothes at all. Even fresh-washed silks make her feel as though a thousand insects were crawling on her skin. And Blind Sybassion the Eater of Eyes can see again, or so his slaves do swear. A man must wonder." He sighed. "These are strange times in Qarth. And strange times are bad for trade. It grieves me to say so, yet it might be best if you left Qarth entirely, and sooner rather than later." Xaro stroked her fingers reassuringly. "You need not go alone, though. You have seen dark visions in the Palace of Dust, but Xaro has dreamed brighter dreams. I see you happily abed, with our child at your breast. Sail with me around the Jade Sea, and we can yet make it so! It is not too late. Give me a son, my sweet song of joy!"

 

I'm guessing the mobiles might be Euron as the kingly man; Qyburn as the wizard king.  Not sure of the other two.  Qyburn actually takes offence when Cersei comments on his grubbiness.  The next time she sees him; he's dressed in a white robe with gold whorls at the cuff and Mathos Mallarawan is paying the price for commenting on a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe; now thinks a thousand insects are crawling over her.

I'm not sure if the maw at the HoU is dead or buried deeply below. Dany is told not to take the stairs going down.  

Is it possible there is another maw deep below the HoB&W?  They could be co-operating against a common foe if we apply the Sandkings to the story.

ETA:  After some thought, I lean towards only two; one inhabiting each continent.  Any others may not be as developed or evolved. 

 

[sweetsunray]

10 hours ago, LynnS said:

This bunch:

Likely presenting themselves this way at first:

Some of them may have escaped when Dany burns the HoU:

I'm guessing the mobiles might be Euron as the kingly man; Qyburn as the wizard king.  Not sure of the other two.  Qyburn actually takes offence when Cersei comments on his grubbiness.  The next time she sees him; he's dressed in a white robe with gold whorls at the cuff and Mathos Mallarawan is paying the price for commenting on a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe; now thinks a thousand insects are crawling over her.

I'm not sure if the maw at the HoU is dead or buried deeply below. Dany is told not to take the stairs going down.  

Is it possible there is another maw deep below the HoB&W?  They could be co-operating against a common foe if we apply the Sandkings to the story.

 

Either the 4 main Undying who are in truth shades of those 4 youthful presentations (the wizard king, etc) are the "maws" all working together, or they are psionic illusions created by the maw the "heart" belongs to. Because we only have 1 heart, I'm leaning towards 1 maw, and that got destroyed. And only in a conceptual sense, to be reused both as a hint that the sandkings concept is around on Planetos, and with Dany in the role of Simon Kress's former lover who in the original story ended up being food, but at least in Qarth managed to destroy at least 1 maw in 1 corner of Planetos. Also, when the castle isn't rebuilt anymore, that means the maw's dead. Dany continues to be in part Cath M'Lane: her disgust over learning the Unsullied's training includes killing puppies (with Kraznys as a heavy variation on Kress), her disgust against the fighting pits and people loving to bet on it. In this way Unsullied become metaphorical mobiles and so are the fighting pit fighters. Freed from Kraznys (Kress), the Unsullied begin to worship Dany as their War goddess, while the pit fighters worship Hizdar (or at least guard him) for acting to get back them to their small mini war games for entertainment.  Of course they're not mobiles in the same sense as the mobiles are in Sandkings. They're humans, but heavily traumatised and shaped to become like mobiles... Eventually Sandkings is a commentary on how the way you raise your children has an impact on how limited or truly free they will be. The sandkings' mobiles (or rather the maw) may hate Simon Kress, and murder him to be set free of him, but the white maw is still insane and the orange mobiles will still have the face of a man they hate, long after he's dead and forgotten. The mobiles remain mobiles. The slaves still remain slaves mentally, despite their intelligence, despite their choice to worhsip their rescuer. And while Cath M'Lane destroys Simon's terrarium over her anger of the video of the killed puppy (Dany's equivalent action is the destruction at Astapor), her actions also sets the maws and mobiles free to become as big as they want and not just harm Simon Kress alone, but basically attack all of humanity.

In that sense I think the person who only goes naked, believing insects are crawling all over her, when robed is rather both a tip off to the sandkings reworking into the story, and a foreshadowing of Dany as Cath the smasher of terrariums may end up doing a lot of harm with her "mobiles" that worship her and war for her. Meanwhile the blind man can see again, which is a miracle and a good thing. They're two extremes: miracle and nightmare.

The idea of those 4 (kingly man, the bare breasted woman, wizard king and warrior in green emerald armor) reappearing in some way again, or manifesting is intruiging. But again I would say that 's metaphorical instead of an incarnation. I'm also far more inclined to see Euron as the wizard king than Qyburn. Qyburn shares the trait of a proud warlock, not a wizard king, because he ain't a king, and the spell that made the woman go insane with regards to wearing clothes and go nude was uttered by a warlock, not an Undying. And euhm a crazy Cersei does end up walking nude through the streets of KL. Maybe Qyburn could have done more to free Cersei from the High Sparrow or stopped Cersei from even going to the HS (he has spies after all), but he enjoyed teaching Cersei some lesson in humility. Euron is both a wizard and a king, who uses warlocks openly, and he arrived at the Iron Islands after the HotU. The warrior in the green armor foreshadows Garlen for a moment making Renly come alive again (seemingly) by wearing his armor during the Battle of the Blackwater against Stannis, also an event that takes place after the HotU.  Not sure about the kingly man - a man who has the attitude and presence befitting a king, but who isn't one.: could be Aegon, Jon, ...

[LynnS]

2 hours ago, sweetsunray said:

In that sense I think the person who only goes naked, believing insects are crawling all over her, when robed is rather both a tip off to the sandkings reworking into the story, and a foreshadowing of Dany as Cath the smasher of terrariums may end up doing a lot of harm with her "mobiles" that worship her and war for her. Meanwhile the blind man can see again, which is a miracle and a good thing. They're two extremes: miracle and nightmare.

Another great interpretation!  I'm inclined to think that there should only be one Maw left as well.  I love the metaphorical interpretation of Dany as a maw.  On second thought, Euron does fit the wizard king better than the kingly man.  Aeron calls Euron a demon in human skin.  I've always thought of Euron as an abomination and his madness due to repeated invasions of the mind.

The door to the HoU is described as an open mouth which is another reference to the maw.  

Ultimately, I think Bran has to find a way for love and hate to mate,  so the land can be one again.  In other words, the Wall can come down without any further threat from the sandking of the north.

We are expecting Bran to exterminate the threat, to wipe out a species that has been other-ized, to be the innocent killer described in Joseph Kessel's essay.  Bran is Martin's version of Ender Wiggin.  

Dany comments about being chased by the icy breath and dying a death that is worse than death, leaving her howling alone in the dark, should she be caught;  brings to mind the thing that Bran saw in the heart of winter.  To me, this describes the condition of the maw in the North.   She has already experienced something close to extermination and seeks to escape for her own survival.

If the maw was once aligned with the cotf against the threat of the First Men;  then she has been betrayed and this is a wrong that Bran has to correct.  He has to find a means for the maw to survive and co-exist peacefully.  

In subsequent Ender novels; Ender does penance by searching for a world where humans, formics (sandkings) and pequeninos (cotf) can live together.

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The Pequeninos (Portuguese for "Little Ones"), also known as Lusitanian Aborigines or piggies, are an alien species in the category ramen, or sentient non-human. They are forest-dwelling and technologically primitive, but incredibly intelligent species

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ender's_Game_characters#Pequeninos

 

[LynnS]

1 hour ago, sweetsunray said:

Eventually Sandkings is a commentary on how the way you raise your children has an impact on how limited or truly free they will be

A quote from Kessler's essay:

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     The scorn and abuse directed at the helpless child as well as the suppression of vitality, creativity, and feeling in the child and in oneself permeate so many areas of our life that we hardly notice it anymore.  Almost everywhere we find the effort, marked by varying degrees of intensity and by the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child within us—i.e., the weak, helpless, dependent creature—in order to become an independent, competent adult deserving of respect. (1)

—Alice Miller, For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

And Martin:

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon II

"My lord, my f-f-f-father, Lord Randyll, he, he, he, he, he … the life of a maester is a life of servitude. No son of House Tarly will ever wear a chain. The men of Horn Hill do not bow and scrape to petty lords. Jon, I cannot disobey my father."

Kill the boy, Jon thought. The boy in you, and the one in him. Kill the both of them, you bloody bastard. "You have no father. Only brothers. Only us. Your life belongs to the Night's Watch, so go and stuff your smallclothes into a sack, along with anything else you care to take to Oldtown. You leave an hour before sunrise. And here's another order. From this day forth, you will not call yourself a craven. You've faced more things this past year than most men face in a lifetime. You can face the Citadel, but you'll face it as a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch. I can't command you to be brave, but I can command you to hide your fears. You said the words, Sam. Remember?"

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon II

Sam fled from him just as Gilly had.

Jon was tired. I need sleep. He had been up half the night poring over maps, writing letters, and making plans with Maester Aemon. Even after stumbling into his narrow bed, rest had not come easily. He knew what he would face today, and found himself tossing restlessly as he brooded on Maester Aemon's final words. "Allow me to give my lord one last piece of counsel," the old man had said, "the same counsel that I once gave my brother when we parted for the last time. He was three-and-thirty when the Great Council chose him to mount the Iron Throne. A man grown with sons of his own, yet in some ways still a boy. Egg had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved. Kill the boy within you, I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born." The old man felt Jon's face. "You are half the age that Egg was, and your own burden is a crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born."

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon XIII

Jon flexed the fingers of his sword hand. The Night's Watch takes no part. He closed his fist and opened it again. What you propose is nothing less than treason. He thought of Robb, with snowflakes melting in his hair. Kill the boy and let the man be born. He thought of Bran, clambering up a tower wall, agile as a monkey. Of Rickon's breathless laughter. Of Sansa, brushing out Lady's coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … I want my bride back …

Jon thinks of the innocence of all his siblings.  The child within all of them will be killed.

[The Fattest Leech]

On 5/23/2020 at 9:40 AM, sweetsunray said:

One of GRRM's intros in Dreamsongs discusses one of Heinlein's stories that likely may have inspired George for sandkings, but it's on an invented  world/sattellite near Pluto. But now I'm on doubt. I read it in a glance, and may have come from another source (a Ned's Bed moment).

@The Fattest Leech Do you remember something like that? Or did you mention it in your Aerea essay?

You might be thinking of GRRM discussing a favorite story that was a striking influence on him as a child and remains to this day: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.

That one? Yes, it is in the Aerea m-essay I have.

[LynnS]

I've had a few more thoughts about the Kingly Man and the Wizard King.  
 

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

Beyond the doors was a great hall and a splendor of wizards. Some wore sumptuous robes of ermine, ruby velvet, and cloth of gold. Others fancied elaborate armor studded with gemstones, or tall pointed hats speckled with stars. There were women among them, dressed in gowns of surpassing loveliness. Shafts of sunlight slanted through windows of stained glass, and the air was alive with the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

A kingly man in rich robes rose when he saw her, and smiled. "Daenerys of House Targaryen, be welcome. Come and share the food of forever. We are the Undying of Qarth."

Dany describes everyone in the room as a splendor of wizards; so it follows that the Kingly Man is also a wizard.  Euron is a fit for me as the Kingly Man, because this is the way he would present himself to anyone he is seducing.  Potentially Cersei and Dany.

I'm more interested in Qyburn as the Wizard King.  He may not actually sit on the throne, but he is fast becoming the power behind the throne.  I've mentioned the scene where Qyburn takes offense to Cersei's comment about his disheveled and drab appearance. That seems to connect with  the wife of Mathos Mallarawan:

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The wife of Mathos Mallarawan, who once mocked a warlock's drab moth-eaten robe, has gone mad and will wear no clothes at all. Even fresh-washed silks make her feel as though a thousand insects were crawling on her skin. And Blind Sybassion the Eater of Eyes can see again, or so his slaves do swear. A man must wonder."

The wizard takes offence and even (spider) silk makes her feel as though insects are crawling on her skin.

When next Cersei sees Qyburn; he has changed his appearance, even his eye color:

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A Feast for Crows - Cersei IV

Will you? Last night Cersei had dreamed of the old woman, with her pebbly jowls and croaking voice. Maggy the Frog, they had called her in Lannisport. If Father had known what she said to me, he would have had her tongue out. Cersei had never told anyone, though, not even Jaime. Melara said that if we never spoke about her prophecies, we would forget them. She said that a forgotten prophecy couldn't come true.

"I have informers sniffing after the Imp everywhere, Your Grace," said Qyburn. He had garbed himself in something very like maester's robes, but white instead of grey, immaculate as the cloaks of the Kingsguard. Whorls of gold decorated his hem, sleeves, and stiff high collar, and a golden sash was tied about his waist. "Oldtown, Gulltown, Dorne, even the Free Cities. Wheresoever he might run, my whisperers will find him."

 

When she meets Qyburn for the first time; his eyes are blue:

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A Feast for Crows - Cersei I

The man bowed low. "How may I serve Your Grace?"

His face was vaguely familiar, though Cersei could not place him. Old, but not so old as Pycelle. This one has some strength in him still. He was tall, though slightly stooped, with crinkles around his bold blue eyes. His throat is naked. "You wear no maester's chain."

"It was taken from me. My name is Qyburn, if it please Your Grace. I treated your brother's hand."

When Jaime meet Qyburn he has brown eyes.  So a glamor at work but also the image of someone white with blue eyes meant to invoke confidence and Barristan the Bold.  A replacement for both Barristan (as protector) on a subconscious level and Pycelle as an advisor.  Qyburn is also a spider replacing Varys.  How long before he becomes the Queen's Hand?

[dialt]

Sorry if I am late, but unfortunatelly this fashinating debate is particularly challenging for my not so good for the task English. Speacking of which, apologies if this at times won't come that smooth.

I still owe @sweetsunray a reply. Well... two really, but I'll do it in a following post because I think that addressing the maw/sandkings novel prior might be useful. 

Anyways, I have to admit that I didn't read the novel but only the plot summary. Still, what an amazing chatch @LynnS!  

But before digging further I'd notice something about crystals and spider webs. By wikipedia - to use one source - a snowflake is in fact "a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size". And if you look at it with a microsope, it looks - at least to me - like the miniature of a spider web. A tiny, icy spider web. However, they may also look like insects: 

Chett got to his feet. His legs were stiff, and the falling snowflakes turned the distant torches to vague orange glows. He felt as though he were being attacked by a cloud of pale cold bugs. They settled on his shoulders, on his head, they flew at his nose and his eyes. Cursing, he brushed them off. - ASOS prologue

Still - and I am sorry guys, because I really appreaciate your findings - I am not convinced that the Ice Queen is a spider-like creature. The parallels insects-snow or snowflakes-spider webs and the like, are there. They surely are. But we may read them as "snow = spider webs" or the contrary "spider webs = snow" and so on. And I still find more plausible the latter. But that's me. 

If I have to articulate why - and moving to the Sandkings novel - I'd say that although I agree with Sweetsunray that "Others and the wights aren't operating to make a meal out of humans for their ice maw/ice queen" - as you probably know by now - I don't agree that Others are "the sole intelligence in asoaif that combines a swarming hive mind with weird lifeform with intelligence". We also have direwolves and their packs of wolves (hunting animal and human preys). That's Nymeria's -  a she-direwolf Stark of Winterfell - story. And if a direwolf can't mindcontrol other wolves, a human mind can control a direwolf that leads a pack: we see Bran/Summer taming One Eye/Varamyr's pack. So the parallel I see is: Ice Queen+Others leading the wights on one side, on the other a warg human being+a direwolf leading a pack of wolves. Or Night's Queen+Night's King bonding the men of the Nightfort. 

Therefore, if we don't look for one-to-one comparisons between that novel and ASoIaF - and I think we never should, examining other works as source of inspiration - in the Sandkings the mobiles hunt to bring food to the maw, who has to be feed etc... because that is the way they operate, plain and simple. In ASoIaF the hunting/feeding aspect may not be the purpose, but the origin of the problem. A hunt and a meal of human flesh (or of animals hosting skinchangers) may have had the side effect of creating the Others (I'd bet it wasn't intentional) and now that they existe or are brought back to a sort of life, they keep on pursuing their goal: vengange or whatever else. 

And maybe, maybe, it may not be a concidence that the first "resurrected" character we are introduced with, is a man - Dondarrion - who was sent by Edd (a Stark) to go and catch someone else - Gregor Clagene - who was raiding with his men the Roverlands, foreshadowing Nymeria and her pack and Lady Stoneheart, etc... it looks like going around/teasing about the same thing.

Anyways, I also find interesting that the insect-like mobiles build castles: as I said in a previous post I believe that the foundation of Houses/Castles - after the Pact - could be what lead to feuds within or wars among some fisrt men families/houses and that this may be the context in which that fateful meal took place.

Plus, the maws/mobiles castles take the likeness/faces of human beings. And as you probably recall - we discussed it elsewhere -  I believe that the foundation of each one of these castles required/was accompagned by the consecration of a weirwood via human sacrifice and that the face of the weiwoord tree is that of the man sacrified to it. It could be the same basic idea, reinvented.

Apart from that, sorry but I can't quote so I'll past and copy this one:

[...]  Dany comments about being chased by the icy breath and dying a death that is worse than death, leaving her howling alone in the dark, should she be caught;"

Another way to read it, is that the death worse than death comes before Dany being left alone in dark howling. In other words, she's might be a sort of prey, hunted, caught and eaten and that - being eaten - is what transforms her into something/someone howling (like a wolf). Something worse than death... because it's not true death but a transformation and not a nice one.

And:

"The door to the HoU is described as an open mouth which is another reference to the maw" 

I was sure that there was at least one door described precisely as a maw and in any case I was so intrigued that I searched for this word in all the 5 books and we only have 4 entries in total. The first one, is the one I remembered.

"The doors to the Great Hall were set in the mouth of a stone dragon. [...] Leaning heavily on his cane, Cressen climbed the last few steps and hobbled beneath the gateway teeth. A pair of guardsmen opened the heavy red doors before him, unleashing a sudden blast of noise and light. Cressen stepped down into the dragon's maw." - ACOK prologue

A dragon-like maw. The main difference between Dany and Cressen, is that Dany enters the HoU because she acknowledges the power of magic and in fact she is seeking answers, knowledge. Cressed enters the dragon's maw to fight and deny that power/knowledge represented by Melisandre (who's also obssessed by prophecies/visions). And of course their fates are different as well.

Take note of the blast of light and of the two guardsmen and keep in mind, that once inside, Crassen is crowned with Patchface's helm by Melisandre, the red-fiery woman.

Then we have two quotes about Morroquo's staff. 

His iron staff was as tall as he was and crowned with a dragon's head; when he stamped its butt upon the deck, the dragon's maw spat crackling green flame  - ADWD Tyrion III

Again a dragon maw, on top of something tall (and I think it's fair to assume that the doors of Cressen's chapter, were as well), a flame (that sparkles light). A fake crown. But look what happens in the next quote..

The wind returned as a whispered threat, cold and damp [...] In the space of three heartbeats the little breeze became a howling gale. Moqorro shouted something, and green flames leapt from the dragon's maw atop his staff to vanish in the night. [..] Then he [Tyrion] heard a crack. Oh, bloody hell, he had time to think, that had to be the mast. [...] Then the mast burst. Tyrion never saw it, but he heard it. That cracking sound again and then a scream of tortured wood, and suddenly the air was full of shards and splinters. - ADWD Tyrion IX

A cold wind is howling (like a wolf) and that's a threat. The flames of the dragon-maw vanish, and they are not the cause of the fire: the mast is most likely hit by a lighting. Like some of the towers we meet in the series. Still...  the sound is that of tortured wood.

The 4th quote, that I find this super amazing, is this one:

Jon dismounted.[...] He knelt and reached a gloved hand down into the maw. The inside of the hollow was red with dried sap and blackened by fire. Beneath the skull he saw another, smaller, the jaw broken off. It was half-buried in ash and bits of bone. When he brought the skull to Mormont, the Old Bear lifted it in both hands and stared into the empty sockets. "The wildlings burn their dead. We've always known that. Now I wished I'd asked them why, when there were still a few around to ask." - ACOK JON II

Not a dragon maw, this time. The description is that of the weirwood tree - and weirwood trees are also known as heart trees - of the Whitetree village. The largest/taller weirwood three Jon has ever seen. So tall and large that its its branches shade the entire village. The skulls are inside its red maw/mouth. One is bigger than the other and they've been burnt.

Talking about weirwoods, we can add the Balckgate of the Nightfort. Bran and his friends and Sam and Gilly - like Cressen before - enter its maw and - figuratively - they are eaten by it. But pay attention to the text:

"I am the sword in the darkness," Samwell Tarly said. "I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.""Then pass," the door said. Its lips opened, wide and wider and wider still, until nothing at all remained but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles. 

It's a sword in the darkness, that burns and lights the way and it's also a watcher that opens it. In addition, the Blackgate is located at the bottom of a well. If you think about it, a well - going from the ground deep into the underground -  is the opposite of a tower, that rises from the ground to the sky. And if you add the queer beam of light shining from the BG, then it's the same symbolism of Morroquo's staff (or of the Hightower, etc...) only that in this case, the Blackgate and it's shining face/mouth "crowns" the bottom, not the top of the structure. Same concept as "the last door on the left =  the first door on the right" that we meet in the HoU chapter.

At the same time, the Nightfort is the place where the story of Rat Cook took place and that is a tale about human people being eaten (the king's sons) and transformed (the cook into a rat). And when the Reeds decide they all should sleep in the kitchens, here's what Bran thinks:

The roof was mostly there, so they'd be dry if it rained again, but he didn't think they would ever get warm here. You could feel the cold seeping up through the slate floor. Bran did not like the shadows either, or the huge brick ovens that surrounded them like open mouths, or the rusted meat hooks, or the scars and stains he saw in the butcher's block along one wall. That was where the Rat Cook chopped the prince to pieces, he knew, and he baked the pie in one of these ovens. - ASOS BRAN IV

Shadows, ovens that look like open mouths and butchery... of human beings. It's also worth noticing the weirwood tree that emerges beside the well. I take it as another example of the connection human flesh/weirwoods. 

Finally, there's a sort of spider web in this chapter, in the hands of a she-hunter. I am talking about the net that Meera casts to trap Sam when he finally emerges from the well (another ring and another mouth, on top of the Blackgate's mouth).

Overall, however, I'd notice two things.

1. Except for Morroquo's staff, the main point seems to be the eating symbolism. 

2. At the same time, especially in the Morroquo's staff and in the Blackgate cases, I see too many things tall, light and/or fire, watchers/guards (two guardsmen at the side of the drangon-maw door, men of Night's Watch). Fake crowns/weird rings (the tree of whitetree included: it embraces the village and it's next to a... well). And I think that this another symbolism/pattern, intertwined at times to that of eating, but they're not the same. And this second/separate symbolism/pattern includes/relates to... our dragonglass candles. 

And... @sweetsunray the more I think about it, the more I think that a connection between Old Town/Citadel/Hightower - Old Gods/Long Night/First Men/Last Hero and Braavos/Titatan/Faceless Men existes and as such is an anciente one. And if so, that the Faceless Man formerly known as Jaqen is now involved in the Old Town/Citadel plot would make even more sense. But I'll try to explain why, in the next post.

 

[sweetsunray]

On 5/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, lalt said:

But before digging further I'd notice something about crystals and spider webs. By wikipedia - to use one source - a snowflake is in fact "a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size". And if you look at it with a microsope, it looks - at least to me - like the miniature of a spider web. A tiny, icy spider web. However, they may also look like insects: 

Chett got to his feet. His legs were stiff, and the falling snowflakes turned the distant torches to vague orange glows. He felt as though he were being attacked by a cloud of pale cold bugs. They settled on his shoulders, on his head, they flew at his nose and his eyes. Cursing, he brushed them off. - ASOS prologue

You could see snowflakes that way, yes... and guess who's "making" it snow at the Fist

On 5/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, lalt said:

I don't agree that Others are "the sole intelligence in asoaif that combines a swarming hive mind with weird lifeform with intelligence". We also have direwolves and their packs of wolves (hunting animal and human preys). That's Nymeria's -  a she-direwolf Stark of Winterfell - story. And if a direwolf can't mindcontrol other wolves, a human mind can control a direwolf that leads a pack: we see Bran/Summer taming One Eye/Varamyr's pack. So the parallel I see is: Ice Queen+Others leading the wights on one side, on the other a warg human being+a direwolf leading a pack of wolves. Or Night's Queen+Night's King bonding the men of the Nightfort. 

Actually, while I agree with the parallel, it's not an example of hive mind, or what George would call a hive mind. 

The hive mind is somethign that George uses in several stories, and not just Sandkings. There's Seven Times Never Kill a Man (ooh, featuring the whole background story of Bakkalon the child), Song for Lya. In Seven Times Never Kill a Man, there's a species called Hrangan minds who once colonized Earth and caused an interspecies war. They enslave species through mind control. In the story this happens through pyramids that house a Hrangan mind. They can read the minds of those under their proximite surroundings, control their sexual urges, their other potential violent behavior. With the original habitants they even control who becomes what (like with bees - what food they are makes them a queen, male, female, worker, soldier): each tribe has only one speaker, only one carver, etc. And throughout the story it becomes clearer that there is not any actual cultural passing on, apprenticeship, no storytelling, nothing. The speaker just knows how to speak, being the intermediate between what the pyramid (housing a Hrangan mind) wants and others. The carver just knows what to carve, because the pyramid plants the image in his or her head, an image that the Hrangan mind reads from a visitor's mind. So, if you have a hobbyist antropologist who's a trader with some favourite hypothesis that all cultures of any species in the entire galaxy tend to have similar gods, the Hrangan mind will have its carver carve a statuette of Venus for example. When followers of Bakkalon attempt to destroy the pyramids, the pyramid has the carvers carve Bakkalon. Those Hrangan minds don't want farming, and have people burn their crop, to live on what the land naturall provides, mostly fruit from the trees, but the Hrangan minds also control the behaviour of the wild pig populations, urging the tribes to kill all the pigs when there get to be too many and have a meat feast by culling them. The Hrangan minds even has the humans cull their own children in the end. Those under the pyramids' control get golden flecks in their eyes, or become golden eyed. George also shows that those who are not under the influence anymore of the Hrangan minds actually have a very different nature than what they originally appear to have: more violent, curious for technology, no more golden eyes, sexually hyper active, etc.

So, "hive mind" for George means a control over a species' behavior that alters basically their entire natural behavior and insticts. Sometimes it's in a way that the mind controlled regard it as a benefit. In Seven Times Never Kill a Man the Jainsi (grey pelted primate like tree dwelling species) feel an overpowering feeling of spiritual love and peace. In a Song for Lya, people freely put some fungus/parasite on their brain that feeds on their body, all to feel "one" with other people, until eventually they voluntarily walk into a giant humongous blob of the thing and are consumed by it. But "hive mind" is not the same as "acting in group/pack" or "team-work" for George. A wolf pack, even one where one wolf is warged, is not a hive mind. Bran may wrestle Varamyr's pack to regard Summer as their leader, but it's not any different than what wolves do anyway in a pack - one wolf gets to be the alpha. Arya doesn't mind control Nymeria, let alone Nymeria's pack. Arya goes along for the ride, but Nymeria formed her pack naturally long before Arya began to have wolf dreams. And a skinchanger who resides in an animal all the time pays a price for it - a part of the animal lives in his mind too. A Sandking maw, a Hrangan pyramid mind nor the parasite in A Song for Lya pay a mental price for mind controlling mobiles, humans, Jainsi, pigs, .... 

I still don't agree to the human sacrifice idea and how it "magically made the face appear" on a tree. But nice work on the "maw" search.

As for Meera's net. George uses it in aCoK for a St George and the Dragon scene. GRRM has referred to the legend here or there during talks (last time during a Fire and Blood premiere talk), because of course it's his name. Serwyn of the Mirror Shield is George's own invented in-world hero who falls into the category of heroes and tales of which St. George and the Dragon are an example - Perseus and Medusa, and saving the princess - of the "princess and dragon" motif. In the chapter where Bran sits with Jojen and Meera in the godswood and eventually Summer and Shaggydog chase Meera and Jojen into the weirwood tree, we have a reverse parallel re-enactment of both a Serwyn legend as well as a St. George and the Dragon scene. One of the legends of Serwyn is that he saved a princess from a giant. In Bran's chapter, Hodor-giant saves a female Serwyn (Meera) from an angry prince (Bran). The other famous legend of Serwyn is how he killed a dragon by having the dragon distracted with his mirror shield so he never saw the spear coming. Meera does somethign similar when trapping Summer - she uses her prong to have Summer oblivious of her net. And this is where St. George and the Dragon comes in. In that legend, St. George saves a princess who was about to be sacrificed to a poisonous dragon (so the dragon wouldn't poison the well), when he passes by. He saves the princess and hurts the dragon, but does not kill it. Instead the dragon is leashed with the princess's girdle and taken back to the city, where St. George tells the people he's only willing to kill the dragon if the people of the city (pagans) agree to convert to Christianity. Meera wears her net on her hips, similar like a girlde. She traps Summer with it. However, instead of "shall I kill it?", the prince (Bran) demands she sets Summer free! It's after this scene, that Jojen attempts to convert Bran into believing in both Jojen's and his own powers, and basically begins to convert the bound winged wolf to paganism to help set him free again.

Note: I never ever try to make a one to one match. When I analyse George's work in comparison to inspirations I very much take note where he differs from it, and ask myself why he chooses to do a reverse. In Bran's arc we get reverse parallels (set a net capture free, instead of killing it for example), because Bran's story is one of conversion to the pagan-like nature worship and magic - everything "green" where the woman is important too, an active helper - not towards the Christian like Faith.

[sweetsunray]

On 5/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, lalt said:

A cold wind is howling (like a wolf) and that's a threat. The flames of the dragon-maw vanish, and they are not the cause of the fire: the mast is most likely hit by a lighting. Like some of the towers we meet in the series. Still...  the sound is that of tortured wood.

This is interesting, but I interprete it differently. Notice "green flames". Green is the color association for Old Gods, or the trees. Moqorro aims to use it to protect the ship against the wind. The gale and the lightning are not aspects of the green Old Gods, but of the Storm God, a malignant deity of the Ironborn. Their reavers are called "wolves of the sea". The Grey King brought fire to the earth by taunting the Storm God until he lashed down with a thunderbolt, setting a tree ablaze.

On 5/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, lalt said:

And... @sweetsunray the more I think about it, the more I think that a connection between Old Town/Citadel/Hightower - Old Gods/Long Night/First Men/Last Hero and Braavos/Titatan/Faceless Men existes and as such is an anciente one. And if so, that the Faceless Man formerly known as Jaqen is now involved in the Old Town/Citadel plot would make even more sense. But I'll try to explain why, in the next post.

I agree that Hightowers and Oldtown are very ancient. They might even predate the First Men. Pirates settled on the mouth of the Honeywater, and the Hightowers seem to claim to be of different descent than First Men (older... like the Ironborn claim to be of different descent). And almost since the very beginning, House Hightower aimed to gain exclusive dominion over power tools that goes against Old Gods aspects. Uthor's second son sets up the Citadel to gather all types of wizards and amass man-made knowledge, which is weird given that at the time, everybody had access to the Old Gods via weirwoods and thus acces to witness accounts of what actually happened in the past. The Citadel does not rely on that - but on human and very flawed sources. Sure, at first glance it seems democratic to start up a university and send out its pupils to educate the sons and daughters of rivaling petty kings during the Age of Heroes, but it being exclusive in the whole continent and not relying on available truth sources such as greenseers, and indeed the evidence we have that maesters were used to meddle in marriages, bloodlines and lying about magic is a worrisome aspect. So, Hightowers aimed to get exclusive rights to "knowledge and the power to decide what is truth". Then the Andals arrive (tree haters), bringing their Faith with them, and the Hightowers embrace both, managing to yet again to procure the seat of the High Septon and main sept (the first High Septon was a Hightower). The Faith with the help of the Hightowers manage to convert everyone south of the Neck to the Faith, except the Blackwoods (whose tree is poisoned with salt). Now the truth becomes whatever the Hightowers want it to be, as most stop worhsipping weirwood trees, even if they're not chopped down in the Reach. It's almost as if the Hightowers arrange for a gloating situation - you can watch and see, but are powerless against us spreading lies through our septons and maesters. Compare it to the Russian trolls and bots spreading misinformation over the social media. And so it goes, and then at the Wall, a HIghtower becomes LC, who attempts to make his sons inherit Castle Black.

About a month ago I dug into the Wall's history to make an estimation of the size of the NW at its pique (an answer to a quora question), and thus dug somewhat deeper in the various histories of the various castles. At its pique moment, 17 of the now known 19 castles were manned simultaneously. We know this must have been at a time prior to Aegon's conquest, and therefore can be sure that Deep Lake wasn't amongst those castles (built with Alysanne's jewelry to move the NW from the NIghtfort to Deep Lake). And everything points to Castle Black not yet existing at the time of the NW's pique. We know CB is half as old as the Nightfort, and there are significant differences and aspects at CB that should raise your eyebrows. Obviously no Black Gate, but not even a godswood. Instead it has a rather lavish sept. Any of the NW men at Castle Black wanting to make his vows to the Old Gods had to venture north of the Wall, where potentially at least wildlings could lie in wait to kill NW man. Nightfort has 500 prison cells. CB has but a few. And CB allows for 6000 men, not as big as the Nightfort, but considering its size a rival to the Nightfort as a power seat

These aspects imply that CB was built post Andal dominion south of the Neck. One must feel very powerful and confident to build a castle that doesn't allow for men of the NW to worship or pray or make their vows in a castle's godswood, when your nearest ally and potential enemy attacking you from the south are Starks. This only can be done and risked if the majority of the NW men are already predominantly men who follow the Faith, and would have been ordered by an LC with very close ties to the Faith. It also implies that NW wasn't always a penal colony. If the NW was always a penal colony, then why have 500 prison cells inside the Nightfort. If you need prisoners in order to man the Wall, that's when you don't put them in cells automatically upon arrival. The NW didn't require to rely on these predominantly until Andalisation - because the latter introduced knighthood and tourneys, where second and third sons suddenly could gain renown and riches by competing at tourneys across the continent, rather than the Wall being their sole location to seek glory once their elder brother's lineage was secured. And there's just no way an Old Gods following LC would allow for a potential rivalling CB to be built with such a lay-out with a size of 6000 men. Alternatively the Nightfort used those prison cells to imprison free folk caught south of the Wall, to release them back north of the Wall. Lack of prison cells at CB indicate a "the sole good wildling is a dead one" mentality.

Hence, the LC who had CB built, had it built with the intention to make it the seat of the Wall over the Nightfort, and must have been a man of the Faith. I can only see a HIghtower having that type of hubris and confidence. And we have an hubristic Hightower - Runcel Hightower who wanted to make both his LC position and CB hereditary, so his bastard son could inherit it. He nearly destroyed the NW.

So, after maesters, after the Faith, the Hightowers moved on acquiring power over the Wall. While Runcel's plan did not fully succeed, it did achieve something else - the Nightfort wasn't the seat anymore, and followers of Old Gods had to risk potential death to make their vows, and the Black Gate could slowly over time be forgotten, and in that way cut the Starks and other Old Gods houses off from CotF and direwolves. It wasn't entirely foolproof, but whispering maesters would deal with the leaks, and Alysanne's jewelry to build Deep Lake and move the remainder away from the Nightfort was the last act.

So, we have power over truth and knowledge, power over religious dominion and now power over the Wall and thus possible exchanges between free folk and the Northern houses following the Old Gods still. Next come the dragons. From the get go, Hightowers aim to get one of theirs to be queen - a wife for Aegon who rejected the offer, a war against his grandchildren whose lineage seemed secure and in which the Hightowers had no part, a wife for Maegor who didn't birth living children to succeed him, and then a second wife for Viserys who gives him sons and who immediately bash Rhaenyra and her offspring, until eventually you have the Dance of the Dragons. They ultimately failed in their efforts to become the ruling house with access to dragonriding, but so did noone else. Within Aegon III's reign the last small remaining dragons are slain. No more dragons. The Hightowers seemed to have disappeared from outward meddling ever since, except a bastard son of a Hightower whispers in Rickard Stark's ears to make southron marriages for two of his children, including his heir, to a man and woman who follow the Faith (and Gerold as LC of the Kingsguard). Ned marries Catelyn in Brandon's stead, but builds the very first sept at Winterfell. Without the litter of direwolves and without the Wo5K, the Starks were just 1 or 2 generations away from becoming followers of the Faith. 

[sweetsunray]

On 5/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, lalt said:

Talking about weirwoods, we can add the Balckgate of the Nightfort. Bran and his friends and Sam and Gilly - like Cressen before - enter its maw and - figuratively - they are eaten by it. But pay attention to the text:

"I am the sword in the darkness," Samwell Tarly said. "I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.""Then pass," the door said. Its lips opened, wide and wider and wider still, until nothing at all remained but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles. 

It's a sword in the darkness, that burns and lights the way and it's also a watcher that opens it. In addition, the Blackgate is located at the bottom of a well. If you think about it, a well - going from the ground deep into the underground -  is the opposite of a tower, that rises from the ground to the sky. And if you add the queer beam of light shining from the BG, then it's the same symbolism of Morroquo's staff (or of the Hightower, etc...) only that in this case, the Blackgate and it's shining face/mouth "crowns" the bottom, not the top of the structure. Same concept as "the last door on the left =  the first door on the right" that we meet in the HoU chapter.

At the same time, the Nightfort is the place where the story of Rat Cook took place and that is a tale about human people being eaten (the king's sons) and transformed (the cook into a rat). And when the Reeds decide they all should sleep in the kitchens, here's what Bran thinks:

The roof was mostly there, so they'd be dry if it rained again, but he didn't think they would ever get warm here. You could feel the cold seeping up through the slate floor. Bran did not like the shadows either, or the huge brick ovens that surrounded them like open mouths, or the rusted meat hooks, or the scars and stains he saw in the butcher's block along one wall. That was where the Rat Cook chopped the prince to pieces, he knew, and he baked the pie in one of these ovens. - ASOS BRAN IV

Shadows, ovens that look like open mouths and butchery... of human beings. It's also worth noticing the weirwood tree that emerges beside the well. I take it as another example of the connection human flesh/weirwoods. 

Yes, those are indeed parallels. The differences are in the details of course, and context.

We have yet to see an "insect" being featured in relation to the NW or the Nightfort, or the Black Gate. The Black Gate cries salty tears. And it's interesting you mention the NW, Nightfort and Black Gate along with Meera using a net to trap Samwell.

These are the words of George:

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Too many contemporary Fantasies take the easy way out by externalizing the struggle [between good and evil], so the heroic protagonists need only smite the evil minions of the dark power to win the day. And you can tell the evil minions, because they're inevitably ugly and they all wear black. I wanted to stand much of that on its head. In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which. (Sunsets of High Renown, an interview with GRRM, by Nick Gevers)

So, George chose to make the NW wear "black" to turn the concept of who are evil minions and who are heroes on its head.

Here is the scene at WF's godswood with Meera ensaring Summer -

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"Yai!" the girl shouted, the spear darting out. The wolf slid to the left and leapt before she could draw back the spear. Meera cast her net, the tangles unfolding in the air before her. Summer's leap carried him into it. He dragged it with him as he slammed into her chest and knocked her over backward. Her spear went spinning away. The damp grass cushioned her fall but the breath went out of her in an "Oof." The wolf crouched atop her.
Bran hooted. "You lose."
"She wins," her brother Jojen said. "Summer's snared."
He was right, Bran saw. Thrashing and growling at the net, trying to rip free, Summer was only ensnaring himself worse. Nor could he bite through. (aCoK, Bran IV)

As I said, this is an allusion to St George and the Dragon. A dragon threatened to poison the well of the city Selene, and to appease the dragon, the people of Selence drew lots to sacrifice sheep, children and eventually the princess to the dragon. Saint George rides past just as the princess is about to fall victim to the dragon. He injures the dragon, saves the princess, but does not kill the dragon. Instead, he uses the princess's girdle to leash the dragon, who once leashed by the girdle follows the princess and St George meekly into the city of Selene.

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A woven net hung from one slim hip, a long bronze knife from the other; [...] (aCoK, Bran III)

Meera's net hanging from her hip is the stand in of the girdle.

St. George gives the people of Selene a choice - if you want the dragon killed, I'll do so, but only if you all convert from paganism to Christianity, or I can set the dragon free again. And what does Bran choose?

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"Let him out."
Laughing, the Reed girl threw her arms around the tangled wolf and rolled them both. Summer gave a piteous whine, his legs kicking against the cords that bound them. Meera knelt, undid a twist, pulled at a corner, tugged deftly here and there, and suddenly the direwolf was bounding free. (aCoK, Bran IV)

He chooses the Old Gods (paganism) over the Faith (christianity). Shortly after this, Jojen begins his talk about green dreams starts to ask about Bran's dreams.

How do I know this is St. George related, partially because Meera uses a typical Serwyn/Perseus move - make the target focus on one thing, never seeing the other true weapon.

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Meera moved in a wary circle, her net dangling loose in her left hand, the slender three-pronged frog spear poised in her right. Summer followed her with his golden eyes, turning, his tail held stiff and tall. Watching, watching . . . (aCoK, Bran IV)

And the later scene with Hodor (the giant) saving Meera (sworn shield) from the Prince (via Summer) is another reversed Serwyn tableau (with Serwyn just being an in-world version of the "dragon and the princess" motif), after the previous chapter had Bran's head full of knights in "gleaming" armor, remembering that somehow Howland Reed having bested the greatest knight that Ned ever knew - Arthur Dayne, and then his wolf dream shows Meera (who had just vowed her shield to him) being protective of her brother Jojen.

Now, this whole scene takes place in the godswood: featuring both the weirwood and the "black" pool beside it. It takes place at a "well". So, we have the direwolf, the weirwood and the black pool being used to feature scenes that refer to St. George's poisoning dragon. Except, they aren't dragons, and Bran chooses to do the reverse than the people of Selene - set him free, not "kill him". Loads of readers regard either the weirwood, the pool, the direwolves (and Bloodraven at the bottom of a tree) as corrupt/poisonous. Except if you take a step back, any poisoning being done isn't coming from those, but Luwin (who drugs Bran to stop him from having dreams and shamed him about having "weird" dreams), the marriage with Faith following Cate that a maester (linked to Hightowers) whispered into Rickard's ear and for whom Ned built a sept inside WF for her to worship. The poisoning being done is Theon and his Ironborn Wolves of the Sea (sea = poisoned water) taking WF. And much of that poisoning occurred since the dragons conquered Westeros.

Bran is a prince locked in a tower who needs to be freed.

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Hodor carried him up the winding steps to his tower and knelt beside one of the iron bars that Mikken had driven into the wall. Bran used the bars to move himself to the bed, and Hodor pulled off his boots and breeches.[...] When he blew out his bedside candle, darkness covered him like a soft, familiar blanket. The faint sound of music drifted through his shuttered window. (aCoK, Bran III)

And Summer was locked behind bars into the godswood.

Now, the scene at the Nightfort with the net drives the point home:

Meera catches herself a black brother of the NW (a very big one), in a parallel setting: a weirwood and a well!

 

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From the well came a wail, a piercing creech that went through him like a knife. A huge black shape heaved itself up into the darkness and lurched toward the moonlight, and the fear rose up in Bran so thick that before he could even think of drawing Hodor's sword the way he'd meant to, he found himself back on the floor again with Hodor roaring "Hodor hodor HODOR," the way he had in the lake tower whenever the lightning flashed. But the thing that came in the night was screaming too, and thrashing wildly in the folds of Meera's net. Bran saw her spear dart out of the darkness to snap at it, and the thing staggered and fell, struggling with the net. The wailing was still coming from the well, even louder now. On the floor the black thing flopped and fought, screeching, "No, no, don't, please, DON'T . . ."

Meera stood over him, the moonlight shining silver off the prongs of her frog spear. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm SAM," the black thing sobbed. "Sam, Sam, I'm Sam, let me out, you stabbed me . . ." He rolled through the puddle of moonlight, flailing and flopping in the tangles of Meera's net. Hodor was still shouting, "Hodor hodor hodor."

It was Jojen who fed the sticks to the fire and blew on them until the flames leapt up crackling. Then there was light, and Bran saw the pale thin-faced girl by the lip of the well, all bundled up in furs and skins beneath an enormous black cloak, trying to shush the screaming baby in her arms. The thing on the floor was pushing an arm through the net to reach his knife, but the loops wouldn't let him. He wasn't any monster beast, or even Mad Axe drenched in gore; only a big fat man dressed up in black wool, black fur, black leather, and black mail. "He's a black brother," said Bran. "Meera, he's from the Night's Watch." (aSoS, Bran IV)

 

Meera caught a "black brother of the Night's Watch" in her net, at a well and weirwood, just like she once did with Summer, except this time she does try to "prick" Sam (but he wears mail, and she could never have hurt him). Remember which quote of George I started with: black brothers of the NW are heroes.

 

More, it's not just any black brother of the NW, but the most innocent soul of them all - Samwell, who cannot even kill a mouse with a book (but he can slay an Other). And not just in-world does Sam have a particular meaning of "a hero and good person". A lot of readers believe George named Samwell after Sam of LotR, but they don't realize George named him "Sam" for Zelazny's Sam in "the Lord of Light". Zelazny's novel is a sci-fantasy where people have colonized a planet and regard the local life as lower life. The human colonizers have a machine that allows them to reincarnate into whomever they chose. To keep dominion and power over the colonized planet, they choose to reincarnate into Hindu gods (names, attributes) and with techonology mimic their powers. One of the human colonizers is Sam, which is short for Mahasamatman: drop the Maha- and the -atman. Mahasamatman is Buddha. He rebels against his colleagues, doesn't agree with their ploy to dominate the local people and spirits, in the way they do. George considers hsi friend's novel "One of the five best SF novels ever written".

 

George used capitals here, and repeated Sam's name thrice in this scene. That's over the top signaling by George that the name SAM is important. Here he's definitely pointing to Zelazny's Sam, because the green dreamer makes light: After Sam "there was light". This is a reference to "enlightenment", and Zelazny's Sam is Buddha, and thus the embodiment of "enlightenment". (And yes, Zelazny's Sam also often says, "I'm only Sam.")

 

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"The Night's Watch, yes." The fat man was still breathing like a bellows. "I'm a brother of the Watch." He had one cord under his chins, forcing his head up, and others digging deep into his cheeks. "I'm a crow, please. Let me out of this."

The way George also brings in Sam's many chins, and size is another reminder of "the fat Buddha".

Similar setting (weirwood + well), same way of capture (a net), same result (set free unharmed), one embodies references to enlightenment, heroism and innocense => conclusion: it applies to Summer, weirwood and "black" pool too.

The forge setting is somethign that George uses to "the growing up/the forging" of character. Jon sleeps in a forge. Bran sleeps in a forge. So, what is Bran growing up from in this chapter particularly - his childhood fears for Old Nan's monster tales.

The Nightfort chapter starts with the reveal that Bran dreamed of Robb's and Greywind's death.

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No, thought Bran, it is the Nightfort, and this is the end of the world. In the mountains, all he could think of was reaching the Wall and finding the three-eyed crow, but now that they were here he was filled with fears. The dream he'd had . . . the dream Summer had had . . . No, I mustn't think about that dream. He had not even told the Reeds, though Meera at least seemed to sense that something was wrong. If he never talked of it maybe he could forget he ever dreamed it, and then it wouldn't have happened and Robb and Grey Wind would still be . . .

The true horror is the Red Wedding at the Twins, and to forget it, it's easier for Bran to remind himself of every horror story that Old Nan ever told about the Nightfort: Mad Axe, the thing that comes in the dark, the Sentinels, Dany Flint, Night's King, the Rat Cook. The Rat Cook is featured often in this chapter, because it's how Bran deals with the Freys' horrifying breaking of guest right he witnessed happening in his dream.

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Bran did not like the shadows either, or the huge brick ovens that surrounded them like open mouths, or the rusted meat hooks, or the scars and stains he saw in the butcher's block along one wall. That was where the Rat Cook chopped the prince to pieces, he knew, and he baked the pie in one of these ovens. [...] When the flames were blazing nicely Meera put the fish on. At least it's not a meat pie. The Rat Cook had cooked the son of the Andal king in a big pie with onions, carrots, mushrooms, lots of pepper and salt, a rasher of bacon, and a dark red Dornish wine. Then he served him to his father, who praised the taste and had a second slice. Afterward the gods transformed the cook into a monstrous white rat who could only eat his own young. He had roamed the Nightfort ever since, devouring his children, but still his hunger was not sated. "It was not for murder that the gods cursed him," Old Nan said, "nor for serving the Andal king his son in a pie. A man has a right to vengeance. But he slew a guest beneath his roof, and that the gods cannot forgive."

Bran deals with the trauma of having been a remote witness of the death of his brother Robb through the Rat Cook's story inside the forge.

Ultimately this is why Bran will want to use Stannis and Theon to slaughter all the Freys at the Battle of the Ice Lakes, why he personally needs to be involved - his vengeance, as a greenseer "Old god", against the Freys, for slaying a guest (his brother) beneath their roof. He may forgive Theon by giving him mercy, but he cannot forgive the Freys.