What is the Great Stone Beast?

[King Adrian Storm]

One of the 3 lies that Dany has to slay from the HOTU. "A great stone beast takes flight from a smoking tower, and breathes shadow fire" (paraphrasing).

I have 4 different ideas of what the stone beast could be:

1. Greyscale- This could be Jon Connington spreading greyscale in kingslanding. The shadow fire being metaphorical for the spreading of greyscale.

2. Euron- The other 2 lies, Stannis and Aegon are claimants to the throne, so it would make sense that the 3rd be Euron. Maybe he steals one of Dany's Dragons. The shadow fire having something to do with his magical abilities.

3. Tyrion- The great stone beast could be referring to a gargoyle, or greyscale growing from inside of him. We have heard many times, that Tyrion casts a large shadow.

4. Jon- Him being ressurected by burning Shireen could make him a "Stone beast". But I don't think Jon could be one of the lies, since he's probabally R+L=J.

[chrisdaw]

The HOTU vision is of Euron succesfully completing his plan and second lifing Drogon. Euron will blow his horn in Drogon's presence, his human life will end but his soul will fly inside Drogon and take over the dragon. He will become a great powerful creature, the Stone Beast, it is ascendancy, the birth of a new god.

The elements in the HOTU visions have symbolic meanings (as well as literal most often).

Regarding the tower - in this passage Euron is referring to his plan to second life a dragon (unbeknownst to Victarion or the reader at this stage).

Quote

Euron turned to face him, his bruised blue lips curled in a half smile. "Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower?" The wind came gusting through the window and stirred his sable cloak. There was something obscene and disturbing about his nakedness. "No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap."

Euron has the man who blew his horn cut open and learns he was burned to death from inside out. He understands then that blowing his horn is going to kill him. It is suicide, akin to leaping from a tower. It is understandably a troubling thing to learn, and it is on his mind, but if he doesn't try it he will never know if he can become a dragon.

This is the symbolic significance of the tower in the HOTU vision, it is Euron taking his leap, blowing his horn, sacrificing his human life. And the Stone Beast "takes flight", as Euron says perhaps we can fly, the Stone beast taking flight is symbolic of Euron being successful.

It is also literal of course. The Stone Beast will fly, it is in part a dragon, and this event will take place atop the great tower at Storm's End. Euron says;

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A smile played across Euron's blue lips. "I am the storm, my lord. The first storm, and the last.

Last Storm, Storm's End. As is conveyed through Aeron's POV, Euron is being positioned in conflict with the Drowned God, and the Drowned God's enemy is the Storm God. Storm's End is the seat of the Storm Kings. Built by Durran Godsgrief, a nod to Euron as demonstrated by Aeron's dream of all the dead gods. Euron's ascendancy is the next great storm.

Quote

It is said that every seventy seven years a storm greater than all others comes howling down upon Storm's end..

The last of his human life and the first of his second life. First and last.

The stone of the stone beast will be because Euron will have greyscale when he second lifes Drogon. The dragon takes on the properties of the person who second lifes it (particularly the blood), hence why it goes from dragon to beast when Euron second lifes it, and why it becomes stone.

Probably it will go the disease is sexually transmissible and Jon Connington sleeps with Daemon Sand who sleeps with Arianne who sleeps with Euron. His greyscale is why in the bride of fire groupings he's a corpse, his lips grey and face dead - in universe someone with greyscale is thought to be dead.

The shadow fire signals a loss of regular fire breath. This is very significant, while Drogon breathes fire he is a war winning weapon against the Others, unable to breathe fire he becomes near useless, he's become a false saviour. This is why it is grouped with shadowless king Stannis and cloth dragon Aegon, false saviours.

[Eli Cross]

Jon Snow is the stone beast.  He will present himself as Azor Ahai.  Which is a lie.  Daenerys is Azor Ahai.  Jon and all those guilty of supporting this lie will be executed by fire.

[Megorova]

I figured out that in each trinity of visions the first one is from recent past, the second is about the future, and the third one is about events that happened in the far past - prior, during and after Robert's Rebellion - in that time period.

 

"(1.1. recent past) Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth.

(1.2. the most distant out of three visions of the future, depicts grown up Rhaego, who is alive and was alive all this time) A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him.

(1.3. distant past, Rhaegar's death.) Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman's name. . . .

mother of dragons, daughter of death . . .

(2.1. recent past, Stannis at Dragonstone declaring himself Azor Ahai) Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.

(2.2. this vision depicts fAegon in 7K, will happen second out of three futures) A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd.

(2.3. distant past, Jon's birth. Jon is the stone dragon that Dany will awake. The lie that she will slay is that he is Ned Stark's bastard.) From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies . . .

(3.1. recent past, Dany's wedding with Khal Drogo) Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars.

(3.2. future, will happen first, prior "mummers dragon", and prior vision with Rhaego) A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly.

(3.3. this vision is the first one out of distant past, it's about Lyanna, prior Rhaegar's death depicted in 1.3. and prior Jon's birth depicted in 2.3.) A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . ."

 

Chronologically those events happened in this order:

3.3., 1.3., 2.3., 3.1., 2.1., 1.1., 3.2., 2.2., 1.2.

(or maybe the order goes like this - 3.3., 2.3., 1.3., 3.1., 2.1., 1.1., 3.2., 2.2., 1.2.,

<- 3-2-1, 3-2-1, 3-2-1

in this case Jon's birth (2.3.) happened prior Rhaegar's death (1.3.) not after it.)

3.3. Lyanna and Rhaegar's love, 1.3. Rhaegar's death, 2.3. Jon's birth, 3.1. Dany's wedding with Khal Drogo, 2.1. Stannis at Dragonstone, 1.1. Viserys' death, 3.2. a corpse on a ship, probably this will happen prior Dany's departure from Meereen, 2.2. fAegon in 7K, 1.2. Rhaego in distant future.

So, the vision about that stone beast is definitely from period of Robert's Rebellion or around that time. And the other two visions - prince with rubies and blue winter rose is about Rhaegar and Lyanna, thus it's logical that the third vision from that time period is also about R+L. Thus, most likely, that vision is about a lie of Jon's birth, and the smoking tower is the Tower of Joy, the "smoke screen" that Ned Stark created around Lyanna's death and Jon's birth.

[LynnS]

14 hours ago, King Adrian Storm said:

1. Greyscale- This could be Jon Connington spreading greyscale in kingslanding. The shadow fire being metaphorical for the spreading of greyscale.

I lean towards this explanation.  We've already be told that plague would be a factor.  A smoking tower: a smoking tower of burning bodies; breathing shadow fire: the smoke from the fires is spreading the plague making it air born.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Grey_plague

 

[Morte]

4 hours ago, LynnS said:

I lean towards this explanation.  We've already be told that plague would be a factor.  A smoking tower: a smoking tower of burning bodies; breathing shadow fire: the smoke from the fires is spreading the plague making it air born.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Grey_plague

 

Agree.

A griffin is a winged beast (the prophesy never talked about a stone dragon, just a beast); JonCon is the greatest of the living griffins, Kevan thinks he should be a capable field commander by now, and the task he has set himself is not a small one, so it would fit...

[Megorova]

3 hours ago, Morte said:

(the prophesy never talked about a stone dragon, just a beast)

Jon, who is half-Stark and half-Targaryen, could also be depicted in a vision as a stone beast - winged wolf, wolf-dragon, a chimera, a hybrid of two species. Fire-breathing winged wolf is still considered to be a dragon. For example, there are all sorts of stone-dragons in Robin Hobb's books - https://www.goodreads.com/series/41452-the-farseer-trilogy

There was a wolf-dragon, a stag-dragon, even a pig-dragon.

So, winged wolf is still a dragon. Thus Jon could be the last Targaryen dragon, even though in a vision he was depicted as a winged wolf, or a stone beast.

Hobb's trilogy about stone dragons was published in 1995-1997, so could be that GRRM have read it then, and used something similar in ACOK, which was published in 1998.

[Damon_Tor]

There's only one explanation I'm aware of that accounts for every word of the stanza.

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From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire.

I decided to work backwards from the prophecy, specifically looking for past events that could be a smoking tower, and naturally Harrenhal was the standout. Since we know that the line of House Hoare survived the burning of Harrenhal at least up to Harren the Red, one wonders if the prophecy is about the survival of their bloodline: to this end, one can easily find a "Stone beast taking wing" in the continuing story of Harrenhal. House Lothston has a winged beast for a sigil) and their name appears to mean "hateful stone". Notably, "Lothston" does not appear to be a real surname: it is entirely the invention of GRRM, so one has to wonder how much thought was put into it and why.

As for shadow fire, consider that the Blackfyre Rebellion was only possible because Aegon IV indulged his lusts, and that behavior appears to have been enabled by Lucas Lothston, who became known to history as "The Pander" which is another word for a pimp. How much was Lucas responsible for Aegon IV becoming the man he would become? If he was indeed "The Pander" did he do more than arrange for his wife and daughter to bed the king? Did he arrange other trysts? And of course this pandering is what allowed Lucas Lothston to take Harrenhal for himself, and House Lothston would hold Harrenhal longer than any other, seemingly immune to whatever "curse" had driven previous holders into extinction.

And it's likely the bloodline continues beyond the death of the last Lothston: when Danelle Lothston fell out of favor (supposedly there was some Dracula nonsense going on, but who knows how true that was) Harrenhal went to House Whent, knights in service of House Lothston. Notably, Whent's sigil is a modification of Lothston's, which usually means the lesser house is a cadet branch of the greater.

So who do we know who are descendants of house Whent in our story? Why, Catelyn Stark and all her children of course. And one of those children is currently pretending to be the only daughter of the current Lord of Harrenhal, putting her in a very interesting position in regard to that castle. And what is that daughter currently calling herself? Alayne Stone. And there is a very strange dream she has where she is both a wolf and a bat. Not a fish, the Tully sigil, a bat, the sigil of the Whents and Lothstons. The stone beast takes wing.

So the question is, why is this relevant: even if we assume that this is true, that the blood of House Hoare lives on in house Whent and thus in Sansa, why does Daenerys have to slay this particular lie? Why does it matter if a descendant of House Hoare is Lady of Harrenhal?

One of the great mysteries of the story is what happened to the dragons? Why did they stop hatching? There are rumors the Citadel or the Faith of the Seven poisoned the dragons, but that's never been confirmed, and it wouldn't explain why no Targaryen was able to hatch new ones for so, so long. But interestingly, there are a few dates that closely align and raise some eyebrows: the last living dragon died only three years after Lucas Lothston took possession of Harrenhal, and Daenerys was able to hatch her dragons after the last Whent was driven from the castle during the War of the Five Kings. Other dates which align perfectly: Aegon the Conqueror decided to conquer Westeros the very same day Harren Hoare took up residence inside the castle. And of course the loss of dragons coincides with the loss of magic. Did magic die because dragons died, or did dragons die because magic did? Unclear, but SOMETHING caused this, and an enduring mystery of the series is: what?

Rumors abound that Harrenhall was built of atrocities: rafters cut from Heart Trees, human blood mixed into the mortar. And yet we hear nothing of Harrenhal possessing magical power, except, I suppose, the rumored curse which drove everyone (except, it seems, Lothstons and Whents) from it. Is it possible Harrenhal was built with a specific purpose, a weapon against Dragons, or perhaps against magic in general? Perhaps this magic only works when someone with Hoare's blood holds lordship over the castle: this would explain why the dragons flourished while Harrenhal passed from house to house then died when Lothston took posession and returned when Whent lost it. If Sansa becomes Lady of Harrenhal, which seems possible, would this anti-dragon magic reactivate? Will Daenerys "feel" this threat to her dragons like Aegon seemed to?

In any case, it's easy to see how this would create a threat for Daenerys.

[LordImp]

Euron.

[rotting sea cow]

On 5/22/2020 at 12:21 AM, King Adrian Storm said:

One of the 3 lies that Dany has to slay from the HOTU. "A great stone beast takes flight from a smoking tower, and breathes shadow fire" (paraphrasing).

I have 4 different ideas of what the stone beast could be:

2. Euron- The other 2 lies, Stannis and Aegon are claimants to the throne, so it would make sense that the 3rd be Euron. Maybe he steals one of Dany's Dragons. The shadow fire having something to do with his magical abilities.

No. It doesn't have anything to do with the claims to the throne. It has to do with the lies Dany will need to slay

Stannis is not Azor Ahai. Aegon is not a Targaryen and Euron..

3 hours ago, LordImp said:

Euron.

Exactly. That  "great stone beast that breathes shadow fire and takes flight" feels like a dragon, but that "shadow fire"  feels like something unnatural or something like an illusion.

My guess is Euron will do some magic in Oldtown (the tower in fire is almost certainly the Hightower) and becomes a dragonrider. That "dragon" might be an illusion or something else. Maybe a fossilized dragon or an undead one.

[LynnS]

 

3 hours ago, rotting sea cow said:

Exactly. That  "great stone beast that breathes shadow fire and takes flight" feels like a dragon, but that "shadow fire"  feels like something unnatural or something like an illusion.

Possibly the House of Undying which Dany describes as a stone serpent coiling around the trees.  When she leaves smoke is coming out of the roof of the building.  Now the rats are chewing their tails off;  ghost grass is growing in the gardens of Gehane and phantom turtles are seen carrying messages.   

[Lady Rhodes]

A few thoughts:the stone beast in the house of the undying also reminds me of the Ghost of High Hearts vision, about the same maid with serpents in her hair Slaying a stone giant. 

[LynnS]

20 hours ago, Lady Rhodes said:

A few thoughts:the stone beast in the house of the undying also reminds me of the Ghost of High Hearts vision, about the same maid with serpents in her hair Slaying a stone giant. 

This is the quote:

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII

"I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief," the dwarf woman was saying. "I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow." She turned her head sharply and smiled through the gloom, right at Arya. "You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now."

The maid with serpents in her hair is commonly thought to be Sansa at Joffrey's wedding wearing her poison hair net.  The savage giant possibly a reference to Littlefingers House Sigil; the stone head of a giant.  And the castle built of snow is a reference to the snow castle that Sansa builds at the Eyrie.  The other suggestions is that the savage giant is sweet Robin, who comes like a giant and destroys the snow castle.   The question is whether this vision refers to Littlefinger or Robin as the savage giant.

Another suggestion I have seen is that is that the medusa figure is Arya since the GoHH speaks to her saying that she cant hide from her.  The feast may be a reference to Hot Weasel Soup.
 

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Arya IX

All morning she watched the Bloody Mummers strip the dead of their valuables and drag the corpses to the Flowstone Yard, where a pyre was laid to dispose of them. Shagwell the Fool hacked the heads off two dead knights and pranced about the castle swinging them by the hair and making them talk. "What did you die of?" one head asked. "Hot weasel soup," replied the second.

Arya was set to mopping up dried blood. No one said a word to her beyond the usual, but every so often she would notice people looking at her strangely. Robett Glover and the other men they'd freed must have talked about what had happened down in the dungeon, and then Shagwell and his stupid talking heads started in about the weasel soup. She would have told him to shut up, but she was scared to. The fool was half-mad, and she'd heard that he'd once killed a man for not laughing at one of his japes. He better shut his mouth or I'll put him on my list with the rest, she thought as she scrubbed at a reddish-brown stain.

 

 So it could also be Arya who will slay the savage giant.  

[Son of Man]

On 5/21/2020 at 10:37 PM, Sire de Maletroit said:

Jon Snow is the stone beast.  He will present himself as Azor Ahai.  Which is a lie.  Daenerys is Azor Ahai.  Jon and all those guilty of supporting this lie will be executed by fire.

I think so.  All of the lies are related to a poser pretending to be Azor Ahai and the heir to the throne of Westeros.  The first deception has already been slain when Dany walked out of that fire and hatched her dragon eggs.  Thus, she proved herself to be Azor Ahai and not Stannis.  Griff is not the real Aegon and has no claim to the throne.  Jon is not a Targaryen and has no claim.  All of those lies will be exposed.  Stannis, Griff, and Jon are the lies. 

[Lord Varys]

Euron makes sense as the third lie. It has to be some kind of independent player, not the sidekick of another (which would be Jon Connington). At this point it is simply unclear how he is going to fit the description, and speculation about how he might do that is idle while we don't know more.

But those lies Dany has to slay should have nothing to do with mundane things like parentage and legitimate ancestry - it is going to be about the savior status. Stannis claims he is the savior, Aegon will claim to be the promised prince (which his father Rhaegar believed he was), and Euron is also going to try to sell himself as a savior once things turn from bad to worse. He'll tell people he can save them from the Others and winter and plague with his magics.

None of the prophecies in the House of the Undying referenced or cared about mundane royal succession or other such nonsense.

[Alexis-something-Rose]

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

Euron makes sense as the third lie. It has to be some kind of independent player, not the side kick of another (which would be Jon Connington). At this point it is simply unclear how he is going to fit the description, and speculation about he might do that is idle while we don't know more.

Actually, it does make sense that Euron is the 3rd lie. Stannis is not AA and if Aegon is the real deal (I think he is), then Rhaegar is wrong, although the people around Aegon may not necessarily see it that way. If Aegon is fake, then it's a moot point. 

And there's this, a connection that exists between who Dany sacrificed to hatch the eggs vs what Euron is up to in The Forsaken chapter.

 

[LynnS]

2 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Actually, it does make sense that Euron is the 3rd lie. Stannis is not AA and if Aegon is the real deal (I think he is), then Rhaegar is wrong, although the people around Aegon may not necessarily see it that way. If Aegon is fake, then it's a moot point. 

And there's this, a connection that exists between who Dany sacrificed to hatch the eggs vs what Euron is up to in The Forsaken chapter.

 

I second that idea.  He is going through the same motions as Dany to hatch the eggs.  He's got holy blood in spades, Aeron is also king's blood and he's sacrificing his salt wife and unborn child as well.  The difference is that he is using the medium of water rather than fire. 

Spoiler

Aeron's vision of Euron as a demon in human skin with a face of writhing tentacles would make it seem that his foul magic has worked. The leather binding Aeron and the woman/unborn child may well expand and drop them into the sea; a sacrifice to whatever god or demon Euron appeals to with his offering.  

I'm also reminded of the legend of AA forging his sword; the first time in water:

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Davos I

"A burning sword," corrected Davos.

"Burnt," said Salladhor Saan, "and be glad of that, my friend. Do you know the tale of the forging of Lightbringer? I shall tell it to you. It was a time when darkness lay heavy on the world. To oppose it, the hero must have a hero's blade, oh, like none that had ever been. And so for thirty days and thirty nights Azor Ahai labored sleepless in the temple, forging a blade in the sacred fires. Heat and hammer and fold, heat and hammer and fold, oh, yes, until the sword was done. Yet when he plunged it into water to temper the steel it burst asunder.

I agree with Lord Varys that Euron will present his smiling eye as the hero/savior and this is a lie.  Whatever weapon Euron forges may burst asunder from the sea.

Spoiler

The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea. He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in woman’s form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …

The blood red sea reminds me of MMD's ritual for Drogo where he is immersed in water and his stallion is sacrificed filling the water with blood.  

 

[Lord Varys]

4 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Actually, it does make sense that Euron is the 3rd lie. Stannis is not AA and if Aegon is the real deal (I think he is), then Rhaegar is wrong, although the people around Aegon may not necessarily see it that way. If Aegon is fake, then it's a moot point. 

Yeah, well, as I said I don't think the Aegon lie will be his parentage or ancestry, but the fact that he is going to claim he is the promised prince as his father Rhaegar believed. The relevant wrong thing there won't be who Aegon's true parents were, but that he is not going to be the guy who saves Westeros from the Others.

Unless Aegon is going to have not a single drop of Targaryen blood he will have sufficient 'royal blood' to claim the Iron Throne. Some Blackfyre descendant might not have the best of claims but compared to the likes of Stannis and Cersei's children and Euron Aegon's claim would still be pretty good.

The important thing, though, is that the Others issue is resolved the right way and not the wrong way.

4 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

And there's this, a connection that exists between who Dany sacrificed to hatch the eggs vs what Euron is up to in The Forsaken chapter.

 

That is a pretty interesting parallel. I don't expect this particular ritual to be associated with the stone beast thing, but I certainly can see Euron doing that ritual later, possibly on the Arbor after he has crushed the Redwynes. We don't know at this point how the Redwynes live, but one of their castles certainly could have a tall tower.

And, sure, the Mirri sacrifice was crucial for the hatching of the dragon eggs. Burning Drogon alone wouldn't have worked - although I doubt Dany could have pulled it off if she hadn't lost the people she lost previously - in the end, this stuff isn't about special blood and destiny but personal choices, lessons you learn, and things you do.

In Euron's case he is likely not going to model himself on Azor Ahai or claim he was the promised prince - instead he might set himself up as a greenseer, displaying some or all of the powers Bran is going to learn from Bloodraven. In that capacity Euron could become Bran's major opponent and might end up crippling his efforts for a time to influence/contact/work with people in the south even after he can speak through the weirwoods - if Euron were to tap in the weirnet as well he could use that asset to draw people to his cause, terrorize people in their sleep, and plant the idea in their heads that he is their only hope, etc.

1 hour ago, LynnS said:

I second that idea.  He is going through the same motions as Dany to hatch the eggs.  He's got holy blood in spades, Aeron is also king's blood and he's sacrificing his salt wife and unborn child as well.  The difference is that he is using the medium of water rather than fire. 

I think we can expect Euron not to throw Falia and Aeron into the sea - rather, only Aeron will escape Euron's clutches in the last moments by wiggling free due to the wet leather straps - instead, one imagines, he plans to cut their throats at a precise moment to work a spell he is going to use to destroy the Redwyne ships. One doesn't have to overthink that. It will be Euron's first great spell, and I imagine it to be a stronger version of the wind spell Mel worked when she sacrificed Lord Alester to get Stannis' ships to the Wall. Euron is going to summon a tornado or strong storm crushing the enemy fleet while leaving his own ships (mostly) untouched. Some krakens might also show up, but we are not going to get krakens pulling dozens of ships under the water.

One should also not overthink Aeron's visions - the shadow woman might be a glimpse of Cersei at Euron's side, and it might also be accurate that he is going to sit the Iron Throne in the future, but one has to keep in mind that those dreams might also be just nightmares of Aeron's, triggered by the shade of the evening and Aeron's fears and the bits and pieces of information Euron fed his brother to taunt him. The shadow woman could just be how Aeron's subconscious fears imagine 'the dragon queen' to be - Euron has told Aeron by then that he will marry a dragon queen, but Aeron has no idea who or how Daenerys Targaryen is.

This goes especially for this whole thing of Euron transcending all gods and setting himself up as a demonic monster destroying other gods. That seems to be Aeron's fear - after all, Aeron is a religious man. He cannot possibly do anything of that sort, ever.

The red sea with burning Ironborn ships could be a vision of Euron's defeat at Dany's hands (with her dragons burning many of his ships) or just Aeron's fear that Euron is going to be the end of the Ironborn as a culture/people.

[LynnS]

25 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

The red sea with burning Ironborn ships could be a vision of Euron's defeat at Dany's hands (with her dragons burning many of his ships) or just Aeron's fear that Euron is going to be the end of the Ironborn as a culture/people.

I appreciate your thoughts and the additional context.  I'm not one to hang on to stuff if there is another explanation that appeals to me.  As for overthinking things, my mind just works this way.  It's the only thing that keeps me interested and engaged at this point.  

[Alexis-something-Rose]

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

In Euron's case he is likely not going to model himself on Azor Ahai or claim he was the promised prince - instead he might set himself up as a greenseer, displaying some or all of the powers Bran is going to learn from Bloodraven. In that capacity Euron could become Bran's major opponent and might end up crippling his efforts for a time to influence/contact/work with people in the south even after he can speak through the weirwoods - if Euron were to tap in the weirnet as well he could use that asset to draw people to his cause, terrorize people in their sleep, and plant the idea in their heads that he is their only hope, etc.

What I meant was that stone dragons, waking dragons from stone, are directly associated with the AA prophecy. Mel wants Stannis to give her Edric Storm to burn so that she can wake the stone dragon.

Whatever Euron manages to do, I think he will draw people to his cause regardless. And I think this will be the catalyst to Shireen's sacrifice (which is completely off topic). 

That said, Euron is going to be a formidable adversary for Bran and anyone fighting against him. I think he's being set up as the champion of the Others in any case.