Foreshadowing: how does it work?

[Lady Dacey]

Hey there good folk of westeros.org 

I'm rereading Feast right now, and something sprung to my eyes in the first Samwell chapter. I posted it a few days ago on the “Wow, I never noticed that” thread, but it kept nagging at me and demanding its own post, so here it is.

I’m thinking: let us make a collective, active effort to gather instances of foreshadowing in the series and discuss them?

I’ll be very clear: I’m interested in organizing a collection of passages that, when reread, work to set the ground to future events that have been published within the five books available (so please do not post here a passage if it’s something you believe may foreshadow what you believe will come to pass in Winds, please, let’s stick with things that have ‘happened’).

The point being trying to hash out how our man GRRM does his “foreshadowing” through the systematic analysis of the material we assemble. Can we figure a pattern to how he does it? I have seen much be made in the fandom of animal and food imagery, but I believe there is room for the scrutiny of weather descriptions and also recently I’ve come to think unimportant characters that get names could also be a thing. What about character’s speak: what has actually been ‘prophesized’ in words as such and then happened, and what have we been waiting for since Game that never panned out? There is much and more to explore.

Shall we?  

[Lady Dacey]

This is from the Wow, I never noticed that thread: 

Small little thing I just realized: the last pages of Samwell's first chapter in Feast are chock-full of references to Arya. Maybe they're there as foreshadowing to their encounter in Braavos later in the same book. I guess. Probably. 

Here is a list of the nods to the younger Stark daughter I gathered:

1) Gilly's response to Jon Snow 

It's a silly little thing, but it's there:

"Don't you name him. Don't you do that till he's past two years. It's ill luck to name them when they're still on the breast. You crows may not know that, but it's true."
"As you command, my lady."
A spasm of anger flashed across Gilly's face. "Don't you call me that. I'm a mother, not a lady. I'm Craster's wife and Craster's daughter, and a mother."

This very obviously calls back to our minds, as readers, the interaction between Arya and Gendry in Clash. If you don't remember:

"My mother's a lady, and my sister, but I never was."
"Yes you were. You were a lord's daughter and you lived in a castle, didn't you? And you . . . gods be good, I never . . ." All of a sudden Gendry seemed uncertain, almost afraid. "All that about cocks, I never should have said that. And I been pissing in front of you and everything, I . . . I beg your pardon, m'lady."
"Stop that!" Arya hissed. Was he mocking her?
"I know my courtesies, m'lady," Gendry said, stubborn as ever. "Whenever highborn girls came into the shop with their fathers, my master told me I was to bend the knee, and speak only when they spoke to me, and call them m'lady."
"If you start calling me m'lady, even Hot Pie is going to notice. And you better keep on pissing the same way too."
"As m'lady commands."

Then there's the three named men of the Night's Watch that accompany them to Eastwatch. Each one of them has a sort of connection with Arya in one or more ways. Let's see.

2) Jack Black Bulwer

The first named man is Jack Black Buwler. This relates to Arya a few different ways. First and most obvious, Arya has a Jack accompany her while she is a captive of the brotherhood without banners, and not just any Jack: Jack-Be-Lucky. Black Jack is the most widely played casino banking game in the world, did you know that? It involves some good amount of luck, if you can't count cards... 

Bulwer is also not a coincidence. The only other Bulwer in the story is Little Lady Bulwer, in Margaery's attendance at King's Landing. This is what Sansa tells us of her in Storm:

Margaery's kindness had been unfailing, and her presence changed everything. Her ladies welcomed Sansa as well. It had been so long since she had enjoyed the company of other women, she had almost forgotten how pleasant it could be. Lady Leonette gave her lessons on the high harp, and Lady Janna shared all the choice gossip. Merry Crane always had an amusing story, and little Lady Bulwer reminded her of Arya, though not so fierce. 

In one instance, before Sansa tells us this, little Lady Bulwer is the one to catch one of many chicks that were running in all directions, remindind us readers of Arya catching cats and rabbits.  

Adding to it, semi-canonical sources have the Bulwer coat of arms as "a bull's skull, bone over blood".  So another nod to Gendry there, and to weirwood colors. Neat.

3) Kedge Whiteye

You know that Jack-Be-Lucky of the brotherhood I just mentioned? Well, this is how Arya introduces him to us in Storm:

"I'll not believe it," said the one-eyed man in the rusty pothelm. The other outlaws called him Jack-Be-Lucky, though losing an eye didn't seem very lucky to Arya. 

And here is how Kedge shows up in Samwell's chapter:

At the lichyard, a pair of two-wheeled wayns awaited him, along with Black Jack Bulwer and a dozen seasoned rangers, tough as the garrons they rode. Kedge Whiteye cursed loudly when his one good eye spied Sam. "Don't mind him, Slayer," said Black Jack. "He lost a wager, said we'd need to drag you out squealing from beneath some bed."

So both Sam and Arya have a one-eyed companion. Okay there are lots of one-eyed people in asoiaf... But that's not all. Wanna know whose  man this Kedge is? Want to? This is from Storm's prologue:

Thoren Smallwood had returned in a lather three days past. While he was telling the Old Bear what his scouts had seen, his man Kedge Whiteye told the rest of them. 

I wonder if he's a brother-in-law to the Lady Ravella or something like that.

4) Lew

Although "a dozen seasoned rangers" go with Sam, Gilly and Maester Aemon to Eastwatch, only three are named, them being Black Jack, Kedge and Lew. Lew says nothing the whole time, he is just mentioned in passing:

By then the eastern sky was more grey than black. Left Hand Lew was anxious to be off. 

I don't have to point out Arya is our only left-handed POV, do I? 

5) Chapter order and Braavos 

Arya's chapter aboard the Tita's Daughter follows this Samwell chapter immediately. With this choice, and the fact that we know both Arya and Sam are bound to Braavos, the author makes it easier for the reader to spot the connections he just embedded in the story.

So yeah, that's it. It's a very short passage where Samwell is leaving the Wall and all these characters and quips have little reminders of Arya on them. One or the other could be a coincidence, but taken together it's impossible to deny, I think. Now I don't think this means a lot - as I said, I believe it's there to foreshadow the encounter Sam will have with Cat of the Canals in Braavos. But all this does make me think about other instances where the author might have hidden this sort of foreshadowing

[Megorova]

There is a thread like that, same as R+L=J, it's an ongoing multivolumed thread. This is the latest of them:

https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/145309-moments-of-foreshadowing-v12/

This is the first:

https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/66352-moments-of-foreshadowing/

 

[Lady Dacey]

Thanks @Megorova.

I am aware of that thread. Here I was hoping we could get more analytical and less copypasting, in trying to decipher the mechanisms the author employs to foreshadow future events. Also I propose we do not talk about things that haven't happened yet, which abound in the topic you brought up. 

[kissdbyfire]

1 hour ago, Lady Dacey said:

What about character’s speak: what has actually been ‘prophesized’ in words as such and then happened,

There’s quite a lot to dig up... time to go check out stuff! 
Love the idea, btw. 
 

As I read the OP, the bit quoted above immediately made me think of this:

ASoS, Arya IX

“Then I’ll take as much gold as I can carry, laugh in his face, and ride off. If he doesn’t take me, he’d be wise to kill me, but he won’t. Too much his father’s son, from what I hear. Fine with me. Either way I win. And so do you, she-wolf. So stop whimpering and snapping at me, I’m sick of it. Keep your mouth shut and do as I tell you, and maybe we’ll even be in time for your uncle’s bloody wedding.”

 

[Alexis-something-Rose]

.

[Lady Dacey]

39 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

There’s quite a lot to dig up... time to go check out stuff! 
Love the idea, btw. 
 

As I read the OP, the bit quoted above immediately made me think of this:

ASoS, Arya IX

“Then I’ll take as much gold as I can carry, laugh in his face, and ride off. If he doesn’t take me, he’d be wise to kill me, but he won’t. Too much his father’s son, from what I hear. Fine with me. Either way I win. And so do you, she-wolf. So stop whimpering and snapping at me, I’m sick of it. Keep your mouth shut and do as I tell you, and maybe we’ll even be in time for your uncle’s bloody wedding.”

 

Uncanny. We are in such sync today. I wrote that specific bit thinking precisely about the bolded quote.

[kissdbyfire]

14 minutes ago, Lady Dacey said:

Uncanny. We are in such sync today. I wrote that specific bit thinking precisely about the bolded quote.

That’s actually pretty uncanny but also kinda awesome!

[Lollygag]

Great topic!

A few patterns I've noticed for foreshadowing for events that have already happened:

• The first chapter for every POV of every book is especially heavy in foreshadowing. For example, AGOT Bran I, ASOS Bran I, ACOK Bran I....
• Foreshadowing often doesn't occur until the arc is already in the works.
• GRRM uses switcheroos for foreshadowing. For Sansa/Tyrion (which happens in ASOS Sansa I), Sansa is engaged to Joff, wishes she was engaged to Tommen, enter Tyrion and she notices Tommen and Tyrion are the same height, she ends up marrying Tyrion. Tommen is a placeholder of sorts. A second instance uses Willas (crippled like Tyrion) as a placeholder for Tyrion. These are hard to find except in hindsight.
• GRRM sometimes uses looonnnnngggg sequences of events as foreshadowing which again makes them tough to identify before the event has happened. @Seams has broken down an entire tourney sequence.
• Things mentioned in proximity on page for the reader may be relevant as you found with Sam and Arya, also in his first chapter in AFFC. Maybe it's to create an unconscious connection in the readers' mind to make the upcoming event feel more organic.

[Seams]

Quote

Varys had laid a finger on his cheek, smiling enigmatically. "My lord, a suspicious man might think you wished to find a time when Sandor Clegane was not protecting King Joffrey, the better to do the boy some harm."

"Surely you know me better than that, Lord Varys," Tyrion said. "Why, all I want is for Joffrey to love me."

The eunuch had promised to look into the matter. The war made its own demands, though; Joffrey's initiation into manhood would need to wait. "Doubtless you know your son better than I do," he made himself tell Cersei, "but regardless, there's still much to be said for a Tyrell marriage. It may be the only way that Joffrey lives long enough to reach his wedding night."

(Clash, Tyrion VIII)

 

I find that GRRM often puts the foreshadowing or the important hint in the last line of a paragraph.

The context was Tyrion enlisting Varys to help arrange a visit by Joffrey to a brothel to get laid. In this case, Tyrion indicates that war and the watchful eye of the Hound prevent Joffrey from having sex. At Joffrey's wedding feast, it appears that poison prevents Joffrey from living long enough to be bedded.

[Seams]

Quote

Beside the entrance, the king's armor stood sentry; a suit of forest-green plate, its fittings chased with gold, the helm crowned by a great rack of golden antlers. The steel was polished to such a high sheen that she could see her reflection in the breastplate, gazing back at her as if from the bottom of a deep green pond. The face of a drowned woman, Catelyn thought. Can you drown in grief? She turned away sharply, angry with her own frailty. She had no time for the luxury of self-pity. She must wash the dust from her hair and change into a gown more fitting for a king's feast.

(ACoK, Catelyn II)

As you know, I'm pretty set on the river association with Catelyn, so the still waters of a stagnant green pond are not a literal parallel for her body being dumped in a river, even though it will be the Green Fork of the Trident.

And the "forest-green" of the armor seems at odds with the drowning image - shouldn't the armor be either trees or water but not both?

Quote

 

"I must speak with you, Your Grace," she said, granting him a king's style for once, anything to make him heed her.

"In a moment, Lady Catelyn," Renly replied. Brienne fit backplate to breastplate over his quilted tunic. The king's armor was a deep green, the green of leaves in a summer wood, so dark it drank the candlelight. Gold highlights gleamed from inlay and fastenings like distant fires in that wood, winking every time he moved. "Pray continue, Lord Mathis."

(ACoK, Catelyn IV)

 

I think the armor is foreshadowing the deaths of both Catelyn and Renly. She dislikes still water because it is stagnant. Renly is the Garth Greenhands character. He is targeted for death by red R'hllorist Melisandre who is associated with the shadows cast by flames. The agent of Renly's death is, of course, a shadow that cuts through his armor - no more drinking of flames for you, upjumped pretender Renly!

I realize there is overlap between this comment and our dialogue on the thread about Lady Stoneheart's Revenge. Especially the bit about Catelyn trying to get Renly to hear her and Renly cutting her off so he can hear the voice of Mathis Rowan (rowan = a kind of tree). Kinda fun when ideas start to converge, though.