Jump to content

Let's catalogue and discuss the "Living Dead"!


hiemal

Recommended Posts

Undeath, Life-in-Death, and Death-in-Life": in so many forms and in so many ways the lines between the quick and the dead seem to become more blurred and gray as the Song enters its closing refrains.

Quote

"Death and guest right," muttered Long Jeyne Heddle. "They don't mean so much as they used to, neither one."...

AFfC

I'll break down what as I see as the different types and a few thoughts on each, but I'd love to hear your thoughts- particularly what it all means in connection with the overall story.

 

1. Wights

These guys seem to be "created" by the Others and seem to be incapable of speech but they must be capable of some independent thought, as the two who were brought through the Wall to Castle Black (and presumably beyond the direct control of any White Walkers and presumably retain some memory of their former lives as going straight after the Lord Commander instead of just attacking whatever they saw until overwhelmed is beyond the stereotypical "brains brains" zombie.

Quote

"The bones help," said Melisandre. "The bones remember..."

ADwD

The change in eye color is interesting and could represent anything from the animating power of Ice magic to my own shiny tinfoil, that the Others have liquid oxygen for blood and are using blood magic to crate their army. Reverse vampirism? Pretty out there...

1a Coldhands

Who is he and how did he end up like this? He seems very close to an ice wight, but at least some free will (probably? Unless he's just being mind-controlled remotely by BR or someone else), the ability to speak, and non-blue eyes.

My guess is he is one of the Last hero's fallen companions, raised by the Others to used against the LH but spared that by being soul-locked into the dog that is mentioned as one of the companions.

2. Fire Wights

That seems to be the most popular term for those brought back by the power of R'hlorr. We have quite a few examples of this kind, so we know that they can speak (when their bodies physically allow it) and reason. They retain their identities, although fire consumes:

Quote

I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?" ...

ASoS

It seems possible to me that the bodies of those brought back slowly heal- Stoneheart seems almost entirely incapable of speech at the beginning of  Feast and more vocal at the end, but maybe I'm misreading that or reading too much into what is there.

Has anyone in recorded history secretly been a fire wight? Personally, I suspect maegor the Cruel.

2a Moqorro

Was the Black Flame extinguished and then re-kindled after his dunking?

I suspect that he burned hot enough to not need a re-light.

2b Melisandre

Is her diminished need for food and sleep due to being a wight?

Personally, I think not- but I think she is becoming one, or like one, piecemeal.

2c Daenerys

I admit I'm intrigued by the idea that she actually died on the pyre, but ultimately I think it unlikely. It seems to me be its own thing and doesn't fit any of the others that we've seen. She seems mortal, at least, and still heir to all the heartaches and natural shocks that accompany it.
 

3. Enthroned Greenseers

Bloodraven and the CotF greenseers that Bran encounters seem to me to be in a kind of living death, so I think they belong here. The are immobile, but Bloodraven at least can speak. How long someone can "survive" like this is unclear.

They stand in direct opposition (I think) with

4. The Undying

I think the presence of the Shade-of-the-Evening trees (corrupted weirwood, imho) and their being enthroned links them to the greenseers in the same way that the wights and firewights seem to be.

It looks like they were "linked" through the corrupt heart rather than physically linked to the trees, but my tinfoil is that the Heart is that of a dragon that was poisoned with shade-of-the-evening.

5. Patchface

He doesn't seem to have any recollection of his previous life, but he sure can sing.

Who brought him back? I think he's on the wrong side of Westeros to be the work of the Drowned God. I think it was probably the work of Merlings, but since there's no actual confirmation that they are even a real thing that's pretty tentative- it also leaves us with no idea what motive they might have. Whatever brings the most the most the sea battles, I guess, so they can have their own Feast..

Or is he just brain-damaged from oxygen deprivation? Given the accuracy of his prophecies I kind of doubt this one, but it has to be mentioned.

5a Davos Seaworth

He "drowned" in the Battle of Blackwater and was later "executed" at White Harbor.

He claims his salvation came from the mother, but given his location and the battle that brought him to the rock in Blackwater Bay I would pick the merlings. He's not mad, or prone to prophecy, so I think his rebirth might be symbolic- exchanging his sons, his fingerbones, and his confidence in his king for something new,

6. Damphair and his Drowned Men

TBH, they seem indistinguishable from folks who were simply brought back with artificial respiration- but I think it needs to be considered that they might actually be revenants and under the mental influence of the Drowned God.

7. The Mountain

Is Ser Robert Strong the result of Blood Magic or is Qyburn Westeros' Dr. Frankenstein? Since Qyburn apparently knows Marwin the Mage who knows Mirri Maaz Duur it seems like its probably Blood Magic to me, but you never know...

8. The Hound

Did he just get better or was he brought back by the power of the Seven? In a discussion on living death, at least, I am going with the second option. We'll have to wait to see what the new Sandor is like.

9. Khal Drogo

Is this the same process that brought back the Mountain? Death-in-life?

10. The Faces of the Faceless Men

This one is obviously pretty different, but I think that when a Face is worn, that person does in way live again, at least their semblance does, and apparently portions of their memories.

11. The Shrouded Lord and the Stone Men

This one is pure tinfoil. Quick rundown, the upraised hand that Tyrion see from the Shy Maid is not just very improbably placed statue (who puts a statue in the middle of a river- and the presence of the bridge right there shows that this was the course of the river even when the city was alive and more or less at the same level- and how could it possibly weather so many centuries of flowing water?) but the Shrouded Lord himself- the first Stone Man. The Stone Men return to the Rhoyne and jump in, where they basically keep accruing layers like a pearl, getting bigger and bigger.

11b Tyrion Lannister

Did Tyrion drown in the Rhoyne before his interview with the Shrouded Lord?

Personally, I feel like its going to make more than a literal drowning to make the Imp change enough to be reborn.

12. The Dead Starks in the Crypts of Winterfell

Maybe? Are the legends about using iron to keep them from wandering true? Do the Dustins, as Barrowlords,  know anything about this?

12a Roose Bolton

Is he a vampire?

13. The Counterfit Kings

We have two great examples of false undead- Renly being impersonated at the Battle of Blackwater (which always reminds of reverse Achilles and Pasicrates, only it's not even actually Loras...) and Cleon's maggoty corpse.

14. The Black Gate

Not sure where to stick this, but I think the Black Gate certainly involved a human sacrifice in order to create a separate pact with magic of the Wall so maybe this created after the Wall was, so despite my previous argument that the Black Gate may have been one of the LH's companions, perhaps this was done later, say during the time of Night's King, when Castle Black was in enemy hands and a secret method of entry or exit was needed...

What does it mean?

It seems like a recurring thematic element, in terms of bringing back the dead. To me it seems an unenviable state, unsurprising given my overall takeaway that magic is invasive force. I also think we are heading towards some kind of "final" or "correct" sacrifice that might, like some kind of ancient pagan winter blood ritual, bring the true spring.

Did I miss any undead? Bring in too many? Share some tinfoil!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ARRR!
Lady Stoneheart & Beric Dondarrion my friend :)

the levels of death - i love this topic !

edited to add:   DOH, i missed your mention in the "fire wights" section, my apologies .... got so exited !

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Death is not an illness for which there is a cure.  Fire wights do not heal.  Physical damage to the body does not repair after death.  Lady Stoneheart is never coming back as she was.  Jon Snow is not coming back as a warm-blooded man with a pulse.  The difference between Jon and the typical wight is his bond with Ghost.  His mind will last for a time because it can escape to the dire wolf.  His body will be typical wight.  Ice wight.  

Drogo could have been a wight if the white walkers were there to control his body.  Mirri Maz Duur turned a dying Drogo into a wight.  He had not died yet and therefore she was able to preserve his body.  Wighting him prevented most of the body from dying but she could not keep the brain alive.  Catelyn already died.  Her corpse was reactivated.  The decay process starts as soon as the body dies.  Cold will slow down the decay of Jon's corpse.  At least long enough for him to do what he wants to do, which is to save Arya.  He will rot and his mind will be lost to Ghost eventually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Rondo said:

Death is not an illness for which there is a cure.  Fire wights do not heal.  Physical damage to the body does not repair after death.  Lady Stoneheart is never coming back as she was. 

Well, no, but that's not the same as fire wights never heal. The difference between "good as new" and "working vocal chords" is pretty wide. Beric's scars appeared puckered, not ragged- so that could suggest some kind of healing. Since we have never seen the process play out under narrative scrutiny we don't know if that was all done during the initial revival or if some healing continued afterwards. Fire consumes, but this fire may consume some fuel other than the flesh.

45 minutes ago, Rondo said:

Jon Snow is not coming back as a warm-blooded man with a pulse.  The difference between Jon and the typical wight is his bond with Ghost.  His mind will last for a time because it can escape to the dire wolf.  His body will be typical wight.  Ice wight.  

Do you mean he will be raised by a White Walker, but not subjugated to one- escaping those shackles by ghosting into Ghost?

Could be.

Or he could be a fire wight raised entirely by Melisandre. Or a hybrid of both- perhaps he could escape the consuming aspects of a fire "rebirth" by inhabiting Ghost...

Or he could stay dead. A long shot, I know, but GRRM is known to buck expectations now and again.

50 minutes ago, Rondo said:

Drogo could have been a wight if the white walkers were there to control his body.  Mirri Maz Duur turned a dying Drogo into a wight. 

Using Ice magic? Or Blood magic?

52 minutes ago, Rondo said:

Catelyn already died.  Her corpse was reactivated.  The decay process starts as soon as the body dies. 

If that were true, Beric's wounds would not appear as they do.

53 minutes ago, Rondo said:

old will slow down the decay of Jon's corpse.  At least long enough for him to do what he wants to do, which is to save Arya.  He will rot and his mind will be lost to Ghost eventually.

I feel like that ignores half of John's lineage and story, but it is an interesting possibility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Yaya said:

oh & don't forget my favorite hero:  Coldhands ... how would you classify him ?

 

If I were smart, I wouldn't for lack of information, but since tinfoil is my thing:

Coldhands is one of the Last Hero's fallen companions raised by the Others but soul-locked in some way (like Jon is posited to do with Ghost in the post above- the LH's party was said to include a dog, btw) so that he's still puttering around. He might be involved with the Black Gate- who I also believe might be one of the LH's companions in a state of Living Death and who I realize I also forgot to mention in the OP...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shout out for Davos Seaworth. He belongs in the same catergory as Patchface if location is significant, and the drowned men if it isn't. 

I can't detect any change in his point of view since he gave the sea his fingerbones. He can remember where Skagos is, for instance.

ETA: Maybe you need a catergory for kings and warriors like Cleon,  corpses dug up and dressed in plate and mail, that can be confused with a living men impersonating a dead one by wearing his mail, and with an empty suit of mail coming to life, like the hollow knights that seemed to turn into dragons as Sansa escapes the Purple Wedding through their hall with Dontos. There is forshadowing for Robb and Rhaegar and the Hound as well as Renly and Gregor becoming hollow knights. 

Gregor also has a lot of stone man imagery, which reminds me that the stone men on the Bridge of Dream, and Tyrion and Griff might belong in a stoneman catergory of their own, or the drowned man catergory, if we accept that Garin is really a drowned god, or that Garin's curse is spread by breathing the fog of the Sorrows, or being drowned in mist or something. Shireen (or as Val puts it "the dead girl") belongs in this catergory. Her father seems to become more skeletal and sepulcheral every time we see him. I'm not sure if he is a reverse fire wight, wasting away like a blackened ember, or destined to be a hollow knight, or if he too is a stone knight (trying to raise a stone dragon from Dragonstone). Moqorro could be reborn from water or fire or both- as Victarion pointed out,  “If he were ten days in the water, he’d be dead". Victarion himself is a drowned man, but it is possible Serry's prick of his palm killed him and Moqorro brought him back.

And then there are the faceless men like Jaquen, the Alchemist, the begger girl, Mercy. These are the skins of dead people, worn by people who can still sense some of the things their true owners felt in life, or at least, in dying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love this topic!

I would put Patchface with Damphair.  IIRC, Damphair was also lost at sea and returned some time later a changed man.  I agree about the other Drowned Men: they are people given artificial respiration in what I assume to be a ritual based on earlier experiences of people who return from the deep.

Ser Spitball asks:

Quote

Using Ice magic? Or Blood magic?

In my own view of things, that is not quite the question I'd ask.  I'd ask: "Using Ice magic? Or Fire magic?"

I personally think that both require blood to operate.  It is fairly obvious in most cases of fire magic, but for Ice magic there is the example of Craster's sons - offerings of blood to the Others (and it appears from Craster's wives that they may even be a source for the Others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about Tyrion? He's not dead, but he did drown and was brought back by a septa or a "septa" who forced the water out from his lungs, likely using the same technique used by the drowned priests. And he could be turning to stone from the inside out and he wouldn't even know it. 

8 hours ago, hiemal said:

If I were smart, I wouldn't for lack of information, but since tinfoil is my thing:

Coldhands is one of the Last Hero's fallen companions raised by the Others but soul-locked in some way (like Jon is posited to do with Ghost in the post above- the LH's party was said to include a dog, btw) so that he's still puttering around. He might be involved with the Black Gate- who I also believe might be one of the LH's companions in a state of Living Death and who I realize I also forgot to mention in the OP...

I wonder, would a wight be able to stick around for that long without eventually rotting away? The wights are animated, but as far as we know, there's nothing preserving them. When Bran is in Summer's skin, he gets a whiff of rot from Coldhands. 

The Ghost of High Heart calls Beric, His Grace the Lord of Corpses and she can smell the stink of death on him. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Walda said:

Shout out for Davos Seaworth. He belongs in the same catergory as Patchface if location is significant, and the drowned men if it isn't. 

I can't detect any change in his point of view since he gave the sea his fingerbones. He can remember where Skagos is, for instance.

The Onion Knight! He does indeed belong in this company, and although he suspects the Mother, as you point out the "sacrifice" of his lucky fingers and the location in body-strewn water suggest Merlings.

I'll need to think on that one.

6 hours ago, Walda said:

ETA: Maybe you need a catergory for kings and warriors like Cleon,  corpses dug up and dressed in plate and mail, that can be confused with a living men impersonating a dead one by wearing his mail, and with an empty suit of mail coming to life, like the hollow knights that seemed to turn into dragons as Sansa escapes the Purple Wedding through their hall with Dontos. There is forshadowing for Robb and Rhaegar and the Hound as well as Renly and Gregor becoming hollow knights. 

I do, and will have to re-edit that into the OP later as well. Great call! Cleon and Renly, the Hollow Knights an the Knights of the Hollow Hill. That's an entire theme!

6 hours ago, Walda said:

Gregor also has a lot of stone man imagery, which reminds me that the stone men on the Bridge of Dream, and Tyrion and Griff might belong in a stoneman catergory of their own, or the drowned man catergory, if we accept that Garin is really a drowned god, or that Garin's curse is spread by breathing the fog of the Sorrows, or being drowned in mist or something. Shireen (or as Val puts it "the dead girl") belongs in this catergory. Her father seems to become more skeletal and sepulcheral every time we see him. I'm not sure if he is a reverse fire wight, wasting away like a blackened ember, or destined to be a hollow knight, or if he too is a stone knight (trying to raise a stone dragon from Dragonstone). Moqorro could be reborn from water or fire or both- as Victarion pointed out,  “If he were ten days in the water, he’d be dead". Victarion himself is a drowned man, but it is possible Serry's prick of his palm killed him and Moqorro brought him back.

Shireen: Forgot about the poor little thing- I wonder if she is the Living Dead, the Dead Living, or is she a half and half?

Moqorro: It seems a Black Flame requires more than a little dowsing to be extinguished completely?

Stannis: That's kind of a creepy thought, actually, but the focus on his eye color...

Victarion: More than a little possible, I think. More fodder for the OP once I have pondered a little more. Great stuff!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, oldbus said:

Love this topic!

I would put Patchface with Damphair.  IIRC, Damphair was also lost at sea and returned some time later a changed man.  I agree about the other Drowned Men: they are people given artificial respiration in what I assume to be a ritual based on earlier experiences of people who return from the deep.

IIRC he even claims to have visited the Drowned God's Halls where the raised Dead feast- his (relative) sanity and location make me wonder if he isn't distinct from Patchface, but the idea of reducing the number of supernatural players and the lack of motive and information on the merlings make me reluctant to write the merlings off- Particularly when he have the Manderlys who bear the Merling King on their banner and have twice relocated, from the Reach to the North, and from points unknown to the Reach before that- I wonder if they were either originally from Shipwrecker or Blackwater Bay? The habits of the Spider Crab Lord (who likes to use his Lighthouse instead of song to wreck ships but still feasts like any crab or merling) make me wonder.

2 hours ago, oldbus said:

In my own view of things, that is not quite the question I'd ask.  I'd ask: "Using Ice magic? Or Fire magic?"

Fair question- given the shadows inside the tent I think they might both be involved? The results are different enough that I think it might be something that underlies both- but that gets into the workings of magic itself. My thoughts on that:

 

2 hours ago, oldbus said:

I personally think that both require blood to operate.  It is fairly obvious in most cases of fire magic, but for Ice magic there is the example of Craster's sons - offerings of blood to the Others (and it appears from Craster's wives that they may even be a source for the Others.

Blood and souls, my friend!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

What about Tyrion? He's not dead, but he did drown and was brought back by a septa or a "septa" who forced the water out from his lungs, likely using the same technique used by the drowned priests. And he could be turning to stone from the inside out and he wouldn't even know it.

Another good call! There are more of them than I thought- as there usually are with such a large pool of candidates! Pondering the Imp, and I'll get back to the OP later

 

1 hour ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

I wonder, would a wight be able to stick around for that long without eventually rotting away? The wights are animated, but as far as we know, there's nothing preserving them. When Bran is in Summer's skin, he gets a whiff of rot from Coldhands. 

Ice Magic preserves- it kept Maester Aemon alive until he left the Wall.

Maester Aemon. Another one. More Editing of the OP. This is a "mammoth" undertaking- do the mammoths count, I wonder?

Quote

The Ghost of High Heart calls Beric, His Grace the Lord of Corpses and she can smell the stink of death on him. 

Her sense of smell might go beyond the worldly, however- she also smells Arya I think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the undying Samwell Tarly? Drowned by his father, chained to a wall for 3 days, attacked by wights in the Fist, collapsed of exhaustion, survived the attack of a WW, survived the mutiny at Craster's keep, survived another wight attack and then drowned again in Braavos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Fencer said:

Might Roose Bolton fall into one of these categories as well?

This really made me stop and think.  To stop this thread getting out of control I think we need to keep ourselves to those we know have some claim to actually being dead or nearly dead at some point.  I'm not certain we have evidence for Roose Bolton, but there is so much death imagery surrounding him that Fencer's post really struck me.

The Flayed Man sigil, his grey eyes ('ghost grey' or 'dirty ice', like moons), paleness, stillness, quietness etc could all be seen as associated with death.  His leeches link him with blood (see above).  Do we know what happens to those leeches full of blood, by the way?

Bolton gives an aura of ice death/undeath, even if it can't be proved he's of the living dead.

I'm pretty sure there's a theory I've read about House Bolton being led by a vampyre.  I'm not certain how that would work myself (I'm sure vampyres are supposed to live for centuries and that would be noticed) - but this is GRRM's world, so it could be possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gads @hiemal, this is a great discussion.  I'm on break from work now and will get to some expansion for you.   I want to throw Bloodraven & Melissandre in for your consideration.  Yes, I've already googled if mushrooms can grow on living skin.  They cannot.  Some can grow on dead skin though!.  Back later to see what's going on.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How I have sorted it:

Blood magic; Khal Drogo was a blood Wight made by MMD > The Mountain thanks to connection should be considered same. Faceless Men uses blood as we have seen by Arya, which along with it being founded in the blood magic central makes it blood magic as well.

 

Green magic; Greenseers and Undying could be seen as related considering their close relation to trees, or the Undying representing a degraded and much less powerful form of the same green magic. The Undying sees vague symbolic visions more en par with Jojen's dreams rather than the absolute documentary info Bran gets while greenseeing Bloodraven. 

 

Water magic; Drowned God, IB, Patchface, Lovecraftian sistermen, Lonely Lights water-wargs. 

 

Fire magic; Melisandre, Thoros and Beric. Lady Stoneheart. Fire wyrms, whatever happened to Aerea. Dany surviving the Pyre.

 

Crossovers;

dragons and Targs/Valyrians (fire and blood magic)

Bloodraven (greenseer now but practiced bloodmagic according to Egg, of Targ decent so fire as well)

Euron (green magic from shade of the evening along with blood magic and or water magic in sample chapter sacrifice)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, hiemal said:

Ice Magic preserves- it kept Maester Aemon alive until he left the Wall.

Maester Aemon was alive, though. As far as we know, it's the magic of the children that helped raise the Wall, not the magic of the Others. Coldhands and the ice wights we saw in the story are different beasts. Coldhands is closer to fire wights than he is to ice wights, with perhaps the exception of Jafer Flowers and Othor who seem to be some sort of abnormality in the way they behaved, so I wonder if being on the other side of the Wall changes things for the ice wights.

2 hours ago, hiemal said:

Her sense of smell might go beyond the worldly, however- she also smells Arya I think?

Yes. So the GoHH thinks that it's Beric who smelled of death, but then she singles out Arya, but she smells of death because of her grief. 

I don't think it changes that Beric did smell of a corpse to her before this latest reunion with him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do like the idea of developing a Unified Theory of Magic.  But let's not spread this net too wide ...

Here in the real world, a person can be medically dead for a short time, and then be revived with most or all of their memories and abilities intact.  No magic is required.  I think Tyrion's drowning goes in that category.

As far as we know, Khal Drogo never actually died.  He was still alive when Mirri Maz Duur started her ritual, and he was still alive when she finished.  His condition afterwards is not similar to wights, or to any of the other pseudo-alive people such as Beric, Gregor, etc.  MMD even says that she preserved his life.  That was the lesson she wanted to teach Dany: "See what life is worth when everything else has been taken."  And again, there are real-life examples of people who are alive, but in a vegetative state.

As for Jon Snow, we don't know how he will end up.  In another recent thread, a reader pointed out that there are real-life examples of people who recover from multiple stab wounds.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, oldbus said:

To stop this thread getting out of control I think we need to keep ourselves to those we know have some claim to actually being dead or nearly dead at some point. 

I was gonna say ... How much time do you have? But I respect that there has to be a limit - if we counted all of the symbolic deaths, nearly every major character would fit the category in some way. For instance, people have pointed out the John Barleycorn symbolism around both Jon Snow and Bran, both of whom feed corn to black birds. That legendary character symbolizes the harvest and the death of the harvest king. We see Bran experience some clear harvest king death moments at the harvest feast at Winterfell after drinking from his father's chalice. But his "death" is probably not real enough to fit the discussion here. 

I also think the wildlings killing the silent, white-haired old man at the ruined inn in the Gift, just before Jon Snow escapes them, is a symbolic slaying of the direwolf Ghost. (Inns are also portals to the after life in ASOIAF.) I compare it to the death of Aslan on the stone table. 

The Shadow Tower really intrigues me as a possible recycling plant for dead brothers in the Night's Watch. I think many of the dead guys are posted at the Shadow Tower and that they continue to serve along the Wall. I suspect that Qhorin, Stonesnake and the others in the ranging party with Jon Snow were already dead when they began their scouting mission. 

Some dead people are reborn in other bodies: I suspect Maester Aemon will come back through the baby Aemon Steelsong. 

I do think that Lady Dustin has a key role in controlling death and rebirth. She is mad that Ned brought back her red horse but left her husband's bones at the Prince's Pass. But her husband's early death puts her in place as the Lady of the Barrowlands. If she is a sort of symbolic ruler of the Underworld, with the power to revive dead people, her visit to Winterfell's crypt may open a major can of Stark whupass in the next couple of books. She certainly seems to have revived Theon during her time with him in the crypt: he stops being Reek and resumes being Theon after their therapy session. 

But we were talking about limits. Restricting myself to the more literal dead people, I would add these characters to your list:

Ser Mandon Moore. I think he is literally dead, although we don't know how he came to be dead. He may be in the story to foreshadow Ser Robert Strong, the next notable dead guy on the kings guard. Ser Mandon tries to kill Tyrion at a bridge, which may be a symbol of dragging someone down to the underworld. (Or up from the underworld, I suppose.) Pod ends up pushing Ser Mandon into the water and we assume he drowns but maybe he just assumes a new identity in some way.

Brienne, Ser Hyle Hunt and Podrick Payne. I think these characters require reviving after their hanging by Lady Stoneheart and the BwB. We get an account of Ser Thoros of Myr feeding Brienne some humble fare that she considers to be the tastiest food she has ever eaten. Since Thoros revived Beric, we can probably draw a parallel to his revival of Brienne. We'll have to wait until the next books to see how Ser Hyle and Pod are affected by their death and rebirth. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...