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Shadow Assasinations


Bobity.

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The shadows spawned by Mel with the blood of Stanis were very effective in conducting the anonymous assassinations of Ser Cortnay Penrose and Renley Baratheon. Two methods are demonstrated, pushing/throwing a victim from heights with appearnce of suicide and shadowy sword attacks implicating innocents in close proximity.  By all accounts Mel and Stannis got away with the murders, but Varys is onto them.

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"Ser Cortnay had challenged Lord Stannis to single combat on the morning he died. I ask you, is this the act of a man lost to despair? Then there is the matter of Lord Renly's mysterious and most fortuitous murder, even as his battle lines were forming up to sweep his brother from the field." - A Clash of Kings - Tyrion X

Varys knew to connect the pattern, he had identified Mel as a shadowbinder early.

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“Oh, Varys hears his whispers. Stannis is building ships, Stannis is hiring sellswords, Stannis is bringing a shadowbinder from Asshai.” - A Game of Thrones - Tyrion IX

Spawning shadows is not a skill unique to Mel, according to her visions in the flames is her specialty. Shadowbinders are open and active in Asshai and it begs the question if there have been other shadowbinders active in Westeros history?  Why not? The marine route to and from Asshai can be done along the sight of land and considering Storm’s End walls were built warded against shadows, I think the Age of Heroes was a little bit high magicy.

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“Storm's End is an old place. There are spells woven into the stones. Dark walls that no shadow can pass—ancient, forgotten, yet still in place.” - A Clash of Kings - Davos II

When in history then are their clues of shadowbinding? Lets begin with the murder of Septon Moon oustide of Oldtown.

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“But then, suddenly, there was a groan, and a womens shriek, followed by a bellow of rage.  The tent flap was thrown open and the woman burst out, half-naked and barefoot, and dashed away wilde-eyed and terrified before any of the Poor Fellows could think to stop her. Septon Moon himself followed a moment later, naked, roaring, and drenched in blood.  He was holding his neck, and blood was leaking between his fingers and dripping down his beard from where his throat had been slit open.” F&B - Prince into King

I believe the unknown women in the tent with Septon Moon got the same wrongful murder accusation Brienne of Tarth and Catelyn Stark recieved. Whatever intentions the women bedding down with Septon Moon had, I don’t believe cutting him was part of it as she was totally unprepared for it. She was barefoot and half naked, if you were planning to murder someone and then run away would you not plan to be wearing shoes and clothes? She shrieked, which is a horrible getaway move. Though, I suppose Brienne made the same mistake in the minds of her accusers.

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“Your Gr-no!” cried Brienne the Blue when she saw that evil flow, sounding as scared as any little girl. -  A Clash of Kings - Catelyn IV 

If this woman had slit Septon Moon’s throat would she not be covered in blood? This woman was running “wide eyed and terrified” from something, and I don’t believe it was from a dying Septon Moon.  The quick acting poisoned wine was given to her so her account of a shadow sword was never heard.

If it was a spawned shadow that killed Septon Moon, who would have done the deed? Who had most to gain from the death of Septon Moon?  The Hightowers. The Hightowers had been dithering on dealing with Moon’s mob outside Oldtown and were probably open to options.  After the death of Septon Moon his followers scattered allowing for a one sided Hightower mop up and an unhurt Oldtown citizenry.

Let's think like Varys for a moment, if there was a shadowbinder active at the time are there other suspicious deaths where people are dying in rooms everyone thought them to be alone in?  Do they have connections to the Hightowers?  

Found two more within a five year period:

The High Septon - died in very suspicious circumstances alone in his room. No details about the manner of death and followed was a very immediate chain of events for his replacement. In my mind the murder of the High Septon was part of the coordinated Hightower plan, not a response. If the High Septon had not been murdered and replaced in a single night then in all likelihood dragonfire would have been felt in Oldtown.
  
King Maegor Targaryen - died impaled on the Iron Throne, guards swear he was alone.  Maegor at that moment was contemplating the reality that he did not have enough support to field an army to control his realm, but Balerion was within reach.  At that moment mounting the Black Dread and burning his enemies, including the Hightowers and Oldtown, like his father had done to Dorne was a distinct possibility.

All three of these deaths had a result of limiting civilian casualties, particularly in Oldtown. As to who spawned my theorized shadows I am leaning towards Lady Patrice Hightower, reputed witch who had visited the High Septon hours before his mysterious death. The first of the proposed linked incidents.

Common variable amongst all known and proposed examples is timing, all five died at night.

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Sometime during the blackest hour of that long and dreadful night, the High Septon had died. F&B - The Sons of the Dragon

Hours later, as dawn was breaking, the last of Maegor’s queens came seeking him. - F&B - The Sons of the Dragon

Dusk was falling outside of Oldtown when Septon Moon retired for his tent. - F&B - Prince into King

"I dream of it sometimes. Of Renly's dying. A green tent, candles, a woman screaming. And blood." Stannis looked down at his hands. "I was still abed when he died. Your Devan will tell you. He tried to wake me. Dawn was nigh and my lords were waiting, fretting. - A Clash of Kings - Davos II

Davos licked his lips. "I am yours to command. What would you have me do?" "Nothing you have not done before. Only land a boat beneath the castle, unseen, in the black of night." - A Clash of Kings - Davos II

 

If the walls of Storm's End are warded against spawned shadows then at some point during the Age of Heroes the Durrandon Storm Kings built those defences to protect from a shadowbinding foe, an age when the Hightowers were actors.  Could shadowbinding be an ancient Hightower family secret, only used covertly in times when Oldtown is in grave danger? Euron may need to watch for shadows at his back as he approaches Oldtown because whenever Oldtown is threatened convenient deaths occur when the sun goes down.

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“Lord Leyton's locked atop his tower with the Mad Maid, consulting books of spells” - A Feast for Crows - Samwell V

Bonus Extra Shiny Tinfoil

Are there other potential shadow assassinations in Westerosi history?  Mysterious sword attacks, or people falling from great heights with questionable stories of suicide? Was Ashara pushed?
 

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23 minutes ago, Bobity. said:

If the walls of Storms End are warded against spawned shadows then at some point during the Age of Heroes the Durrandon Storm Kings built those defences to protect from a shadowbinding foe, an age when the Hightowers were actors.  Could shadowbinding be an ancient Hightower family secret, only used secretly in times when Oldtown is in grave danger? 
 

The problem with it as a family secret is that there are times when the Hightowers could definitely make use of shadow assassins, but this doesn't happen - the approach towards Oldtown of Aegon the Conqueror, and the entire Dance of Dragons.

In the specific instance you give, though, that seems plausible.

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23 minutes ago, Lord Browndodd said:

The problem with it as a family secret is that there are times when the Hightowers could definitely make use of shadow assassins, but this doesn't happen - the approach towards Oldtown of Aegon the Conqueror, and the entire Dance of Dragons.

Helanea Targaryen jumping into spikes during the Dance of Dragons was openly questioned as a suicide at the time....seems like a potential candidate though I can't figure out movtive, other than freeing up her dragon for another rider.

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How bout  a dragon being killed by a shadowbinder?

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Many a conflicting tale is told of the death of the queen’s dragon. Munkun credits Hobb the Hewer and his axe, though this is almost certainly mistaken. Could the same man truly have slain two dragons on the same night and in the same manner? Some speak of an unnamed spearman, “a blood-soaked giant” who leapt from the Dragonpit’s broken dome onto the dragon’s back. Others relate how a knight named Ser Warrick Wheaton slashed a wing from Syrax with a Valyrian steel sword (Lamentation, most like). A crossbowman named Bean would claim the kill afterward, boasting of it in many a wine sink and tavern, until one of the queen’s loyalists grew tired of his wagging tongue and cut it out.

 Possibly all these worthies (save Hobb) played some role in the dragon’s demise…but the tale most oft heard in King’s Landing named the Shepherd himself as the dragonslayer. As others fled, the story went, the one-handed prophet stood fearless and alone against the ravening beast, calling on the Seven for succor, till the Warrior himself took form, thirty feet tall. In his hand was a black blade made of smoke that turned to steel as he swung it, cleaving the head of Syrax from her body. And so the tale was told, even by Septon Eustace in his account of these dark days, and so the singers sang for many years thereafter.

 

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11 hours ago, Bobity. said:

Euron may need to watch for shadows at his back as he approaches Oldtown because whenever Oldtown is threatened convenient deaths occur when the sun goes down.
 

Maybe that's why he's there. He is supernatural information gathering as well as anything else he's about. The Stannis shadow baby's weapon went through Renly's steel gorget, wonder if Valyrian Steel armour would provide better protection.

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Fascinating subject for an OP.  I hadn't considered that Storms End was specifically warded against shadow assassins.  Great catch!

14 hours ago, Eltharion21 said:

As others fled, the story went, the one-handed prophet stood fearless and alone against the ravening beast, calling on the Seven for succor, till the Warrior himself took form, thirty feet tall. In his hand was a black blade made of smoke that turned to steel as he swung it, cleaving the head of Syrax from her body.

Mel's terrible knowledge:

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A Dance with Dragons - Melisandre I

While the boy was gone, Melisandre washed herself and changed her robes. Her sleeves were full of hidden pockets, and she checked them carefully as she did every morning to make certain all her powders were in place. Powders to turn fire green or blue or silver, powders to make a flame roar and hiss and leap up higher than a man is tall, powders to make smoke. A smoke for truth, a smoke for lust, a smoke for fear, and the thick black smoke that could kill a man outright. The red priestess armed herself with a pinch of each of them.

The carved chest that she had brought across the narrow sea was more than three-quarters empty now. And while Melisandre had the knowledge to make more powders, she lacked many rare ingredients. My spells should suffice. She was stronger at the Wall, stronger even than in Asshai. Her every word and gesture was more potent, and she could do things that she had never done before. Such shadows as I bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them. With such sorceries at her command, she should soon have no more need of the feeble tricks of alchemists and pyromancers.

 

 

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It's an interesting premise. On the surface the obvious question is why doesn't Melisandre use the shadow assassins more often? This seems like the most devastating weapon ever. Sure there's that bit about Stannis' fires burning low, but Melisandre immediately offers to make one with Davos. So either any male can do it, or at the very minimum Davos fits the criteria. Or maybe even his son who's obviously infatuated with her. You'd think Stannis could order Davos or someone to attend to Melisandre for the sake of victory. These questions probably will foretell how common shadow assassinations are throughout history since they define the limits on them being used.

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Great stuff!

I would suggest that Mel made the Shadow baby from Stannis's seed not his blood, and also point out that it was Brandon the Builder who is said to have been involved in the construction of Storm's End, the Hightower, the Wall, and Winterfell.

Plus it's very hard not to see the parallel to the Night's King:

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As the sun began to set the shadows of the towers lengthened and the wind blew harder, sending gusts of dry dead leaves rattling through the yards. The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan's stories, the tale of Night's King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night's Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. "And that was the fault in him," she would add, "for all men must know fear." A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.
He brought her back to the Nightfort and proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will. For thirteen years they had ruled, Night's King and his corpse queen, till finally the Stark of Winterfell and Joramun of the wildlings had joined to free the Watch from bondage. After his fall, when it was found he had been sacrificing to the Others, all records of Night's King had been destroyed, his very name forbidden.
"Some say he was a Bolton," Old Nan would always end. "Some say a Magnar out of Skagos, some say Umber, Flint, or Norrey. Some would have you think he was a Woodfoot, from them who ruled Bear Island before the ironmen came. He never was. He was a Stark, the brother of the man who brought him down." She always pinched Bran on the nose then, he would never forget it. "He was a Stark of Winterfell, and who can say? Mayhaps his name was Brandon. Mayhaps he slept in this very bed in this very room."
No, Bran thought, but he walked in this castle, where we'll sleep tonight. He did not like that notion very much at all. Night's King was only a man by light of day, Old Nan would always say, but the night was his to rule. And it's getting dark.

A Storm of Swords - Bran IV

The connection between the white shadows of the Others, and the shadow babies of Melisandre isn't at all clear to me, but I get the feeling there is something there. They could be something like opposites, shadows of ice and shadows of fire, or perhaps it's just that ice preserves the shadows while the fire ones burn out... all we can do is speculate wildly.

As for the deaths in the time of Maegor, I think you make an interesting case.

We might consider some of the other mysterious deaths as well, although they may not fit the narrative that the Hightowers were behind the killings.

Aenys:

In later days, after Visenya's death, it was suggested that King Aenys's sudden demise was Visenya's doing, and some spoke of her as a kinslayer and kingslayer. Did she not prefer Maegor over Aenys in all things? Did she not have the ambition that her son should rule? Why, then, did she tend to her stepson and nephew when she seemed disgusted with him? Visenya was many things, but a woman capable of pity never seemed to be one of them. It is a question that cannot be readily dismissed...nor readily answered.

Ceryse:

Maegor's first wife, Queen Ceryse Hightower, suddenly fell ill and died shortly after the Red Keep had been completed. A rumor was spread that she had said a shrewish remark that affronted Maegor, after which he had ordered Ser Owen Bush of the Kingsguard to remove her tongue. People claimed that Ceryse had struggled so fiercely that Ser Owens knife slipped and he accidentally slashed her throat. Though the story was never proven and most historians insist it was slander concocted by the king's enemies, it was widely believed at the time.

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On 5/9/2021 at 1:44 PM, Bobity. said:

Spawning shadows is not a skill unique to Mel, according to her visions in the flames is her specialty. Shadowbinders are open and active in Asshai and it begs the question if there have been other shadowbinders active in Westeros history?  

... are there other suspicious deaths where people are dying in rooms everyone thought them to be alone in?  Do they have connections to the Hightowers?  

Bonus Extra Shiny Tinfoil

Are there other potential shadow assassinations in Westerosi history?  Mysterious sword attacks, or people falling from great heights with questionable stories of suicide? Was Ashara pushed?

I love that you are questioning the role of the Hightowers in all of this. I think they and their symbolism (towers) deserve a lot more analysis and scrutiny. Especially relevant to this discussion is the shadow cast by the tower. From the wiki:

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The Hightower is the tallest structure in the Seven Kingdoms,[3] even higher than the seven-hundred-foot Wall,[10] and it is the tallest tower in the known world.[11] The people of Oldtown can tell the time of day by the tower's shadow, and some claim that the Wall can be seen from its top.

So the tower functions as a sort of sundial, casting a shadow that tells the time. 

But I'm also interested in identifying other possible shadowbinders in the books. I suspect this is a clue from Quaithe, and known shadowbinder:

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To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.

These moments in Catelyn's travels seem significant, given Quaithe's instruction about passing beneath the shadow:

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"In the name of Robert Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, Defender of the Vale, True Warden of the East, I bid you enter freely, and charge you to keep his peace," Ser Brynden replied. "Come."

And so she rode behind him, beneath the shadow of the Bloody Gate where a dozen armies had dashed themselves to pieces in the Age of Heroes. On the far side of the stoneworks, the mountains opened up suddenly upon a vista of green fields, blue sky, and snowcapped mountains that took her breath away. The Vale of Arryn bathed in the morning light. (AGoT, Catelyn VI)

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... she heard the creak of heavy chains as the great iron portcullis was winched upward. It rose slowly as they approached, and Catelyn saw that the lower half of it was red with rust. The bottom foot dripped brown mud on them as they passed underneath, the barbed spikes mere inches above their heads. ...

They passed beneath the arch and under the walls, moving from sunlight to shadow and back into sunlight. Boats large and small were tied up all around them, secured to iron rings set in the stone. Her father's guards waited on the water stair with her brother.  (AGoT, Catelyn XI)

Catelyn's entry into Riverrun stuck in my memory on my second reading; until I used the search site to find the passage just now, I hadn't noticed the similar passage through the Bloody Gate (as opposed to the rusty gate at Riverrun) and beneath the shadow into the Vale.

I suspect there are other characters who pass beneath shadows -- and it would be worth identifying and analyzing those. Even just now looking at some of the shadows in Catelyn POVs, I see her contrasting "good" shadows at Riverrun with the gloomy shadows in the Winterfell godswood; and describing the shadows over her marriage of Ned's brother, Brandon, and of the woman Ned refuses to name (mother of his bastard). Bran's direwolf is a shadow when it attacks the catspaw and she mentions that Harrenhal is a shadow. Shadows are clearly major players in Catelyn's set of symbols and, I'm sure, throughout other POVs.

Aside from my recollection of Catelyn passing beneath a shadow to enter Riverrun, I focused on her both because she is present when Renly is killed by the shadow and because it seems as if there are parallels between Melisandre and Catelyn as advisers to kings. 

Of course, Catelyn is later associated with Thoros of Myr, when Lady Stoneheart takes the last kiss from Ser Beric and is reanimated at the head of the Brotherhood without Banners. Thoros is associated with Melisandre as two priests who follow the Red God. 

I've recently come to believe that Catelyn killing Jinglebell at the Red Wedding is the equivalent -- maybe even symbolic foreshadowing -- of the death of Joffrey at his own wedding feast. Walder is the Tywin character who half-heartedly attempts to dissuade Catelyn from killing Jinglebell but then says something along the lines of, "Oh well. He's only a grandson." (The Walder / Tywin parallel makes a little bit better sense than an older theory that Tywin was the killer of Joffrey.) 

So it's interesting to take a bunch of those literary symbols from Catelyn's POVs and see them come up all together in a foreshadowing paragraph just before Joffrey's death:

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The Kingsguard escorted them onto the dais, to the seats of honor beneath the shadow of the Iron Throne, draped for the occasion in long silk streamers of Baratheon gold, Lannister crimson, and Tyrell green. Cersei embraced Margaery and kissed her cheeks. Lord Tywin did the same, and then Lancel and Ser Kevan. Joffrey received loving kisses from the bride's father and his two new brothers, Loras and Garlan. No one seemed in any great rush to kiss Tyrion. When the king and queen had taken their seats, the High Septon rose to lead a prayer. At least he does not drone as badly as the last one, Tyrion consoled himself.

... From the shadows at the back of the hall, Ser Ilyn Payne appeared. The specter at the feast, thought Tyrion as he watched the King's Justice stride forward, gaunt and grim.  (Storm of Swords, Tyrion VIII)

Before Renly's death by shadow, Catelyn saw her face reflected in his green armor like the face of a drowning woman. Here we have Garlan Tyrell, who wore Renly's armor at the Battle of the Blackwater and, in the eyes of many, embodied a reborn King Renly. Was part of Catelyn's spirit also embodied in that armor? She ends up drowning in the Green Fork of the Trident -- is this like the green armor, somehow?

Instead of Thoros kissing Ser Beric and Ser Beric kissing Catelyn's dead body, we have Lannisters kissing Margaery and Tyrells kissing Joffrey. I'm not sure what these specific kisses portend but I bet it has to do with the Knight of Skulls and Kisses as well as the magic of the kiss Thoros gives to Ser Beric. Maybe it also has to do with Ygritte's red hair being "kissed by fire." Later at the feast, Tyrion muses to himself: "He wondered what Sansa would do if he leaned over and kissed her right now" (Storm, Tyrion VIII).

Of course, Renly kissed Ser Loras and may even have kissed Margaery before his death. Apparently Tyrell kisses are not life-renewing or protecting, but maybe Lannister kisses are able to ward off death? So Margaery is protected by the Lannister kisses and Joffrey is left vulnerable. Or maybe the point is that some kisses convey life (Thoros, Ser Beric) but some kisses convey death (Tyrell?). 

The Iron Throne is a shadow, but it is draped with colorful streamers - this could represent Melisandre, who is associated with shadows, and Catelyn, who is associated with rainbows. The Throne-as-shadow notion also fits with your point about the Throne killing King Maegor. 

Many people believe that Joffrey dies after ingesting The Strangler poison. We know that Melisandre successfully killed an opponent with The Strangler after demonstrating that she was immune to the poison. (Perhaps because she is already dead?)

Of course, House Frey arranged for Robb Stark's murder because he broke his promise to marry a daughter of House Frey. Joffrey also breaks a betrothal -- to Sansa Stark. Readers know that Sansa is greatly relieved that she no longer must marry Joffrey, but the parallel between the two broken betrothals is there, nevertheless.

Also: Jaime pushed Bran off the old keep; Bran is Catelyn's son. Joffrey is Jaime's son; wouldn't Catelyn want to pay back Jaime for his attempted murder?

Sansa is Catelyn's daughter and she has Catelyn's auburn hair. Sansa is at Joffrey's wedding feast and is probably the unwitting "drug mule" who carried poison into the party disguised as a jewel in her hair net. When Sansa disappears after the feast, she is accused of being part of the murder plot, along with her husband, Tyrion.

Ser Ilyn was the last man to use the sword Ice, as far as we know. He hands Joffrey a sword just before Joffrey starts to choke. When Catelyn looked upon Ned Stark's bones laid out by the Silent Sisters, she notices that Ned's eyes and Ice (the sword) are missing. Both Lady Stoneheart and Ser Ilyn are silent. Ser Ilyn stepping out of the shadows at Joffrey's wedding may bring us back full circle to payback for the beheading of Ned. 

tl;dr: The shadow may be the culprit behind Joffrey's murder, and the shadow may have come from Catelyn. Catelyn / Lady Stoneheart may be a symbolic (if not literal) shadowbinder, able to commit murder without being present at the moment the victim is attacked. Symbols such as shadows, kisses, drowning, armor, eyes/ice (or a special sword of some kind) and rainbows (or a specific color) may appear together to signal a shadow murder.

Needs polishing and more analysis, I realize.

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40 minutes ago, Seams said:

I love that you are questioning the role of the Hightowers in all of this.

Oh, I do have it in for the Hightowers! Here is a question I ponder often. What was their family name before they secured Battle Isle and built a high tower? By adopting the name of their keep they have effectively laundered their family history and origins.

On 5/9/2021 at 4:58 PM, Eltharion21 said:

As others fled, the story went, the one-handed prophet stood fearless and alone against the ravening beast, calling on the Seven for succor, till the Warrior himself took form, thirty feet tall. In his hand was a black blade made of smoke that turned to steel as he swung it, cleaving the head of Syrax from her body.

Since you posted this, I have reread the relevant Sheppard sections of F&B and finished intrigued to the idea.  Twice the Shepard appeared in Cobblers square at night, he was able to raise a massive mob from nothing in 48 hours, granted the conditions were ripe. Add in the uncharacteristic behaviour in Syrax of engaging in close combat when riderless and unrestrained and I am willing to believe sorcery was in play.

7 hours ago, Mourning Star said:

I would suggest that Mel made the Shadow baby from Stannis's seed not his blood,

My headcannon has shadowbinding linked with sacrificed kingsblood, which places a huge limiting factor to its use. Mel is trying to overcome this by securing people she deems as royal liniage for sacrifice. Both Davos and Jon have made moves to limit her access, but unfortunatly Shireen is likely to not get away...

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2 hours ago, Seams said:

I've recently come to believe that Catelyn killing Jinglebell at the Red Wedding is the equivalent -- maybe even symbolic foreshadowing -- of the death of Joffrey at his own wedding feast. Walder is the Tywin character who half-heartedly attempts to dissuade Catelyn from killing Jinglebell but then says something along the lines of, "Oh well. He's only a grandson." (The Walder / Tywin parallel makes a little bit better sense than an older theory that Tywin was the killer of Joffrey.) 

my lord

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