Wow, I never noticed that. Vol. 19

[Seams]

Link to the previous collection of text-based observations: Wow, I never noticed that. Vol. 18.

This topic has a history dating back to January 6, 2013:

	host	started	ended	pages	comments	First comment (paraphrased)
1	assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar	January 6, 2013	January 18, 2013	22	432	Jon and Sam are related by marriage.
2	Lady Green	January 29, 2013	November 28, 2013	29	578	Dany was w/ Drogon when Khal Jhaqo finds her.
3	Winter’s Knight	11/28/2013	3/21/2014	22	430	Cersei probably lied that Robert told Joff “a king must be bold.”
4	coil	3/21/2014	5/13/2014	22	429	Catelyn has a thought foreshadowing stone heart.
5	Angalin	5/13/2014	7/4/2014	25	495	Wun Wun kills Ser Patrek b/c he was trying to steal Val.
6	The Amethyst Empress	7/4/2014	8/18/2014	23	441	the annoying Frey toddler in The Mystery Knight is Walder Frey
7	Rhaenys_Targaryen	8/19/2014	10/25/2014	21	403	Kevan was mourning at Tywins bed
8	Jon Weirgaryen	10/25/2014	12/31/2014	20	398	all the Robin Hood jokes associated with the BWB
9	Jon Weirgaryen	12/31/2014	1/23/2015	21	402	Renly asked Ned if the picture of Margaery looked like Lyanna because he thought he could convince Robert to marry her.
10	Lost Melnibonean	1/23/2015	3/18/2015	23	447	Two veiled red and black images in Daenerys VIII, ADwD.
11	Rhaenys_Targaryen	3/18/2015	5/4/2015	21	405	Aegon the Dragonbane was the 7th Targaryen king, and during his reign the last dragon died ,giving another importance to the number 7.
12	Rhaenys_Targaryen	5/4/2015	7/31/2015	25	491	Lemurs in Qohor may symbolize fAegon.
13	Rhaenys_Targaryen	7/31/2015	3/7/2016	24	473	Reply to lengthy post from previous thread; multiple topics.
14	Isobel Harper	3/7/2016	12/6/2016	24	474	Motives of Aurane Waters.
15	Lost Melnibonean	12/6/2016	10/10/2017	22	422	Symbolism of creatures in mud flats of Braavos.
16	Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn	10/10/2017	6/19/2018	34	676	People such as Catelyn and Beric are not married to avoid marriage relationship to dead people.
17	Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn	6/19/2018	5/10/2019	24	471	Words Daenerys and Targaryen have 3 syllables.
18	Seams	5/15/2019	9/20/2021	26	501	Rats in Dany chapters in ACoK & ASoS.
19	Seams	10/10/2021

Links to previous threads in this series:

Spoiler

 

 

[Seams]

A wordplay observation:

wings / swing and words / sword.

Dark wings, dark words. 

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

[Hugorfonics]

Margaery Tyrell was weeping in her grandmother's arms as the old lady said, "Be brave, be brave." Most of the musicians had fled, but one last flutist in the gallery was blowing a dirge.

 

That's hysterical. The audacity of this guy! Like, the king was just murdered and this flutist has the nerve strum a little funeral tune. Wasn't he scared that's inappropriate? Or is it the most appropriate thing?

Musicians are crazy 

[WhatAnArtist!]

6 hours ago, Hugorfonics said:

Margaery Tyrell was weeping in her grandmother's arms as the old lady said, "Be brave, be brave." Most of the musicians had fled, but one last flutist in the gallery was blowing a dirge.

 

That's hysterical. The audacity of this guy! Like, the king was just murdered and this flutist has the nerve strum a little funeral tune. Wasn't he scared that's inappropriate? Or is it the most appropriate thing?

Musicians are crazy 

My head-canon says that this musician had secret Stark sympathies, and was doing this as a tiny bit of personal retribution for the Red Wedding.

[Walda]

Thanks Seams, for the great OP, and what an intriguing play on swords!

*

Quote

Any act can be a prayer, if done as well as we are able. Isn’t that a lovely thought?Remember that the next time you do your needlework.

(ASoS Ch 22 Arya IV)

Quote

Every night Arya would say their names. “Ser Gregor,” she’d whisper to her stone pillow. “Dunsen, Polliver, Chiswyck, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei.” Back in Winterfell, Arya had prayed with her mother in the sept and with her father in the godswood, but there were no gods on the road to Harrenhal, and her names were the only prayer she cared to remember.

(ACoK Ch26 Arya IV)

Way ahead of you Lady Smallwood.

[Adam Targaryen]

After Sigorn and Alys’ wedding in A Dance with Dragons, when Jon has gotten a letter from Cotter Pyke about how he and several others at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea are setting off their ships to save the wildlings at Hardhome:

”The fish course was next, but as the pike was being boned Lady Alys dragged the Magnar up onto the floor.

[From the way he moved it was plain that Sigorn had never danced before, but he had drunk enough mulled wine so that it did not seem to matter.]”

The sea voyage from Eastwatch to Hardhome is next, but Cotter Pyke (”pike”) will be killed by wights and become boned (turn into a wight skeleton). As this happens, the noble forces of the North/the Night’s Watch/the Seven Kingdoms - represented by Lady Alys here - will nonetheless manage to drag some wildlings up onto the floor, I. E. rescue them with the boats and take them back to Eastwatch and into the fold of the Seven Kingdoms.

[Furthermore, from the way the wildlings act, it will be plain that they have never ”danced”, I. E. taken part in Seven Kingdoms’ politics before, but they will still have a go at it due to having drunk mulled wine - which might represent the faith of R’hllor or something...]

 

 

[Seams]

On 12/2/2021 at 5:36 PM, Adam Targaryen said:

After Sigorn and Alys’ wedding ....

[Furthermore, from the way the wildlings act, it will be plain that they have never ”danced”, I. E. taken part in Seven Kingdoms’ politics before, but they will still have a go at it due to having drunk mulled wine - which might represent the faith of R’hllor or something...]

Very nice! I think all wedding feasts in ASOIAF are highly allegorical and probably foreshadow things to come. 

Jon makes spiced wine according to Jeor Mormont's recipe before he finds the obsidian cache. Arya makes mulled wine for Roose Bolton at Harrenhal, iirc. I think there is significance in the unity of fruit, spices and wine - maybe something to do with the elements needed for spiritual rebirth. 

Edit to add:

This excerpt from Dany's wedding feast seems like a "mummer's" version of the Robert / Rhaegar / Lyanna dynamic:

Quote

The warriors were watching too. One of them finally stepped into the circle, grabbed a dancer by the arm, pushed her down to the ground, and mounted her right there, as a stallion mounts a mare. Illyrio had told her that might happen. "The Dothraki mate like the animals in their herds. There is no privacy in a khalasar, and they do not understand sin or shame as we do."

Dany looked away from the coupling, frightened when she realized what was happening, but a second warrior stepped forward, and a third, and soon there was no way to avert her eyes. Then two men seized the same woman. She heard a shout, saw a shove, and in the blink of an eye the arakhs were out, long razor-sharp blades, half sword and half scythe. A dance of death began as the warriors circled and slashed, leaping toward each other, whirling the blades around their heads, shrieking insults at each clash. No one made a move to interfere.

It ended as quickly as it began. The arakhs shivered together faster than Dany could follow, one man missed a step, the other swung his blade in a flat arc. Steel bit into flesh just above the Dothraki's waist, and opened him from backbone to belly button, spilling his entrails into the dust. As the loser died, the winner took hold of the nearest woman—not even the one they had been quarreling over—and had her there and then. Slaves carried off the body, and the dancing resumed.

Magister Illyrio had warned Dany about this too. "A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair," he had said. Her wedding must have been especially blessed; before the day was over, a dozen men had died. (AGoT, Daenerys I)

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Seams

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[The Bard of Banefort]

In The Sworn Sword, Dunk describes the fire in Wat’s Wood as “the sun rising in the west.” Possibly just a coincidence, but it brought me back to Mirri Maz Duur’s prophecy.

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Tucu]

2 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

So, probably nothing but Above, several quotes where the "Others", are described as white shadows. They are also known as white walkers, cold gods and cold shadows. Below, ghost is mentioned as a white shadow.  Below, Patchface singing.

 

Nothing interesting, we all know the shadows talked about here are the Others, and they came to dance.

 

Below, Jon at Alys' wedding and while wildlings coming under his protection.

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then an Other. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon.

 

I remember posting Ser Waymar's dance and the snowflake dance but don't remember ever connecting these two to Patchface's song, so I thought I'd post again.

The WWs, Ghost and the Kingsguard are described multiple times as "white shadows". Not sure exactly what it will mean but I always look for references to "white shadows". Ghost protects Jon and the KGs protect the king; the WW are protectors of what?

Quote

Joffrey was galloping at his side, whey-faced, with Ser Mandon Moore a white shadow on his left

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His two white shadows were always with him; Balon Swann and Mandon Moore, beautiful in their pale plate

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Dany glimpsed Ser Barristan sliding closer, a white shadow at her side

Quote

Finally he rolled over the side and lay breathless and exhausted, flat on his back. Balls of green and orange flame crackled overhead, leaving streaks between the stars. He had a moment to think how pretty it was before Ser Mandon blocked out the view. The knight was a white steel shadow, his eyes shining darkly behind his helm. Tyrion had no more strength than a rag doll. Ser Mandon put the point of his sword to the hollow of his throat and curled both hands around the hilt.

The last one is when Mandon attacks Tyrion.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Tucu

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Loose Bolt]

5 hours ago, Tucu said:

The WWs, Ghost and the Kingsguard are described multiple times as "white shadows". Not sure exactly what it will mean but I always look for references to "white shadows". Ghost protects Jon and the KGs protect the king; the WW are protectors of what?

I assume that WW  are only puppets of some kind of mastermind(s). Or their real leaders are controlling them like wargs/greense'ers do with their own "puppets". So only way to really eliminate Army of Death would be to wipe out those masterminds and their ability to control their slaves.

[Tucu]

17 minutes ago, Loose Bolt said:

I assume that WW  are only puppets of some kind of mastermind(s). Or their real leaders are controlling them like wargs/greense'ers do with their own "puppets". So only way to really eliminate Army of Death would be to wipe out those masterminds and their ability to control their slaves.

The WWs are also called watchers (like the NW) in the AGoT prologue. In The Watcher and in the Captain of the guards Areo Hotah repeats expressions like this 4 times:

Quote

Serve. Protect. Obey. Simple vows for simple men. That was all he knew

Then in The Queensguard Barristan thinks this:

Quote

The first duty of the Kingsguard was to defend the king from harm or threat. The white knights were sworn to obey the king's commands as well, to keep his secrets, counsel him when counsel was requested and keep silent when it was not, serve his pleasure and defend his name and honor. Strictly speaking, it was purely the king's choice whether or not to extend Kingsguard protection to others, even those of royal blood. Some kings thought it right and proper to dispatch Kingsguard to serve and defend their wives and children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins of greater and lesser degree, and occasionally even their lovers, mistresses, and bastards. But others preferred to use household knights and men-at-arms for those purposes, whilst keeping their seven as their own personal guard, never far from their sides.

So we have a white shadow repeating the serve, obey and protect vows mentioned by Areo. Simple vows for simple men.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Tucu

[LynnS]

5 hours ago, Tucu said:

The WWs, Ghost and the Kingsguard are described multiple times as "white shadows". Not sure exactly what it will mean but I always look for references to "white shadows". Ghost protects Jon and the KGs protect the king; the WW are protectors of what?

The last one is when Mandon attacks Tyrion.

Black crows and white crows, what could they have in common?  Shadow is both a noun and a verb.

- an inseparable companion or attendant (noun)

- follow and observe someone closely and secretly (verb)

Jon is dressed in black and his white shadow is Ghost.  The black brothers in the prologue of GoT are secretly observed and followed by white shadows.  The WWs are also brothers - black brothers and white brothers.  Who do they serve or who were they meant to serve?

 

 

 

[Tucu]

15 minutes ago, LynnS said:

Black crows and white crows, what could they have in common?  Shadow is both a noun and a verb.

- an inseparable companion or attendant (noun)

- follow and observe someone closely and secretly (verb)

Jon is dressed in black and his white shadow is Ghost.  The black brothers in the prologue of GoT are secretly observed and followed by white shadows.  The WWs are also brothers - black brothers and white brothers.  Who do they serve or who were they meant to serve?

Related piece of wisdom from an unlikely source:

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You are fighting shadows when you should be fighting the men who cast them," Daario went on

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Tucu

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Corvo the Crow]

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Edited July 30, 2023 by Corvo the Crow