Heresy 241 A Winter Rose

[alienarea]

7 hours ago, LynnS said:

That would be one heck of a twist.  We don't know what kind of powers Bran will develop.  

He will fly. Comets don't walk.

[Tucu]

11 hours ago, LynnS said:

That would be one heck of a twist.  We don't know what kind of powers Bran will develop.  

Dany's dragons will be just roasted chickens compared to Bran's dragons:

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"He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi," the Lysene girl said. "Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return."

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Valyria. It was written that on the day of Doom every hill for five hundred miles had split asunder to fill the air with ash and smoke and fire, blazes so hot and hungry that even the dragons in the sky were engulfed and consumed

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Varys rose. "I know how weary you must be. I only wished to welcome you, my lord, and tell you how very pleased I am by your arrival. We have dire need of you on the council. Have you seen the comet?"

"I'm short, not blind," Tyrion said. Out on the kingsroad, it had seemed to cover half the sky, outshining the crescent moon.

 

[LynnS]

1 minute ago, Tucu said:

Dany's dragons will be just roasted chickens compared to Bran's dragons

You had me thinking about this all night!  I'm not sure where you are going with it?

To me the comet is a harbinger of disastrous event and not the cause of them.  

[Tucu]

16 minutes ago, LynnS said:

You had me thinking about this all night!  I'm not sure where you are going with it?

To me the comet is a harbinger of disastrous event and not the cause of them.  

I might be going to the cause of the new Long Night. If GRRM is linking all these

- Bran to the red comet

- a comet/moon breaking up into a million "dragons" that drank the fire of the sun (as in the legend from Qarth)

- the song of ice and fire to the prince that was promised and the red comet:

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"He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire."

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later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King's Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet

- and a moon to a Doom:

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Benerro jabbed a finger at the moon, made a fist, spread his hands wide. When his voice rose in a crescendo, flames leapt from his fingers with a sudden whoosh and made the crowd gasp. The priest could trace fiery letters in the air as well. Valyrian glyphs. Tyrion recognized perhaps two in ten; one was Doom, the other Darkness.

I think the Targs and the followers of R'hllor just confused the heavenly dragons with the fleshy dragons.

[LynnS]

57 minutes ago, Tucu said:

I might be going to the cause of the new Long Night. If GRRM is linking all these

- Bran to the red comet

- a comet/moon breaking up into a million "dragons" that drank the fire of the sun (as in the legend from Qarth)

- the song of ice and fire to the prince that was promised and the red comet:

- and a moon to a Doom:

I think the Targs and the followers of R'hllor just confused the heavenly dragons with the fleshy dragons.

Ok well I have to come at this piecemeal and somewhat sideways.  I don't think Bran has the power to affect the course of a comet but his might be able to travel along with it.  We get something similar with moon imagery in Jon's wolf dreams.

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon I

The white wolf raced through a black wood, beneath a pale cliff as tall as the sky. The moon ran with him, slipping through a tangle of bare branches overhead, across the starry sky.

"Snow," the moon murmured. The wolf made no answer. Snow crunched beneath his paws. The wind sighed through the trees.

Far off, he could hear his packmates calling to him, like to like. They were hunting too. A wild rain lashed down upon his black brother as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat, washing the blood from his side where the goat's long horn had raked him. In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her. The hills were warmer where they were, and full of food. Many a night his sister's pack gorged on the flesh of sheep and cows and horses, the prey of men, and sometimes even on the flesh of man himself.

"Snow," the moon called down again, cackling. The white wolf padded along the man trail beneath the icy cliff. The taste of blood was on his tongue, and his ears rang to the song of the hundred cousins. Once they had been six, five whimpering blind in the snow beside their dead mother, sucking cool milk from her hard dead nipples whilst he crawled off alone. Four remained … and one the white wolf could no longer sense.

"Snow," the moon insisted.

The white wolf ran from it, racing toward the cave of night where the sun had hidden, his breath frosting in the air. On starless nights the great cliff was as black as stone, a darkness towering high above the wide world, but when the moon came out it shimmered pale and icy as a frozen stream. The wolf's pelt was thick and shaggy, but when the wind blew along the ice no fur could keep the chill out. On the other side the wind was colder still, the wolf sensed. That was where his brother was, the grey brother who smelled of summer.

The white wolf ran from it, racing toward the cave of night where the sun had hidden, his breath frosting in the air. On starless nights the great cliff was as black as stone, a darkness towering high above the wide world, but when the moon came out it shimmered pale and icy as a frozen stream. The wolf's pelt was thick and shaggy, but when the wind blew along the ice no fur could keep the chill out. On the other side the wind was colder still, the wolf sensed. That was where his brother was, the grey brother who smelled of summer.

"Snow." An icicle tumbled from a branch. The white wolf turned and bared his teeth. "Snow!" His fur rose bristling, as the woods dissolved around him. "Snow, snow, snow!" He heard the beat of wings. Through the gloom a raven flew.

 

  

And this:

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A Dance with Dragons - Jon VI

"No. I just need a breath of air." Jon stepped out into the night. The sky was full of stars, and the wind was gusting along the Wall. Even the moon looked cold; there were goosebumps all across its face. Then the first gust caught him, slicing through his layers of wool and leather to set his teeth to chattering. He stalked across the yard, into the teeth of that wind. His cloak flapped loudly from his shoulders. Ghost came after. Where am I going? What am I doing? Castle Black was still and silent, its halls and towers dark. My seat, Jon Snow reflected. My hall, my home, my command. A ruin.

I do take the moon to be a personification of Bran.  Here is a similar personification of the moon:

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A Clash of Kings - Davos I

"A hundred days and a hundred nights he labored on the third blade, and as it glowed white-hot in the sacred fires, he summoned his wife. 'Nissa Nissa,' he said to her, for that was her name, 'bare your breast, and know that I love you best of all that is in this world.' She did this thing, why I cannot say, and Azor Ahai thrust the smoking sword through her living heart. It is said that her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon, but her blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel. Such is the tale of the forging of Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes.

Here is MMD's head cracking open and birthing a dragon:

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

Faster and faster the visions came, one after the other, until it seemed as if the very air had come alive. Shadows whirled and danced inside a tent, boneless and terrible. A little girl ran barefoot toward a big house with a red door. Mirri Maz Duur shrieked in the flames, a dragon bursting from her brow. Behind a silver horse the bloody corpse of a naked man bounced and dragged. A white lion ran through grass taller than a man. Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed. Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind. "Mother!" they cried. "Mother, mother!" They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them . . .

 

I think the tale of the comet cracking open and birthing dragons is another explanation for the dark magic involved.  It seems to me that Qaarth is an ancient outpost of Asshai and the great empire of the dawn.  The darkness that spreads over the world is the evil that originates in that place rather than a literal darkness.

[Frey family reunion]

4 hours ago, LynnS said:

Ok well I have to come at this piecemeal and somewhat sideways.  I don't think Bran has the power to affect the course of a comet but his might be able to travel along with it.  We get something similar with moon imagery in Jon's wolf dreams.

I think it's more likely that Bran's vision is giving him a point of view take on the comet as it makes landfall, and this is how Bran's mind interprets the vision.

[Tucu]

10 hours ago, LynnS said:

I think the tale of the comet cracking open and birthing dragons is another explanation for the dark magic involved.  It seems to me that Qaarth is an ancient outpost of Asshai and the great empire of the dawn.  The darkness that spreads over the world is the evil that originates in that place rather than a literal darkness.

I think GRRM might be going for something more literal by getting the inspiration of the Qartheen legend from the 1994 impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter. The comet was captured by Jupiter's gravity several years before, it cracked into 21 fragments in 1992, it was discovered in 1993 and finally impacted in 1994. This is the type of images that were published at the time (in false red):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Shoemaker-Levy_9_on_1994-05-17.png

Some extra info on this red comet:

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The "freight train" of fragments smashed into Jupiter with the force of 300 million atomic bombs. The fragments created huge plumes that were 1,200 to 1,900 miles (2,000 to 3,000 kilometers) high and heated the atmosphere to temperatures as hot as 53,000 to 71,000 degrees Fahrenheit (30,000 to 40,000 degrees Celsius). Shoemaker-Levy 9 left dark, ringed scars that were eventually erased by Jupiter's winds.<...>

Scientists have calculated that the comet was originally about 0.9 to 1.2 miles (1.5 to 2 kilometers) wide. If a similar-sized object were to hit Earth, it would be devastating. The impact might send dust and debris into the sky, creating a haze that would cool the atmosphere and absorb sunlight, enveloping the entire planet in darkness. If the haze lasted long enough, plant life would die – along with the people and animals that depend on it to survive.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/p-shoemaker-levy-9/in-depth/

[LynnS]

I remember this well.  Shoemaker-Levy had it's orbit around Jupiter.  You can see how devastating such an event would be.  A sun-grazing comet would break up in the same way and likely disintegrate.  It's still not impossible that there are smaller chunks left behind in the debris trail, which the planet would cross on it's orbit around the sun, giving you the thousand thousand dragon meteor shower.  Some of which might make it to the ground without causing too much damage or the damage is more localized.  

I suppose Martin could be taking artistic license but he did say the cause of the disjointed seasons was magical and not astronomical.  I assume that started with the first long night.

[Tucu]

4 hours ago, LynnS said:

I suppose Martin could be taking artistic license but he did say the cause of the disjointed seasons was magical and not astronomical.  I assume that started with the first long night.

GRRM has been adding images of the trees reaching-for/scratching the moon, the sun and the sky. These might a repetition to introduce the ability of trees to influence them.

In Bran IV in ASoS:

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It looked to offer better shelter than most of the other buildings, even though a crooked weirwood had burst up through the slate floor beside the huge central well, stretching slantwise toward the hole in the roof, its bone-white branches reaching for the sun. It was a queer kind of tree, skinnier than any other weirwood that Bran had ever seen and faceless as well, but it made him feel as if the old gods were with him here, at least.

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Pale moonlight slanted down through the hole in the dome, painting the branches of the weirwood as they strained up toward the roof. It looked as if the tree was trying to catch the moon and drag it down into the well

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It grew very quiet in the castle kitchen then. Bran could hear the soft crackle of the flames, the wind stirring the leaves in the night, the creak of the skinny weirwood reaching for the moon

In The Wayward Bride in ADwD:

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Deepwood was aptly named. The trees were huge and dark, somehow threatening. Their limbs wove through one another and creaked with every breath of wind, and their higher branches scratched at the face of the moon. The sooner we are shut of here, the better I will like it, Asha thought. The trees hate us all, deep in their wooden hearts.

In Jamie I ADwD:

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Inside the castle walls, however, a bit of the forest still remained. House Blackwood kept the old gods, and worshiped as the First Men had in the days before the Andals came to Westeros. Some of the trees in their godswood were said to be as old as Raventree's square towers, especially the heart tree, a weirwood of colossal size whose upper branches could be seen from leagues away, like bony fingers scratching at the sky.

 

[LynnS]

The quotes from Bran's chapter of the wierwood at the Night Fort where the tree branches are reaching/scratching for the moon are connected to moonlight and the Black Gate in some way:

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A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

"A man must know how to look before he can hope to see," said Lord Brynden. "Those were shadows of days past that you saw, Bran. You were looking through the eyes of the heart tree in your godswood. Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak. And the weirwood … a thousand human years are a moment to a weirwood, and through such gates you and I may gaze into the past."

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A Storm of Swords - Bran IV

It was white weirwood, and there was a face on it.

A glow came from the wood, like milk and moonlight, so faint it scarcely seemed to touch anything beyond the door itself, not even Sam standing right before it. The face was old and pale, wrinkled and shrunken. It looks dead. Its mouth was closed, and its eyes; its cheeks were sunken, its brow withered, its chin sagging. If a man could live for a thousand years and never die but just grow older, his face might come to look like that.

I think the Black Gate drinks in the light of the moon not unlike Sansa's amethyst hairnet:

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A Clash of Kings - Sansa VIII

It was a hair net of fine-spun silver, the strands so thin and delicate the net seemed to weigh no more than a breath of air when Sansa took it in her fingers. Small gems were set wherever two strands crossed, so dark they drank the moonlight. "What stones are these?"

"Black amethysts from Asshai. The rarest kind, a deep true purple by daylight."

The idea that weirwood doors are portals is underscored in Sansa's chapters at the Eyrie where you can go flying out the moon door, falling and tumbling to your death unless you can fly. 

In Arya;s chapters the weirwood/ebony moon doors of the House of Black and White are watching her:

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A Feast for Crows - Arya I

At the top she found a set of carved wooden doors twelve feet high. The left-hand door was made of weirwood pale as bone, the right of gleaming ebony. In their center was a carved moon face; ebony on the weirwood side, weirwood on the ebony. The look of it reminded her somehow of the heart tree in the godswood at Winterfell. The doors are watching me, she thought. She pushed upon both doors at once with the flat of her gloved hands, but neither one would budge. Locked and barred. "Let me in, you stupid," she said. "I crossed the narrow sea." She made a fist and pounded. "Jaqen told me to come. I have the iron coin." She pulled it from her pouch and held it up. "See? Valar morghulis."

 

 The moon is a constant background presence in Bran's chapters and moon imagery is everywhere.  Scratching or reaching for the moon seems more connected with moonlight and magic and moon doors/gates than anything else.

 

[LynnS]

9 hours ago, Tucu said:

GRRM has been adding images of the trees reaching-for/scratching the moon, the sun and the sky. These might a repetition to introduce the ability of trees to influence them.

Anyway, you should follow your own intuition and never mind what I say.  I have a known bias for the astronomy of ASOIAF that isn't easily shaken. 

[LynnS]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:10 AM, Frey family reunion said:

As an aside, I wonder if we first met Moqorro way back in the early days of AGOT:

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They stepped past the eunuch into a pillared courtyard overgrown in pale ivy. Moonlight painted the leaves in shades of bone and silver as the guests drifted among them. Many were Dothraki horselords, big men with red-brown skin, their drooping mustachios bound in metal rings, their black hair oiled and braided and hung with bells. Yet among them moved bravos and sellswords from Pentos and Myr and Tyrosh, a red priest even fatter than Illyrio, hairy men from the Port of Ibben, and lords from the Summer Isles with skin as black as ebony.”

The similarities between Mopatis and Moqorro pop up on occasion, including the description of Mopatis floating or light on his feet.  They use the same form of verbal deception to manipulate Viserys and Victarion:

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A Game of Thrones - Daenerys I

Her brother, sprawled out on his pillows beside her, never noticed. His mind was away across the narrow sea. "We won't need his whole khalasar," Viserys said. His fingers toyed with the hilt of his borrowed blade, though Dany knew he had never used a sword in earnest. "Ten thousand, that would be enough, I could sweep the Seven Kingdoms with ten thousand Dothraki screamers. The realm will rise for its rightful king. Tyrell, Redwyne, Darry, Greyjoy, they have no more love for the Usurper than I do. The Dornishmen burn to avenge Elia and her children. And the smallfolk will be with us. They cry out for their king." He looked at Illyrio anxiously. "They do, don't they?"

"They are your people, and they love you well," Magister Illyrio said amiably. "In holdfasts all across the realm, men lift secret toasts to your health while women sew dragon banners and hide them against the day of your return from across the water." He gave a massive shrug. "Or so my agents tell me."

Dany had no agents, no way of knowing what anyone was doing or thinking across the narrow sea, but she mistrusted Illyrio's sweet words as she mistrusted everything about Illyrio. Her brother was nodding eagerly, however. "I shall kill the Usurper myself," he promised, who had never killed anyone, "as he killed my brother Rhaegar. And Lannister too, the Kingslayer, for what he did to my father."

 

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A Dance with Dragons - Victarion I

"Take care, priest," Victarion warned him. "There are godly men aboard this ship who would tear out your tongue for speaking such blasphemies. Your red god will have his due, I swear it. My word is iron. Ask any of my men."

The black priest bowed his head. "There is no need. The Lord of Light has shown me your worth, lord Captain. Every night in my fires I glimpse the glory that awaits you."

Those words pleased Victarion Greyjoy mightily, as he told the dusky woman that night. "My brother Balon was a great man," he said, "but I shall do what he could not. The Iron Islands shall be free again, and the Old Way will return. Even Dagon could not do that." Almost a hundred years had passed since Dagon Greyjoy sat the Seastone Chair, but the ironborn still told tales of his raids and battles. In Dagon's day a weak king sat the Iron Throne, his rheumy eyes fixed across the narrow sea where bastards and exiles plotted rebellion. So forth from Pyke Lord Dagon sailed, to make the Sunset Sea his own. "He bearded the lion in his den and tied the direwolf's tail in knots, but even Dagon could not defeat the dragons. But I shall make the dragon queen mine own. She will share my bed and bear me many mighty sons."

Mopatis gives Dany three dragon eggs.  He gives Aegon three square cut rubies to wear on a chain around his neck.

Then there is the title magister, the root of magisterium:

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The term magisterium is based on the Latin word for “teacher” (magister). In contemporary Catholic usage, it has several meanings. First, it refers to the teaching authority which Christ has given to the Church. Here the term refers to the authority itself, not those who exercise it

I wonder a magister is an official or agent of the Red Religion.

 

 

 

[LynnS]

WOW!  Dune Part 1 is pretty good.

[LynnS]

The soundscape and visual design of Dune is spectacular.  Like nothing I've seen or heard before.  Sardaukar throat singing in some kind of military quasi-religious ritual that will make your hair stand on end:

sardaukar throat singing #dune #dunemovie #dunebook - YouTube

Bagpipes for Black Crow; plus best beard (Duke Leto) and best depiction of a body shield yet:

Dune 2021 House Atreides Bagpipe March - YouTube

Best thopter ever imagined:

 Ornithopter Start - YouTube

 

[Back in Black-Snow]

I have never seen, read or played Dune. Never read Wheel of Time, either, although I liked the show.

I was never a fan of fantasy until I read Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. Then I picked up A Game of Thrones and dove into the ASOIAF universe.

[LynnS]

33 minutes ago, Back in Black-Snow said:

I have never seen, read or played Dune.

You don't have to have any background reading to understand this adaptation of the books.  The beats are pretty straight forward.  I was really surprised to find out that Stellan Skarsgard (the serial killer the the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was the villain in Dune - the Baron Harkonnen.  The prosthetics are seamless and I didn't recognize him except around the eyes.  As good as Gary Oldman as Churchill.  I didn't recognize him either.  Skarsgard really pitches his voice in a gravelly low-register but you can still hear a bit of his Swedish accent. 

[alienarea]

9 hours ago, LynnS said:

You don't have to have any background reading to understand this adaptation of the books.  The beats are pretty straight forward.  I was really surprised to find out that Stellan Skarsgard (the serial killer the the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was the villain in Dune - the Baron Harkonnen.  The prosthetics are seamless and I didn't recognize him except around the eyes.  As good as Gary Oldman as Churchill.  I didn't recognize him either.  Skarsgard really pitches his voice in a gravelly low-register but you can still hear a bit of his Swedish accent. 

A small Swedish accent seems fitting for a character named Harkonnen, though that sounds a bit Finnish

Anyway, back to ASoIAF. Maybe the red comet is a diversion from the fallen star that was used for Dawn? I guess there must have been more material than what was used for Dawn, maybe that is where the glass candles originate from? And is Dawn needed to destroy those and put the seasons back in synch?

[LynnS]

3 hours ago, alienarea said:

A small Swedish accent seems fitting for a character named Harkonnen, though that sounds a bit Finnish

Anyway, back to ASoIAF. Maybe the red comet is a diversion from the fallen star that was used for Dawn? I guess there must have been more material than what was used for Dawn, maybe that is where the glass candles originate from? And is Dawn needed to destroy those and put the seasons back in synch?

My guess is that the Wall is causing the long summer/winters.  Because it also exists to keep wights and white walkers from invading the realm; the Walls can't come down until whatever causes the wights and white walkers to exist are brought down.

I don't know if Dawn destroys the big bad (for lack of a better word) or halts it's progress and pushes it back, traps it in a prison surrounded by light.  Because the BB wasn't eliminated the last time around.  It was stopped.

When we talk about hearts of stars and trees; I think we are really talking about the soul.  Some trees have black hearts and are filled with hate and rage or so the faces carved on the trees tell us.  That's a snapshot of the GSeer or sacrifice inhabiting the tree or that once inhabited the tree.  Not all heart trees depict the same thing.

The fallen star sounds a lot like one of the seven Andal gods, stars that came down from the sky and walked the earth. The warrior (of light).  If you have to be worthy of the sword, that means your heart and soul must be worthy or true, selfless and willing to sacrifice themselves.  So not literally made of the heart of a fallen star (comet or meteor).

So we're probably looking for a flawed hero.  Someone who has to undergo a number of trials that cleanse or elevate the soul until they reach a state of transcendence.  I suspect whomever achieves that state will become one with the sword and that will manifest as light in the sword.

The fiery sword of R'hllor seems to use fire and blood magic to create it's blade with a heart and soul.  It requires a more literal sacrifice.

Comets are depicted as these swords but they act as signs and portents of prophecy.  They tell us when something will happen.

 

[LynnS]

Possible foreshadowing that Oathkeeper will become a red sword:
 

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A Storm of Swords - Tyrion IV

Tyrion wondered where the metal for this one had come from. A few master armorers could rework old Valyrian steel, but the secrets of its making had been lost when the Doom came to old Valyria. "The colors are strange," he commented as he turned the blade in the sunlight. Most Valyrian steel was a grey so dark it looked almost black, as was true here as well. But blended into the folds was a red as deep as the grey. The two colors lapped over one another without ever touching, each ripple distinct, like waves of night and blood upon some steely shore. "How did you get this patterning? I've never seen anything like it."

"Nor I, my lord," said the armorer. "I confess, these colors were not what I intended, and I do not know that I could duplicate them. Your lord father had asked for the crimson of your House, and it was that color I set out to infuse into the metal. But Valyrian steel is stubborn. These old swords remember, it is said, and they do not change easily. I worked half a hundred spells and brightened the red time and time again, but always the color would darken, as if the blade was drinking the sun from it. And some folds would not take the red at all, as you can see. If my lords of Lannister are displeased, I will of course try again, as many times as you should require, but—"

"No need," Lord Tywin said. "This will serve."

"A crimson sword might flash prettily in the sun, but if truth be told I like these colors better," said Tyrion. "They have an ominous beauty . . . and they make this blade unique. There is no other sword like it in all the world, I should think."

 

And a golden lion's head pommel with ruby eyes.

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A Feast for Crows - Brienne VIII

Another of the outlaws stepped forward, a younger man in a greasy sheepskin jerkin. In his hand was Oathkeeper. "This says it is." His voice was frosted with the accents of the north. He slid the sword from its scabbard and placed it in front of Lady Stoneheart. In the light from the firepit the red and black ripples in the blade almost seem to move, but the woman in grey had eyes only for the pommel: a golden lion's head, with ruby eyes that shone like two red stars.

 

  

[LynnS]

Ghost - born with th dead or fruit of the dead?

A Game of Thrones - Jon VIII

Awkwardly, Jon took the sword in hand. His left hand; his bandaged right was still too raw and clumsy. Carefully he pulled it from its scabbard and raised it level with his eyes.

The pommel was a hunk of pale stone weighted with lead to balance the long blade. It had been carved into the likeness of a snarling wolf's head, with chips of garnet set into the eyes

The word garnet is derived from Latin “granatum” which means seed ,(the seed is strong) and is called so because of the gemstone’s resemblance to the beautifully red seeds of the pomegranate.

The Greeks were familiar with the fruit far before it was introduced to Rome via Carthage, and it figures in multiple myths and artworks.[61] In Ancient Greek mythology, the pomegranate was known as the "fruit of the dead", and believed to have sprung from the blood of Adonis.[60][62]

Pomegranate - Wikipedia

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A Game of Thrones - Jon VIII

That grim thought soured Jon's fragile mood. "I need to see Hobb about the Old Bear's supper," he announced brusquely, sliding Longclaw back into its scabbard. His friends meant well, but they did not understand. It was not their fault, truly; they had not had to face Othor, they had not seen the pale glow of those dead blue eyes, had not felt the cold of those dead black fingers. Nor did they know of the fighting in the riverlands. How could they hope to comprehend? He turned away from them abruptly and strode off, sullen. Pyp called after him, but Jon paid him no mind.

They had moved him back to his old cell in tumbledown Hardin's Tower after the fire, and it was there he returned. Ghost was curled up asleep beside the door, but he lifted his head at the sound of Jon's boots. The direwolf's red eyes were darker than garnets and wiser than men. Jon knelt, scratched his ear, and showed him the pommel of the sword. "Look. It's you."

 

Adonis:

- a beautiful youth loved by both Aphrodite and Persephone. He was killed by a boar, but Zeus decreed that he should spend the winter of each year in the underworld with Persephone and the summer months with Aphrodite.

Robert Baratheon, your tall, dark and handsome type:

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A Game of Thrones - Eddard XV

He found himself thinking of Robert more and more. He saw the king as he had been in the flower of his youth, tall and handsome, his great antlered helm on his head, his warhammer in hand, sitting his horse like a horned god. He heard his laughter in the dark, saw his eyes, blue and clear as mountain lakes. "Look at us, Ned," Robert said. "Gods, how did we come to this? You here, and me killed by a pig. We won a throne together …"