Fitting Dawn in with House Stark

[Curled Finger]

Thanks @Seams, i learned no less than 3 things from your post.  I am still in that weird little closet that causes me to examine the names of the swords.  My thinking is if Dawn is Lightbringer and is to have some use in the Battle for Dawn surely House Stark has som relationship with this sword--of course I was thinking during the 1st battle for Dawn, but nothijng is writtent hat says so.   I remain unsure if Dawn is really Lightbringer or a wicked red herring.  Same as it ever was my friend.  

To your post:  Do you really think it is possible that Brienne could step into the role of Sword of the Morning?  Have I misunderstood personifying Dawn?  

[Northern Sword]

On 1/7/2022 at 9:14 PM, Curled Finger said:

At the mouth of the Torrentine, House Dayne raised its castle on an island where that roaring, tumultuous river broadens to meet the sea. Legend says the first Dayne was led to the site when he followed the track of a falling star and there found a stone of magical powers.    TWOIAF Dorne: Kingdoms of the First Men.  

Sorry, I should have made that more official originally.  

I'm not sure if you want a discussion or a simple nit picking session.   Either way thank you for offering some clarifying statements for those who may not understand about the forging of metal.  

Iron Ore has to be extracted from rock or stone.

[Corvo the Crow]

.

[Alexis-something-Rose]

Just a quick disclaimer. I did not read the whole thread because it's seven pages long and I'm lazy. Sorry if some things are repeating here.

Sometime ago, I was going through ACoK looking for comet references and came out with something that might be interesting for this thread.

When we start removing all the propaganda surrounding it and what people think it means, we are left with something really interesting, imo.

Starting in Dany's final chapter in AGoT, when the comet appears in the sky, she calls it the "dragon's tail." It's called "dragonsbreath" in the prologue, ACoK. It's called "dragon's tail" by the servants of the Red Keep in Sansa I, ACoK and Old Nan tells Bran in his first chapter of ACoK "it be dragons."

Meanwhile, in Arya I, ACoK, we are introduced to Red Sword (spelled exactly like this) and the notion of sacrifice. Gendry says that the comet looks like a sword that's freshly out of the forge, but Arya thinks that this is what her father's sword, Ice, would have looked like with his blood upon it. A sword named Ice with Stark blood on it.

So there is an association going on between the comet, dragons and swords. Then we are introduced to the story of Nissa Nissa, Azor Ahai and Lightbringer.

But the kicker, I think, comes from Bran III, ACoK. Bran is at the harvest feast where the song "The Night That Ended" is being played. It's a song about the Night's Watch riding forth to meet the Others in the Battle for the Dawn. Then Bran goes to bed and suddenly thinks about his father telling him about Dawn and how it was forged from the heart of a fallen star. 

Then comes Sam I, AFfC and we find out that the last hero was killing the Others with a blade of dragonsteel. I would imagine that the last hero is wielding this sword. When the Fist of the First Men was attacked and we get the recap of what happened from Sam, there's all sort of Azor Ahai/Lightbringer imagery there with Thoren Smallwood before he gets his head taken off by the undead bear.

And when Waymar Royce encounters the Others, the one he fought takes his time to examine the sword. The Other's eyes fixed the longsword trembling on high, watched the moonlight running cold along the metal. Waymar's sword has no heat.

But it's really the expectation of the Other that we should really consider. I'm sure the Other knows that Waymar Royce is a man of the Night's Watch. On top of being described like Jon Snow, slender, grey-eyed, it seems like the Other is expecting the man of the Night's Watch to be wielding the blade of dragonsteel. 

If the comet is associated with dragons, then a sword that was forged from it 8,000 to 10,000 years ago might have simply been called dragonsteel before it was given an actual name. 

I don't think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Starks. I think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Night's Watch. I am the sword in the darkness, the light that brings the dawn. This is the reason the Night's Watch exists. So it seems like taking one of the tools that can keep the Others in check that far away south is a little counterproductive. And you don't keep an order like that around if you think the threat is completely gone.

We should probably talk about the Horn of Winter too. If the Horn of Winter is with Sam in Oldtown, then this is the closest that the sword in the darkness (if it's Dawn, obviously) and the horn that wakes the sleeper (if the horn is in fact the Horn of Winter) have been since the end of the Long Night. And considering what's going on near the Arbor with Euron, I don't think it's a coincidence.

[Curled Finger]

4 hours ago, Northern Sword said:

Iron Ore has to be extracted from rock or stone.

Not sure it works that way in fantasy worlds.  But thanks.  

[Curled Finger]

4 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Brienne's CoA is quartered moons and suns, Tarth has a smaller island nearby, Morne, where Galladon of Morne with the magical sword Just Maid originated. House Tarths male ancestry is in all likelihood from Galladon of Morne, if the CoA was quartered correctly.

Gotta love this stuff really.

[Julia H.]

3 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Just a quick disclaimer. I did not read the whole thread because it's seven pages long and I'm lazy. Sorry if some things are repeating here.

Sometime ago, I was going through ACoK looking for comet references and came out with something that might be interesting for this thread.

When we start removing all the propaganda surrounding it and what people think it means, we are left with something really interesting, imo.

Starting in Dany's final chapter in AGoT, when the comet appears in the sky, she calls it the "dragon's tail." It's called "dragonsbreath" in the prologue, ACoK. It's called "dragon's tail" by the servants of the Red Keep in Sansa I, ACoK and Old Nan tells Bran in his first chapter of ACoK "it be dragons."

Meanwhile, in Arya I, ACoK, we are introduced to Red Sword (spelled exactly like this) and the notion of sacrifice. Gendry says that the comet looks like a sword that's freshly out of the forge, but Arya thinks that this is what her father's sword, Ice, would have looked like with his blood upon it. A sword named Ice with Stark blood on it.

So there is an association going on between the comet, dragons and swords. Then we are introduced to the story of Nissa Nissa, Azor Ahai and Lightbringer.

But the kicker, I think, comes from Bran III, ACoK. Bran is at the harvest feast where the song "The Night That Ended" is being played. It's a song about the Night's Watch riding forth to meet the Others in the Battle for the Dawn. Then Bran goes to bed and suddenly thinks about his father telling him about Dawn and how it was forged from the heart of a fallen star. 

Then comes Sam I, AFfC and we find out that the last hero was killing the Others with a blade of dragonsteel. I would imagine that the last hero is wielding this sword. When the Fist of the First Men was attacked and we get the recap of what happened from Sam, there's all sort of Azor Ahai/Lightbringer imagery there with Thoren Smallwood before he gets his head taken off by the undead bear.

And when Waymar Royce encounters the Others, the one he fought takes his time to examine the sword. The Other's eyes fixed the longsword trembling on high, watched the moonlight running cold along the metal. Waymar's sword has no heat.

But it's really the expectation of the Other that we should really consider. I'm sure the Other knows that Waymar Royce is a man of the Night's Watch. On top of being described like Jon Snow, slender, grey-eyed, it seems like the Other is expecting the man of the Night's Watch to be wielding the blade of dragonsteel. 

If the comet is associated with dragons, then a sword that was forged from it 8,000 to 10,000 years ago might have simply been called dragonsteel before it was given an actual name. 

I don't think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Starks. I think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Night's Watch. I am the sword in the darkness, the light that brings the dawn. This is the reason the Night's Watch exists. So it seems like taking one of the tools that can keep the Others in check that far away south is a little counterproductive. And you don't keep an order like that around if you think the threat is completely gone.

We should probably talk about the Horn of Winter too. If the Horn of Winter is with Sam in Oldtown, then this is the closest that the sword in the darkness (if it's Dawn, obviously) and the horn that wakes the sleeper (if the horn is in fact the Horn of Winter) have been since the end of the Long Night. And considering what's going on near the Arbor with Euron, I don't think it's a coincidence.

The Night's Watch calls the comet "Mormont's Torch". That can also be a way of associating the Night's Watch with the image of light + sword. 

[Corvo the Crow]

.

[Curled Finger]

3 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Just a quick disclaimer. I did not read the whole thread because it's seven pages long and I'm lazy. Sorry if some things are repeating here.

Sometime ago, I was going through ACoK looking for comet references and came out with something that might be interesting for this thread.

When we start removing all the propaganda surrounding it and what people think it means, we are left with something really interesting, imo.

Starting in Dany's final chapter in AGoT, when the comet appears in the sky, she calls it the "dragon's tail." It's called "dragonsbreath" in the prologue, ACoK. It's called "dragon's tail" by the servants of the Red Keep in Sansa I, ACoK and Old Nan tells Bran in his first chapter of ACoK "it be dragons."

Meanwhile, in Arya I, ACoK, we are introduced to Red Sword (spelled exactly like this) and the notion of sacrifice. Gendry says that the comet looks like a sword that's freshly out of the forge, but Arya thinks that this is what her father's sword, Ice, would have looked like with his blood upon it. A sword named Ice with Stark blood on it.

So there is an association going on between the comet, dragons and swords. Then we are introduced to the story of Nissa Nissa, Azor Ahai and Lightbringer.

But the kicker, I think, comes from Bran III, ACoK. Bran is at the harvest feast where the song "The Night That Ended" is being played. It's a song about the Night's Watch riding forth to meet the Others in the Battle for the Dawn. Then Bran goes to bed and suddenly thinks about his father telling him about Dawn and how it was forged from the heart of a fallen star. 

Then comes Sam I, AFfC and we find out that the last hero was killing the Others with a blade of dragonsteel. I would imagine that the last hero is wielding this sword. When the Fist of the First Men was attacked and we get the recap of what happened from Sam, there's all sort of Azor Ahai/Lightbringer imagery there with Thoren Smallwood before he gets his head taken off by the undead bear.

And when Waymar Royce encounters the Others, the one he fought takes his time to examine the sword. The Other's eyes fixed the longsword trembling on high, watched the moonlight running cold along the metal. Waymar's sword has no heat.

But it's really the expectation of the Other that we should really consider. I'm sure the Other knows that Waymar Royce is a man of the Night's Watch. On top of being described like Jon Snow, slender, grey-eyed, it seems like the Other is expecting the man of the Night's Watch to be wielding the blade of dragonsteel. 

If the comet is associated with dragons, then a sword that was forged from it 8,000 to 10,000 years ago might have simply been called dragonsteel before it was given an actual name. 

I don't think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Starks. I think it's a matter of fitting Dawn with the Night's Watch. I am the sword in the darkness, the light that brings the dawn. This is the reason the Night's Watch exists. So it seems like taking one of the tools that can keep the Others in check that far away south is a little counterproductive. And you don't keep an order like that around if you think the threat is completely gone.

We should probably talk about the Horn of Winter too. If the Horn of Winter is with Sam in Oldtown, then this is the closest that the sword in the darkness (if it's Dawn, obviously) and the horn that wakes the sleeper (if the horn is in fact the Horn of Winter) have been since the end of the Long Night. And considering what's going on near the Arbor with Euron, I don't think it's a coincidence.

It is so good to see you @Alexis-something-Rose!  I couldn't agree more--my obstacle is as always the single mindedness in composing the topic.   I believe a Stark began the NW in his role as The Last Hero.  So yes, you are absolutely right, let's fit Dawn in with the NW.  I find no fault or even any tin foil in anything you wrote, but as usual you have given some structure to my errant thoughts.  In all those pages you missed you will find your question:  Why is the tool of light so far away from where it's needed?  Now I like what you did reminding me that the little horn is right there too.  Dawn and the horn are literally parts of the NW oath.   No coincidence in the new proximity, but why would they link up in Old Town of all places? 

Curveball question:  What could Euron have to do with Dawn or the Horn?  Nightfall is right there too and odds are looking good for Lord Reaper Jerk to take possession of.  You know well that I believe the names of the swords portent something about their use or future wielder.  No idea how, but I do expect frickin Euron to use Nightfall in some way to advance, engage, activate or advance this Long Night I keep expecting to happen.  Ick.  Are you thinking both light items will be of some use in Old Town?   

[Curled Finger]

6 minutes ago, Julia H. said:

The Night's Watch calls the comet "Mormont's Torch". That can also be a way of associating the Night's Watch with the image of light + sword. 

Another nice catch.  Thank you.  

[Seams]

3 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

So there is an association going on between the comet, dragons and swords. 

ASoS, Jon IV:

He had once heard his uncle Benjen say that the Wall was a sword east of Castle Black, but a snake to the west. It was true. Sweeping in over one huge humped hill, the ice dipped down into a valley, climbed the knife edge of a long granite ridgeline for a league or more, ran along a jagged crest, dipped again into a valley deeper still, and then rose higher and higher, leaping from hill to hill as far as the eye could see, into the mountainous west.

I think we will see more than one Dawn and / or Lightbringer as the story lines reach their resolutions, but this is one of them:

ACoK, Jon IV:

A length of frayed rope bound the bundle together. Jon unsheathed his dagger and cut it, groped for the edges of the cloth, and pulled. The bundle turned, and its contents spilled out onto the ground, glittering dark and bright. He saw a dozen knives, leaf-shaped spearheads, numerous arrowheads. Jon picked up a dagger blade, featherlight and shiny black, hiltless. Torchlight ran along its edge, a thin orange line that spoke of razor sharpness. Dragonglass. What the maesters call obsidian. Had Ghost uncovered some ancient cache of the children of the forest, buried here for thousands of years? The Fist of the First Men was an old place, only . . .

The "razor" reference is probably a coded allusion to Azor Ahai. 

[Corvo the Crow]

.

[Julia H.]

Obsidian!

Continuing my Night's Watch / Day's Watch ideas (is it becoming a theory now?), we have Dawn which has the colour of milkglass, and we have "shiny black" obsidian daggers. We have never heard of a sword made of obsidian, I think, but what if there was one, and it belonged to the Night's Watch as the white sword belongs to the Day's Watch? (Arthur Dayne was a White Sword himself on account of being a Kingsguard.) 

Quote

 Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. 

The burning blade may be red, but what if its own colour is actually black? Black ice, black Ice, armour and weapon, a black blade for the Night, a white blade for the Day.

[Julia H.]

One more thing...

Obsidian, frozen fire (ice fire?), dragonglass.

Dawn: the colour of milkglass.

Milk is white, a dragon can be black (obsidian certainly is).

Glass can refer to a looking glass, a mirror. Mirror images.

And now a special shout-out to @Curled Finger: 

Job Snow + Ned Dayne: milk brothers.

[Curled Finger]

3 hours ago, Julia H. said:

Obsidian!

Continuing my Night's Watch / Day's Watch ideas (is it becoming a theory now?), we have Dawn which has the colour of milkglass, and we have "shiny black" obsidian daggers. We have never heard of a sword made of obsidian, I think, but what if there was one, and it belonged to the Night's Watch as the white sword belongs to the Day's Watch? (Arthur Dayne was a White Sword himself on account of being a Kingsguard.) 

The burning blade may be red, but what if its own colour is actually black? Black ice, black Ice, armour and weapon, a black blade for the Night, a white blade for the Day.

A friend and I fought over this for a year.  It's true a burning sword really could be any color--fire is all pretty much the same...er except maybe dragon fire.  However seeing as you've brought this up--Jon's Red Sword, The white Dayne Sword and of course our grey to black Valyrian Steel.  I don't think I've ever wanted Red Rain to actually be red so much as in this moment.  Camouflaged blade color is a great place to start with ideas about any of the swords we might expect Jon to wield.  

I think we are all in a good place for theorizing lately.  It was a relief to get this silly idea off my chest and enjoy so many ideas from such different perspectives.  I hope you get a topic posted so we can see what else can grow from this idea.   We have all this West/East contrast and similarity, why not North/South points of defense?   We have after all, got this impending doom at the Wall mostly because we know there was an event long before.    We don't know what Battle Island was for and we know dragons visited there.  I doubt they were making cupcake pops on a place with a name like Battle Island!   The Dayne star landed THERE, not North.  I will be mightily surprised if Dawn doesn't actually have a role to play at the Wall.  Should it shake out that it doesn't (blast it all anyway) I've got this idea to assure me Dawn is for something I simply don't have history on.  

Don't stray too far we will eventually get to a sword/hero match up.   There are 3 swords I can't decide on a hero for.  Well honestly, I have lost a sword in all this too, though I had Euron locked to Nightfall--it's just easier when I can see why the match is made.   Gads, now I have to figure out if Dawn or Caggo's arakh or that stupid axe will take it's place among the heroes.   Of course if we add the axe Asha can be among the contenders!   All is not lost yet!

[Curled Finger]

4 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

I’ve never noticed this! Have we’ve been told that obsidian goes into making of VS? 

Not specifically.  We add this because of the effect dragon glass has on Others.   VS almost has to have it since we don't know of anything else that does the trick.  We already have an unknown wootz, spells, dragonfire and probably blood magic--it's not like obsidian could hurt even a little bit.  It's magic, Dude!  

[LynnS]

I do like the idea that Longclaw is Mormont's Torch and that it can be made into a fiery sword. However, I still think there is more than one way to magic up a sword and I'm hard pressed to just look for one light emitting sword.  Especially when we know that obsidian can be used to do just that.  So I think the Dawn Sword and AA's Lightbringer are two entirely different legendary weapons.  

As for the sword Ice. I don't think we should be looking for a valyrian steel blade.  House Stark's ancestral sword could be the Wall itself with all it's sword and ice dragon imagery.  The most effective weapon that can be used against the darkness is light and I can imagine lighting up the Wall to make a shield using these other swords,  Chief among them the Dawn Sword if anyone can figure out how to flip the switch.  But is has to make it's way to the Wall.

As for who can claim it; I think the sword will have several sword bearers on it's journey beginning with Edric Dayne and then Brienne.  Whether she wields it herself as the Just Maid and passes it onto the Perfect Knight will be interesting to see.

As for Joramund's Horn of Winter;  it appears that horn is in Sam's possession but the article needed to repair it is in Tormund's possession.   

Edit:

The horn is cracked and chipped at the rim:

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Jon V

It must have been buried for a reason.

He had made a dagger for Grenn as well, and another for the Lord Commander. The warhorn he had given to Sam. On closer examination the horn had proved cracked, and even after he had cleaned all the dirt out, Jon had been unable to get any sound from it. The rim was chipped as well, but Sam liked old things, even worthless old things. "Make a drinking horn out of it," Jon told him, "and every time you take a drink you'll remember how you ranged beyond the Wall, all the way to the Fist of the First Men." He gave Sam a spearhead and a dozen arrowheads as well, and passed the rest out among his other friends for luck.

 

Could it be missing a metal band?

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Jon XI

"Har!" Tormund laughed. That had not changed either; he still laughed easily and often. "Wise words. I'd not want you crows to peck me to death." He slapped Jon's back. "When all my folk are safe behind your Wall, we'll share a bit o' meat and mead. Till then …" The wildling pulled off the band from his left arm and tossed it at Jon, then did the same with its twin upon his right. "Your first payment. Had those from my father and him from his. Now they're yours, you thieving black bastard."

The armbands were old gold, solid and heavy, engraved with the ancient runes of the First Men. Tormund Giantsbane had worn them as long as Jon had known him; they had seemed as much a part of him as his beard. "The Braavosi will melt these down for the gold. That seems a shame. Perhaps you ought to keep them."

"No. I'll not have it said that Tormund Thunderfist made the free folk give up their treasures whilst he kept his own." He grinned. "But I'll keep the ring I wear about me member. Much bigger than those little things. On you it'd be a torque."

 

The cracked horn appears to be banded in bronze:

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Jon IV

Beneath the dragonglass was an old warhorn, made from an auroch's horn and banded in bronze. Jon shook the dirt from inside it, and a stream of arrowheads fell out. He let them fall, and pulled up a corner of the cloth the weapons had been wrapped in, rubbing it between his fingers. Good wool, thick, a double weave, damp but not rotted. It could not have been long in the ground. And it was dark. He seized a handful and pulled it close to the torch. Not dark. Black.

Or has Jon mistaken old gold for bronze:

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Jon X

"Yes," Mance said. "The Horn of Winter, that Joramun once blew to wake giants from the earth."

The horn was huge, eight feet along the curve and so wide at the mouth that he could have put his arm inside up to the elbow. If this came from an aurochs, it was the biggest that ever lived. At first he thought the bands around it were bronze, but when he moved closer he realized they were gold. Old gold, more brown than yellow, and graven with runes.

 

 

[Alexis-something-Rose]

14 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Morne was a settlement of Andals and it’s in ruins for a long time, they live in the female side of the quarters, Evenfall on Tarth, which is of first men origin and the lord is of course called Evenstar. Daughter of Evenstar, with a Morne ancestor using a morning star got herself a special sword like her ancestor.

I have a theory that the people who settled Morne on Tarth are in fact people from the Mountains of the Morn in The Great Empire of the Dawn and that Galladon's sword the Just Maid is in fact Dawn. Galladon was the perfect knight. Only someone worthy can wield Dawn. And there's really a whole wordplay going on. The Mountains of the Morn (mountains of the morning), located in the Great Empire of the Dawn, for House Day(ne) with the sword Dawn.

If we take the story of Galladon and move it to the Mountains of the Morne, we end up with the same elements. The Maid becomes the Maiden-Made-of-Light. The mountains are near the Five Forts which we were told were built to defend against the demons of the Lion of Night. Lion of Night, Long Night. 

The Just Maid could not be checked by regular steel. When Jaime thinks back on Arthur fighting the Smiling Knight, he says that the Smiling Knight's sword was notched so badly that Arthur stopped the fight to allow him to get a new sword.

14 hours ago, Julia H. said:

The Night's Watch calls the comet "Mormont's Torch". That can also be a way of associating the Night's Watch with the image of light + sword. 

A flaming sword. The fire that burns against the cold.

14 hours ago, Curled Finger said:

Curveball question:  What could Euron have to do with Dawn or the Horn?  Nightfall is right there too and odds are looking good for Lord Reaper Jerk to take possession of.  You know well that I believe the names of the swords portent something about their use or future wielder.  No idea how, but I do expect frickin Euron to use Nightfall in some way to advance, engage, activate or advance this Long Night I keep expecting to happen.  Ick.  Are you thinking both light items will be of some use in Old Town?   

Hey right back! I don't think the sword or the horn have anything to do with Euron. For me, it makes sense that both the horn and the sword are in the south where the opening salvo of the Long Night happens. As far as I understand it, the first Long Night didn't start in the north of Westeros, it started all the way in Essos.

The Horn of Winter and the Horn of Joramun are the same. The horn was allegedly used by Joramun once. But I don't think it has the power to bring the Wall down as has been speculated. I think Joramun blew the horn to bring the Stark in Winterfell down to the Wall because of what was going on at the Nightfort with the Night's King. The wildlings did not start out as wildlings living beyond the Wall. They were First Men who more than likely fought the Others during the Long Night. I think that they were members of the original Night's Watch who remained in the far north to warn against the Others. That's why the horn ends up north of the Wall. And when Jon finds it, he finds it with obsidian which we know the children were giving the NW and which we know kills the Others.

The horn is now with Sam of Horn Hill. And Sam seems to be slowly becoming the embodiment of his House. The sigil of House Tarly is the striding huntsman. Sam has been learning archery and he's getting good at it. And he's now in possession of the horn. 

I think the horn is meant to rally people to fight, waking the sleepers. So perhaps it has binding "properties" to it. In the song the Night that Ended, one of the Umbers present pulls takes out a horn that he blows just as the Night's Watch is about to go to war against the Others. It's a bit hard to explain while trying to make this as short as possible, but I have an essay on it here. Bran III, ACoK is the chapter that transitions things from the sword to the horn. Jon finds the cache or dragonglass right after.

One thing I forgot to mention in my OP is that Bran after remembering that Dawn was forged from the heart of a fallen star goes to bed with his head filled with knights fighting with swords that shone like starfire which is an immediate callback to the comet.

14 hours ago, Seams said:

ASoS, Jon IV:

He had once heard his uncle Benjen say that the Wall was a sword east of Castle Black, but a snake to the west. It was true. Sweeping in over one huge humped hill, the ice dipped down into a valley, climbed the knife edge of a long granite ridgeline for a league or more, ran along a jagged crest, dipped again into a valley deeper still, and then rose higher and higher, leaping from hill to hill as far as the eye could see, into the mountainous west.

I think we will see more than one Dawn and / or Lightbringer as the story lines reach their resolutions, but this is one of them:

ACoK, Jon IV:

A length of frayed rope bound the bundle together. Jon unsheathed his dagger and cut it, groped for the edges of the cloth, and pulled. The bundle turned, and its contents spilled out onto the ground, glittering dark and bright. He saw a dozen knives, leaf-shaped spearheads, numerous arrowheads. Jon picked up a dagger blade, featherlight and shiny black, hiltless. Torchlight ran along its edge, a thin orange line that spoke of razor sharpness. Dragonglass. What the maesters call obsidian. Had Ghost uncovered some ancient cache of the children of the forest, buried here for thousands of years? The Fist of the First Men was an old place, only . . .

The "razor" reference is probably a coded allusion to Azor Ahai. 

So I think you might like this if you haven't looked into it yet. So there is a lot of emphasis put on the map that Stannis uses in ADwD. I think there's foreshadowing of a falling out between Jon and Stannis, but there's just a lot more to unpack and I haven't had the time to circle back to it.

The king laid his bright blade down on the map, along the Wall, its steel shimmering like sunlight on water. (Jon I, ADwD)

Jon moved to the map. Candles had been placed at its corners to keep the hide from rolling up. A finger of warm wax was puddling out across the Bay of Seals, slow as a glacier. (Jon IV, ADwD)

I think there is some foreshadowing going on here regarding the Long Night.

[LynnS]

6 minutes ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

The king laid his bright blade down on the map, along the Wall, its steel shimmering like sunlight on water. (Jon I, ADwD)

Great post!  Love the above quote.  I'm with you on Gallandan of Morne and the story of the Just Maid.

As for the horn of winter, it wakes giants in the earth who are sleeping and it binds them to the horn.  I think the giants were the greatest of GSeers who come to the defence of the First Men.  They maintain the wards on the Wall and the curtain of light.

Joramun blew the horn for that reason.  He was asking for the gods to aid them.  The horn has been disabled so it can't be blown again.  Jon questions what would occur if that happened;  if it would put the giants back to sleep.  That would cause the wards to fail and the Walls would fall.

My two cents.    

[LynnS]

22 hours ago, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Starting in Dany's final chapter in AGoT, when the comet appears in the sky, she calls it the "dragon's tail." It's called "dragonsbreath" in the prologue, ACoK. It's called "dragon's tail" by the servants of the Red Keep in Sansa I, ACoK and Old Nan tells Bran in his first chapter of ACoK "it be dragons."

I think Martin has really done his homework on Great Comets.  The red comet in Giotta's painting of the nativity, the birth of a new god/king.  Or the painting of the great comet of 1577 by Ferrarra depicting a comet as a dragon.

Other descriptions of that same comet described as another moon:

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Using all the records to estimate the orbit, it seems that the perihelion was on October 27. The first recorded observation is from Peru,[4] 5 days later: the accounts noted that it was seen through the clouds like the Moon. On November 7, in Ferrara, Italy, architect Pirro Ligorio described "the comet shimmering from a burning fire inside the dazzling cloud."[5] On November 8, it was reported by Japanese astronomers with a Moon-like brightness and a white tail spanning over 60 degrees.[6][4]

And Luwin tells Bran:

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A Clash of Kings - Bran I

"They want to hunt," agreed Gage the cook as he tossed cubes of suet in a great kettle of stew. "A wolf smells better'n any man. Like as not, they've caught the scent o' prey."

Maester Luwin did not think so. "Wolves often howl at the moon. These are howling at the comet. See how bright it is, Bran? Perchance they think it is the moon."

 

I tend to resist the idea that there were once two moons in the sky.  Or the moon flew too close to the sun and drank in it's fires unless we are talking about an eclipse.  

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A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion VIII

Only the brightest stars were visible, all to the west. A dull red glow lit the sky to the northeast, the color of a blood bruise. Tyrion had never seen a bigger moon. Monstrous, swollen, it looked as if it had swallowed the sun and woken with a fever. Its twin, floating on the sea beyond the ship, shimmered red with every wave. "What hour is this?" he asked Moqorro. "That cannot be sunrise unless the east has moved. Why is the sky red?"

 

Otherwise it could be a sun-grazing comet that disappears around the sun and then returns.  Observations of such a comet in 1680:

great-comet-of-1680-royal-institution-of-great-britain.jpg (900×628) (fineartamerica.com)

For more images of red comets and great comets, just google great comets in history and look at images.  So say hello to the return of Khal Drogo's star riding his fiery stallion.