Fitting Dawn in with House Stark

[TheBlackSwan]

5 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Add to that their wacky seasons, and there arises a problem of how do they even keep track of their years.  Through astrology perhaps? By the way, do we even know that they use solar calendar for their years? Even now there are lunar calendars in our world and thousands of years ago, iirc, there were calendars that were neither lunar nor solar.

Say, their months are lunar and one cycle of their moon is 30 days and they have decided that 12 months, 360 days, is one year, but what if their sun actually takes not 360 days but say, 3600, to turn around their world(of course the sun revolves around the earth, these are medieval people after all! If anyone disagrees, Melisandre can reserve a good place for them in the next pyre) this by itself would make years of winter and summer without any magical intervention.

GRRM confirmed it's a fantasy explanation:

« I have gotten a number of fan letters over the years from readers who are trying to figure out the reason for why the seasons are the way they are. They develop lengthy theories: perhaps it’s a multiple-star system, and what the axial tilt is, but I have to say, “Nice try, guys, but you’re thinking in the wrong direction.” This is a fantasy series. I am going to explain it all eventually, but it’s going to be a fantasy explanation. It’s not going to be a science-fiction explanation. »

 

16 hours ago, Curled Finger said:

Much easier to swallow now that my time line is straighten out.  I had a chance to go back over your posts here and you make a really nice argument for the dragonsteel being made at this time.   I love it!   

Though I do think obsidian is an ingredient--maybe just dust, but it seems this is the material that hurts those pesky Others.    

Maybe but it's not the obsidian per se that does the damage, it's the magic that it contains « I've given it magical characteristics that of course real obsidian doesn't necessarily have. » and since it's call "frozen fire" or "dragonglass", we can assume it's fire magic and fire magic would hurt a being made of ice magic.
Martin said that to make Valyriansteel you need « forging techniques and spells, actually. There is magic involved in the making of Valyrian steel. » Qohorik smith knows the spells and the forging techniques to rework VS. They are also making a steel that is almost as good as VS and for that they do blood sacrifice. It's still not as good as VS because I think that, even if they have the forging techniques and the blood sacrifice, they don't know the spells for VS. Only the Valyrians had the right spells, the Valyrians and maybe those who taught them: the Children of the Forest. They know magic, they have obsidian and, with the Last Hero / Azor Ahai, and a human sacrifice, Nissa Nissa, they made the first Valyriansteel sword known as dragonsteel sword, Lightbringer.

[LynnS]

9 minutes ago, Julia H. said:

Dawn:

The swords of the ancient kings in Dany's dream:

The Other's blade:

The word glow isn't used anywhere. Dawn is alive with light, the Other's blade is alive with moonlight, has a faint blue shimmer and a ghost light. The dream swords were of pale fire, so we can suppose they may have let out light. I looked up "pale fire", and I came to this quote by Shakeaspeare:

“The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”

So the pale fire can be reference to the moonlight and that ties the swords of Dany's ancient kings directly to the swords of the Others. 

I subscribe to the theory which says the ancient kings in Dany's dream are the emperors of the Great Empire of the Dawn, so no surprise if a sword with this name is indeed tied to them.

That does not make Dawn any less unique in the contemporary world.

This is excellent stuff!  We're getting into the dichotomy of the sword of the evening/sword of the morning - the sun and the moon.  Julia did you post an OP about Ser Galladan and the Just Maid?  

[Curled Finger]

3 minutes ago, Julia H. said:

Dawn:

The swords of the ancient kings in Dany's dream:

The Other's blade:

The word glow isn't used anywhere. Dawn is alive with light, the Other's blade is alive with moonlight, has a faint blue shimmer and a ghost light. The dream swords were of pale fire, so we can suppose they may have let out light. I looked up "pale fire", and I came to this quote by Shakeaspeare:

“The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”

So the pale fire can be reference to the moonlight and that ties the swords of Dany's ancient kings directly to the swords of the Others. 

I subscribe to the theory which says the ancient kings in Dany's dream are the emperors of the Great Empire of the Dawn, so no surprise if a sword with this name is indeed tied to them.

That does not make Dawn any less unique in the contemporary world.

Ah very good and thank you for the clarification on this glowing.   I knew there was a description of Dawn doing something somewhere--I just had the wrong word.   Alive with light indeed.   Now your pale fire is another interesting thing but I will relate it to the pale blue fire of the swords Jamie and Brienne wield in Jamie's weirwood dream.  I'm sorry Julia H, I never imagined the kings in Dany's vision were Others so this is new to me.   Maybe all the dream swords cast off this pale sort of luminescence?   

Your Shakespeare quote took me immediately to our kissed by fire Wildlings and this is an excellent passage to toss into our light salad.  Her pale fire she snatches from the sun--so dreams no?  

Well in a roundabout way I sort of agree with you about the GEotD being the kings in the vision.  I'm not great with all the causes for TLN or prehistoric churches.   Do you really think The Others were created in the Dawn Age by the Emperors?   Or I guess it's just the Bloodstone Emperor, right?  

And you are right, Dawn has no comparison among the weapons we actually know of.  You're just on fire yourself in this conversation and I thank you for getting the quotes straight for me!   Would still be interested in any other comments @Damsel in Distress may have had.  

[LynnS]

3 minutes ago, TheBlackSwan said:

GRRM confirmed it's a fantasy explanation:

« I have gotten a number of fan letters over the years from readers who are trying to figure out the reason for why the seasons are the way they are. They develop lengthy theories: perhaps it’s a multiple-star system, and what the axial tilt is, but I have to say, “Nice try, guys, but you’re thinking in the wrong direction.” This is a fantasy series. I am going to explain it all eventually, but it’s going to be a fantasy explanation. It’s not going to be a science-fiction explanation.

I believe he also said that it's not caused by an astronomical phenomena and that it's cause is magical.

[Curled Finger]

1 hour ago, Damsel in Distress said:

Dawn is similar in appearance to the ones in Daenerys' dream.  Ancient kings lined the hallway, encouraging her on.  In their hands they held glowing swords.  Dawn is not unique.

There is an opposing connection.  The Starks have a weapon which will usher in the cold and the dark.  Dark and cold is the Stark's milieu.

Starfall and Winterfell are opposites.  Winterfell is where winter begins.  Starfall is where the weapon which could help turn back the Starks and Winter began.  Bran Stark will use wights as weapons.  Dawn has the power to extinguish the wights.  A Stark will not have Dawn. 

No.  It is more likely that the Sword of the Morning fought the Starks of old.  I will submit to you that the chain of events which began the Long Night started at the Tower of Joy.  The Dark Stark killed The Sword of the Morning.  Darkness triumphed over the Light in that place. 

Dayne =/= Stark

 

Thanks for dropping the rest of your comments in.   I never want to miss anything!  I hope you had a chance to see where @Julia H. straightened me out on your original post, so I do understand better now.   

I do see the correlation and contrast between Dawn and Ice geographically and ideologically as you and other have described.  Unless ancestral Ice is somewhere the Starks don't have the weapon you think they do.  I'm just not seeing The Starks, who are played up as heroes, being nasty bad guys destroying the world.   This isn't a new concept to me, I just don't understand it...yet!

Thanks again, for the further explanation you give in closing.  I'm not sold that Ice is the opposite of Dawn.   If we go exclusively by sword names Nightfall is the opposite of Dawn.   If you've got any sword name that relates to Ice whether like as in Lady Forlorn and Lamentation or opposite as in Nightfall and Dawn I will gladly read it.   And please, I don't mean to nit pick you at all, I just honestly don't see where Starks are the opposite of Daynes here.  I get the locations are separate but does that have to indicate the houses or their purposes are at odds with each other?  

Lots to think about here.

[Julia H.]

1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

To be honest Julia H, I am not sure about Ice or Nightfall or Dawn.  Had a conversation a while back where more than one  poster made a really good case for Longclaw actually being ancestral Ice.   At this point I am leaning that way, the only real difference being that Longclaw is a bastard sword and thereby smaller than both VS Ice and Dawn.   Does it matter?  Maybe.

I love this idea, too! I suppose if it is true, then Ice was guarded / hidden on the Wall (why?) all those years, and the wight attack convinced Mormont that it was time again that Ice was wielded by a Stark. Maybe Dawn is the "watcher" sword while the day lasts and Ice is the one to protect the realm with while the Night reigns. I wonder how much knowledge Mormont took into his grave.

51 minutes ago, LynnS said:

This is excellent stuff!  We're getting into the dichotomy of the sword of the evening/sword of the morning - the sun and the moon.  Julia did you post an OP about Ser Galladan and the Just Maid?  

Thanks, but no, I didn't. 

49 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

I'm sorry Julia H, I never imagined the kings in Dany's vision were Others so this is new to me.   Maybe all the dream swords cast off this pale sort of luminescence?   

Your Shakespeare quote took me immediately to our kissed by fire Wildlings and this is an excellent passage to toss into our light salad.  Her pale fire she snatches from the sun--so dreams no?  

Well in a roundabout way I sort of agree with you about the GEotD being the kings in the vision.  I'm not great with all the causes for TLN or prehistoric churches.   Do you really think The Others were created in the Dawn Age by the Emperors?   Or I guess it's just the Bloodstone Emperor, right?  

I don't know if the Others were created by the GEofD people, but the swords might. I read it all in LmL's theory, and he also proposed that both the Daynes and the Valyrians were (separately) descended from these people, and that the cause of the first Long Night had to do with the sins of the Bloodstone Emperor. I don't think the kings in the dream were Others, just kings, but the blades are similar if the pale fire means moonlight. Perhaps the emperors (who were of superhuman origin) were turned into Others somehow after their deaths (just blame it on the Bloodstone Emperor!). 

No, I don't really think the Others are the Emperors, but the swords (Dawn and the Emperors' swords and perhaps the Other's blade) may have been made using the same magic. All this leads me to the question what we make of the similarity between the Other's blade and  Dawn. Were they made of the same material? Apparently, neither of them contains human metal. If they are made of the same material and / or with the same (magical) technology, who made them?

[LynnS]

This has been very interesting!  You've tired me out.    I'm going to take a break.

[Curled Finger]

5 minutes ago, Julia H. said:

I love this idea, too! I suppose if it is true, then Ice was guarded / hidden on the Wall (why?) all those years, and the wight attack convinced Mormont that it was time again that Ice was wielded by a Stark. Maybe Dawn is the "watcher" sword while the day lasts and Ice is the one to protect the realm with while the Night reigns. I wonder how much knowledge Mormont took into his grave.

Thanks, but no, I didn't. 

I don't know if the Others were created by the GEofD people, but the swords might. I read it all in LmL's theory, and he also proposed that both the Daynes and the Valyrians were (separately) descended from these people, and that the cause of the first Long Night had to do with the sins of the Bloodstone Emperor. I don't think the kings in the dream were Others, just kings, but the blades are similar if the pale fire means moonlight. Perhaps the emperors (who were of superhuman origin) were turned into Others somehow after their deaths (just blame it on the Bloodstone Emperor!). 

No.  Actually LC being Ice explains the mystery of House Mormont!  In having Longclaw they are stewards of the Heroes of the Long Night.   Safekeeping the weapon from creatures such as Kings beyond the Wall or even a Night King.   Who would look for a legendary weapon, perhaps even a magical weapon on Bear Island?   Longclaw doesn't even have a history of it's own!  I think the idea does a stellar job explaining why Jorah left it and why Maege sent if off to Jeor instead of keeping it on Bear Island.   These Mormonts know much more than they let on.  However, I do tend to think all the swords belong to the Wall in one way or another--with the possible exception of Dawn of course.  

Ah LmL of course.   I should have recognized that.  Aren't we in the real world all descended from the cradle of civilization?  Not just Valyria or Daynes but all 100% human people would have descended from the Emperors in some way right?  that our swords would be ancient as far back as GEotD does not surprise me or rather would not surprise me.  However, as we see so clearly in the current story, their real purpose is lost to time.  As was the Nights Watch purpose or Battle Island's purpose.  As arm chair detectives it is OUR job to figure out their purpose, dream visions be damned!  

[Corvo the Crow]

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[Corvo the Crow]

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[Curled Finger]

2 hours ago, TheBlackSwan said:

GRRM confirmed it's a fantasy explanation:

« I have gotten a number of fan letters over the years from readers who are trying to figure out the reason for why the seasons are the way they are. They develop lengthy theories: perhaps it’s a multiple-star system, and what the axial tilt is, but I have to say, “Nice try, guys, but you’re thinking in the wrong direction.” This is a fantasy series. I am going to explain it all eventually, but it’s going to be a fantasy explanation. It’s not going to be a science-fiction explanation. »

 

Maybe but it's not the obsidian per se that does the damage, it's the magic that it contains « I've given it magical characteristics that of course real obsidian doesn't necessarily have. » and since it's call "frozen fire" or "dragonglass", we can assume it's fire magic and fire magic would hurt a being made of ice magic.
Martin said that to make Valyriansteel you need « forging techniques and spells, actually. There is magic involved in the making of Valyrian steel. » Qohorik smith knows the spells and the forging techniques to rework VS. They are also making a steel that is almost as good as VS and for that they do blood sacrifice. It's still not as good as VS because I think that, even if they have the forging techniques and the blood sacrifice, they don't know the spells for VS. Only the Valyrians had the right spells, the Valyrians and maybe those who taught them: the Children of the Forest. They know magic, they have obsidian and, with the Last Hero / Azor Ahai, and a human sacrifice, Nissa Nissa, they made the first Valyriansteel sword known as dragonsteel sword, Lightbringer.

I have an article from the Washington Post bookmarked.   This article is from the 1980's I think and goes to the making of Damascus Steel, which we know Martin based Valyrian Steel upon.   Would you be surprised to read that they really did temper swords in the urine of red haired slaves and sometimes even their hearts?  I love that, sorry.      

Whether magic or natural ingredient doesn't really matter when spells are involved anyway, right?  Damascus Steel involved both wootz, which is the material,  and a forging process.  The article even gives us methods for tempering so add that in.  I don't know that obsidian needs to be discounted or made important.   Obsidian gives us 1 thing to connect lost methods of making a magical item to something tangible in the current story--and a bit of historical story.   Obsidian is in it's way a sort of hope for the reader.   

[Curled Finger]

27 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

No, please no. I seriously hope we won't see this kind of Nazgûl thing. Noticing stuff that is taken directly out of the Dune has already taken a lot of the joy of the story for me, I can't bear another thing like that.

Dark and Light are as much part of ASOIAF as well Ice and Fire.  Nazgul things are fun in the right setting.  

[Curled Finger]

43 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

The sword of the evening, Vorian Dayne was the last Dayne king and he went to the NW so both of these can also be related to his nick name: Perhaps he was sword of the morning and when he went to NW he was later called evening, or because it was during his kingship that the Dayne kingdom stopped to exist that he was called sword of the evening.

On the subject off the subject, I thought it was really telling about Dorne, House Dayne specifically, that Nymeria married a Sword of the Morning.   Celibacy is not all it's cracked up to be.  

[Corvo the Crow]

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[Curled Finger]

11 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

It's not that I'm against Nazgul things, It's that the universe has already taken a lot from others and I'm not talking about references here and there but core elements or at least things that you can consider as important.

Facedancers / faceless men

Sapho / Shade of the evening

Maesters / likely a hybrid of Bene Gesserit and Mentats

Weirwood paste that will wake Brandon's abilities as a greenseer / Water of Life that makes Paul Kwisatz Haderach

and a few others just from Dune alone. I'm not much of a science fiction and fantasy reader so others who are into these genre may find other things from other series.

 

Ah back where we belong!  Corvo, would you be interested in ASOIAF to the point you would post your thoughts if there were not so many familiar places to observe your thoughts from?  I get not really enjoying some of the places Martin goes--the easter eggs and all that crazy Lovecraft stuff.  I've used ASOIAF as a springboard to some wonderful reading.  And wasn't I just the most clever girl on the planet to discover Dagon (Greyjoy) when reading some Lovecraft myself?   No?  How about finding a Jets or Giants player from the right time frame with the name Wheaton?  I don't watch football and single handedly discovered who Ser Warrick Wheaton is or was rather.  This is all part of the fun and magic and mystery of ASOIAF, my friend.  Discovery in familiar places.  Go on with your bad self and cool cross references. 

[Egged]

5 hours ago, LynnS said:

Sure.  Why not, if there's a kind of Luke Skywalker situation involved. Whatever GRRM means by that:

Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen on Theon’s Finale Speech, His Daddy Issues, and George R.R. Martin’s Love of Lily Allen (vulture.com)

Or this!

Quote

Burning shafts hissed upward, trailing tongues of fire. Scarecrow brothers tumbled down, black cloaks ablaze. "Snow," an eagle cried, as foemen scuttled up the ice like spiders. Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. He slew a greybeard and a beardless boy, a giant, a gaunt man with filed teeth, a girl with thick red hair. Too late he recognized Ygritte. She was gone as quick as she'd appeared.

The world dissolved into a red mist. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. He hacked down Donal Noye and gutted Deaf Dick Follard. Qhorin Halfhand stumbled to his knees, trying in vain to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. "I am the Lord of Winterfell," Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Then a gnarled hand seized Jon roughly by the shoulder. He whirled …

Totally became Darth Vader in the dream.

[Corvo the Crow]

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[LynnS]

Just now, Egged said:

Or this!

Totally became Darth Vader in the dream.

I'll try not to throw off the OP; but he isn't just talking about Jon but Dany, Jamie and Cersei as well, as far as incest is concerned and that affects the succession.  I don't think incest includes the Starks.  If Jon should discover that Lyanna is his mother while still thinking that Ned is his father; that would certainly screw him up.  But as far as Darth Vader goes Ned is his uncle rather than his father.

I think the Darth Vader parallel comes up in Dany's POV:

A Game of Thrones - Daenerys IX

Quote

 

"… the dragon …"

And saw her brother Rhaegar, mounted on a stallion as black as his armor. Fire glimmered red through the narrow eye slit of his helm. "The last dragon," Ser Jorah's voice whispered faintly. "The last, the last." Dany lifted his polished black visor. The face within was her own.

 

So if we are going a bit Luke Skywalker here it's suggesting that Rhaegar is Dany's father and not her brother.  But it's George, so who knows what he's up to.

The question of succession does seem to include Jon in the mix.

[Curled Finger]

1 minute ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Most of that stuff are just little nods etc. though, which is nice, but foundations of the worldbuilding being straightly taken from other literature with little to no changes is not. I still enjoy ASOIAF for it's characters, storytelling etc. but knowing what I know now, it takes a bit out of the joy.

I had a topic years ago--of course about the swords.  This was a popular topic and I flat abandoned it in despair when a poster brought in swords from a game.   I really do get the too much sometimes.  

[Seams]

10 hours ago, Curled Finger said:

Our friend @Seams has done a ton of research on the crown of the King In the North and that is precisely where your post took me in trying to get a handle on House Stark. 

Thanks for putting me in the loop here.

I skimmed the first page and read the last page but haven't looked at the other four pages of comments in this thread, so I apologize if I'm repeating things that have already been said. I suspect this is an entirely different tangent, however. I'll toss it into the mix, for what it's worth.

What if, in this generation, the swords are not swords per se. 

For instance, as earlier comments have pointed out, The Wall could represent the sword Ice. I really like that the smith Donal Noye "gives" The Wall to Jon Snow before he dies within The Wall. (Is this like Ned being executed by the blade of his own sword?)

With regard to Dawn, the morning star weapons leap out as replacements for the legendary sword or, at least, echoes of that sword. Three characters who use morning stars are Brienne (defeating Ser Loras in the melee at Bitterbridge), Ser Dontos Hollard (comically using a melon morning star to hit Sansa over the head in an attempt to distract Joffrey, who is intent on causing greater harm to Sansa) and - I did not fully absorb until your post caused me to look at old threads:

Maege Mormont stood. "The King of Winter!" she declared, and laid her spiked mace beside the swords. And the river lords were rising too, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had never been ruled from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades, bending their knees and shouting the old words that had not been heard in the realm for more than three hundred years, since Aegon the Dragon had come to make the Seven Kingdoms one … yet now were heard again, ringing from the timbers of her father's hall:

"The King in the North!"

"The King in the North!"

"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"

(AGoT, Catelyn XI)

Another name for a spiked mace is a morning star. That means that these two female warriors, Maege and Brienne, both use morning stars. And Ser Dontos is closely linked to Sansa so maybe there is subtle language or symbolism that will tell us that Sansa makes a third female warrior with a morning star.

Hmm. Now I'm wondering whether Olenna naming her son Mace might also be part of the morning star symbolism?

The melon morning star is likely also linked to Aerys ordering fruit-shaped containers to be used as wildfire grenades, Arya throwing the blood orange at Sansa and other linked fruit and weapon symbolism. In keeping with the OP, and the goal of connecting Dawn to House Stark, it's probably relevant that Ser Jorah Mormont gives a sweet little peach to Dany, Lord Commander Mormont gives a sword to Jon Snow, and Maege Mormont gives (pledges) her morning star to Robb Stark. 

I suspect the parallels between these two women warrior characters (Maege and Brienne) also extends to their island homes - one in the east and one in the west. If we're looking for connections, a "morning star" that comes from Bear Island could also fulfill that "sun rises in the west" condition that Mirri Maz Duur laid out in Dany's arc. (Like a lot of prophecies and cryptic stories, I suspect many major characters must follow the steps prescribed by visionaries such as Quaithe, Mirri Maz Duur, Old Nan, Maggie the Frog, etc.)

Another clue about Dawn is hiding in plain sight: the person who possesses and wields the sword is known as The Sword of the Morning. Similarly, the Lords of Tarth are known as the Evenstar. It might be that GRRM will substitute a person for a sword we are seeking, not just The Wall or a mace. 

If we should look for Dawn personified, and we are seeking a connection to House Stark, I would put my money on Brienne. She started out with a morning star at Bitterbrige, she joins (peach-eater) Renly's Rainbow Guard, she takes Renly's sword when he dies, then she pledges her loyalty and service to Lady Stark. Brienne loses Renly's sword (she is surprisingly vague about how that sword is lost, given her adoration of Renly) and takes another sword which she puts into storage after receiving a third sword, Oathkeeper, from Jaime Lannister. She gives the second sword to Dick Crabb who loses it in the weeds when his knee is shattered by a morningstar swung by the fool, Shagwell. (Ser Dontos and Shagwell are parallels, though, because Brienne believes she is on the trail of Ser Dontos and Sansa during her quest to Crackclaw Point. So I don't know whether this counts as a fourth person using a morningstar, or whether Shagwell is just a variation on a theme.)

So Brienne has the requisite three swords that put her in the Azor Ahai club. She is in service to a Stark (albeit Lady Stark). And it appears that she may be the force that will create a symbolic Trident River: Brienne probably represents the blue fork of the Trident as she is always linked to the color blue (sapphires, beautiful blue eyes, blue bardings on her horse at Bitterbridge, the blue cloak for Renly's rainbow guard). Jaime probably represents the Red Fork because of Lannister crimson. (I'm not 100% comfortable with Jaime as red because GRRM is consistent in differentiating between Lannister crimson and other shades he calls red. But Oathkeeper has ripples of red and the shared Stark-Jaime-Brienne provenance of that sword might be enough to satisfy the symbolic Red Fork requirement.) The Green Fork could be either/both Renly, who wears green armor and has a bunch of other green symbolism, or Catelyn who is thrown in the Green Fork before being revived on the riverbank (by a man betrothed to a Dayne) as Lady Stoneheart. These three characters are bonded by a shared quest in the dungeon at Riverrun.

Before Brienne came into her life, Catelyn had her "sword without a hilt" problem when she grabbed the sharp blade of the catspaw's dagger. If Brienne can bring together the three forks of the symbolic Trident so that they flow together like the literal river that runs through the Riverlands, this could be the equivalent of creating a hilt for the weapon.

Another potentially relevant person who may personify Dawn: I am a big believer that Septa Mordane is a very important character. I don't know whether her importance is symbolic or whether she is a major character in disguise. One reason I suspect she is important is that her head is mounted next to Ned's on the wall at the Red Keep. I don't think GRRM would throw in this detail for no reason. Is "Mordane" an allusion to "Dayne"? A big part of her job is teaching needlework to Sansa, Arya and (I believe) Jeyne Poole. Arya will receive a sword called Needle. Is GRRM setting up an ironic "sword of the morning" situation where one or more of the Stark girls is anointed as the Sword of the Morning? 

But I realize this is not a sword-specific solution to linking Dawn to House Stark. Just my usual trip down the literary analysis rabbit hole.