Sea of Sighs

[Fool Stands On Giant’s Toe]

The Sea of Sighs.  
The Sea of Sighs an inland sea of central Essos.  
At its northeastern tip is the city of Mantarys, where a mountain river flows into the sea. Its waters are colored red.

After the Doom of Valyria the inland sea turned red. Monsters and freaks are known to call Mantarys home. Demons are said to walk on the shores of Sighs. Where the red waves crash lurking within the mists.

What if it’s a red plankton in the sea or something akin to legionnaires disease? Inhaling the salt air may face some side effects. There may be less that aligns to the cause or more effects. But I think this is a good start to a memorable discussion.
 

[Fool Stands On Giant’s Toe]

 

[Tyrosh Lannister]

Could be some radioactive plankton or radioactive red algae. Could also be lava beneath the water making it appear red

[Fool Stands On Giant’s Toe]

15 minutes ago, Tyrosh Lannister said:

lava beneath the water

I like that.  Occasional volcanic flow creates mist and red glows. It awakens the imagination to fire, earth, water, and air.  

[Craving Peaches]

Blood...

It could be some sort of chemical pollution or a magical equivalent?

[Sandy Clegg]

The Sea of Sighs looks a lot like a sea of blood on the official maps. I'm certainly not going camping on its shores any time soon.

So, there's an interesting connection between 'painful sighs' and Maester Ebrose,  in Pate's prologue of AFFC:

"Pate, though . . .

He had been five years at the Citadel, arriving when he was no more than three-and-ten, yet his neck remained as pink as it had been on the day he first arrived from the westerlands. Twice had he believed himself ready. The first time he had gone before Archmaester Vaellyn to demonstrate his knowledge of the heavens. Instead he learned how Vinegar Vaellyn had earned that name. It took Pate two years to summon up the courage to try again. This time he submitted himself to kindly old Archmaester Ebrose, renowned for his soft voice and gentle hands, but Ebrose's sighs had somehow proved just as painful as Vaellyn's barbs."

 

Interestingly, Maester Ebrose is mentioned in AWOIAF as having studied butterfly fever which is found on the island of Naath, whose inhabitants were once enslaved by Valyria. Here are its symptoms:

 

"Fever is the first sign of the disease, followed by painful spasms that make the victims seem to be dancing wildly and uncontrollably. In the last stage, those afflicted sweat blood, and their flesh sloughs from their bones."

 

So if this is the "sea of Ebrose's sighs' then perhaps this so-called butterfly fever is found there, and has something to do with its grim reputation. Note that these symptoms are very similar to what Thistle experiences when Varamyr Sixskins skinchanges into her body against her will and she fights him:

 

Quote

He summoned all the strength still in him, leapt out of his own skin, and forced himself inside her.

Thistle arched her back and screamed.

Abomination. Was that her, or him, or Haggon? He never knew. His old flesh fell back into the snowdrift as her fingers loosened. The spearwife twisted violently, shrieking. His shadowcat used to fight him wildly, and the snow bear had gone half-mad for a time, snapping at trees and rocks and empty air, but this was worse. "Get out, get out!" he heard her own mouth shouting. Her body staggered, fell, and rose again, her hands flailed, her legs jerked this way and that in some grotesque dance as his spirit and her own fought for the flesh. She sucked down a mouthful of the frigid air, and Varamyr had half a heartbeat to glory in the taste of it and the strength of this young body before her teeth snapped together and filled his mouth with blood. She raised her hands to his face. He tried to push them down again, but the hands would not obey, and she was clawing at his eyes. Abomination, he remembered, drowning in blood and pain and madness. When he tried to scream, she spat their tongue out.

The white world turned and fell away. For a moment it was as if he were inside the weirwood, gazing out through carved red eyes as a dying man twitched feebly on the ground and a madwoman danced blind and bloody underneath the moon, weeping red tears and ripping at her clothes. Then both were gone and he was rising, melting, his spirit borne on some cold wind.

Red tears, a red inland sea. Horrifying symptoms of flesh sloughing from your bones. Valyria is not on my bucket list!

 

 

 

[Rondo]

3 hours ago, Fool Stands On Giant’s Toe said:

The Sea of Sighs.  
The Sea of Sighs an inland sea of central Essos.  
At its northeastern tip is the city of Mantarys, where a mountain river flows into the sea. Its waters are colored red.

After the Doom of Valyria the inland sea turned red. Monsters and freaks are known to call Mantarys home. Demons are said to walk on the shores of Sighs. Where the red waves crash lurking within the mists.

What if it’s a red plankton in the sea or something akin to legionnaires disease? Inhaling the salt air may face some side effects. There may be less that aligns to the cause or more effects. But I think this is a good start to a memorable discussion.
 

Red clay upstream can have the same effect where the water meets the ocean.  

[Tyrosh Lannister]

14 hours ago, Rondo said:

Red clay upstream can have the same effect where the water meets the ocean.  

And the Painted mountains are a little north of the sea. Maybe the rivers from these colorful mountains carry red coloured soil/clay into the sea?

 

 

On a side note, I find the lands of the long summer very interesting. I did not know before today that it was the most fertile land in all the world before the doom. Also, why aren't they called the lands of always summer instead of long summer? the valyrian peninsula being so south would make the area always warm right?

[Sandy Clegg]

1 hour ago, Tyrosh Lannister said:

On a side note, I find the lands of the long summer very interesting. I did not know before today that it was the most fertile land in all the world before the doom. Also, why aren't they called the lands of always summer instead of long summer?

Long summer, the Long Night ... GRRM loves his parallels.

[Tyrosh Lannister]

1 hour ago, Sandy Clegg said:

Long summer, the Long Night ... GRRM loves his parallels.

Heart of winter somewhere in the far north, heart of summer in the volcanoes of valyria ?

[Sandy Clegg]

10 minutes ago, Tyrosh Lannister said:

Heart of winter somewhere in the far north, heart of summer in the volcanoes of valyria ?

A Song of Ice and Fire!

OK, while we're on Valyria, has anyone ever looked at this map and thought that the top bit of Valyria kind of looks like an evil pig face? The skin tone and the piggy ears:

Valyria map

Compare it with this mask:

Pig mask

I was thinking about this as Maseter Embrose comes up in the Pate prologue chapter.

Pate the Pig Boy. Could be GRRM using some symbolism here, as the Faceless Man take on Pate's face? And Valyria is shrouded or 'masked' in mystery ...

[Seams]

How does this compare with Red Lake? It used to be Blue Lake but turned red after Brandon of the Bloody Blade killed many Children of the Forest on its shore: their blood turned the water red. The dragon Silverwing went into self-exile there after the Dance of the Dragons. 

[Evolett]

8 hours ago, Sandy Clegg said:

Long summer, the Long Night ... GRRM loves his parallels.

Why the fandom has hardly paid attention to the Valyrian Land of the Long Summer and its parallel of Long Night or Land of Always Winter has always baffled me to be honest. A Great Summer, one that never ends, is also mentioned several times in the story.  

Quote

“When I was a boy,” Tyrion replied, “my wet nurse told me that one day, if men were good, the gods would give the world a summer without ending. Perhaps we’ve been better than we thought, and the Great Summer is finally at hand.” He grinned. 

Quote

“To be sure, King Maekar’s summer was hotter than this one, and near as long.
There were fools, even in the Citadel, who took that to mean that the Great Summer had come at last, the summer that never ends, but in the seventh year it broke suddenly, and we had a short autumn and a terrible long winter. 

The smallfolk believe in this Great Summer and even some of the maesters expect it. Great endless summers will eventually be as disastrous as long winters. I posted thoughts on that a while ago here.  

 

As to the Sea of Sighs, perhaps we should have a look at the various red seas and Red Lake, mentioned by @Seams for more ideas. What I notice is that Valyria is practically cordoned off northwards by the inland sea and mountains. That's similar to the Bleeding Sea in the far east, which together with the Five Forts and what I think is a mountain range further south, separates the Grey Waste from the rest of Essos.  

[Evolett]

A few more observations on the Sea of Sighs:

Mantarys is a city at  the northeastern tip of the Sea of Sighs. It has a sinister reputation and is thought to be populated by monsters. The Valyrian demon road, also considered very dangerous, passes through it to Meereen. Mantarys was not a Free City and had no self-rule. The Valyrians administered it themselves.

Similarly, above the Bleeding Sea east of the Bones mountains lies Nefer, the Secret City, also a location with a sinister reputation, a haunt of necromancers and torturers. 

Both Sea of Sighs and Bleeding Sea are red inland lakes (or saltwater lakes?). The blood-red colouring of the Bleeding Sea is said to be caused by a blooming plant. Perhaps this is also true for the Sea of Sighs.

A blooming plant - blood blooms. Like flowers. 
The references to monsters, necromancy and torturing in connection with a blooming plant rather remind me of the appearance of the wighted Othor and by extension, Jafer Flowers:

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Jon remembered Othor; he had been the one bellowing the bawdy song as the rangers rode out. His singing days were done. His flesh was blanched white as milk, everywhere but his hands. His hands were black like Jafer’s. Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the mortal wounds that covered him like a rash, breast and groin and throat. Yet his eyes were still open. They stared up at the sky, blue as sapphires.

And we have more red blooms suddenly appearing over night when Ned, Sansa and Arya sleep beneath the Oak Heart Tree at King's Landing:

Quote

Sansa drifted to sleep as the moon rose, Arya several hours later, curling up in the grass under Ned’s cloak. All through the dark hours he kept his vigil alone. When dawn broke over the city, the dark red blooms of dragon’s breath surrounded the girls where they lay. 

Blooms of dragon's breath and blooms of blood. So let's assign these to the two lakes:

Blooms of dragon's breath may be connected to the Sea of Sighs. A sigh is exhaled breath. Dragon also links to Valyria being in control of Mantarys. 

Blood blooms of the undead then correspond to the Bleeding Sea. Necromancy is mentioned specifically in the case Nefer, the Secret City above the Bleeding Sea. 

 

Sea of Sighs: perhaps related to "the way of the Seven Sighs," taught to the slave girls and boys of Yunkai meant for the brothels? Ghis is an anagram of "sigh." 

Mantarys - maybe a play on the Manta Ray fish? Fish do have a certain importance and symbolism of the story. The Manta Ray, though a relatively harmless filterfeeder, was considered devilish because of its horn-shaped fins which give them an evil appearnce. Fits in with Mantarys being a haunt of monsters. Arya and Sansa who lie amongst blooms of dragon's breath are symbolic "half-fish" through their Tully mother (trout).  

Interesting. Don't know quite what to make of it yet but there is something there. An idea is forming.