The Great Other things…

[Nadden]

For many of the readers of ASOIAF, the ones  that have spent countless hours exploring and rereading the books, the ones that have participated on discussion boards and watch YouTube videos, the ones that like to analyze the text to find deeper meaning, I’ve found an interesting parallel image created by Martin.

 

Taking a look at the structure of both the Prologue and first chapter of AGOT you’ll  note that each chapter spans two scenes: the opening quarrel between the rangers, Waymar’s duel; and then Gared‘s beheading, and the mother direwolf scene. It’s the last two scenes in each chapter that I’ll be comparing: the setting of Waymar’s duel in AGOT, Prologue and the mother direwolf scene in AGOT, Bran.

 

In the open scene of the Prologue, the young ranger Will has already reported back to his green commander, Ser Waymar Royce. Waymar, deciding to press on, is quarreling with the older ranger. Dragging Will into the quarrel, he orders Will to tell him again what he saw. All the details. And to leave nothing out. Will, tracking a band of wildling raiders, came upon a camp two miles farther on, over a ridge. He tells the young lordling,

 

Quote

It’s “…hard beside a stream," Will said. "I got close as I dared. There's eight of them, men and women both. No children I could see. They put up a lean-to against the rock. The snow's pretty well covered it now, but I could still make it out. No fire burning, but the firepit was still plain as day. No one moving. I watched a long time. No living man ever lay so still."(AGOT, Prologue)

 

The lean-to here, a temporary shelter, is likely made of animal hide and branches. Both dead. The hide of a stag is commonly used as the cover for many lean-tos. And  broken tree branches with the small twigs snapped off are placed sloping against, in this case, the rock to support the cover. In this scene the snow has pretty well covered the lean-to. It’s not hard to imagine it as a snowdrift up against a rock. Later, in his head Will describes the rock hard beside a stream as, “the great rock”. There’s a couple sitting up against it.

 

Here’s the quote about the couple,

Quote

 

"Did you make note of the position of the bodies?"

 

Will shrugged. "A couple are sitting up against the rock. Most of them on the ground. Fallen, like."(AGOT, Prologue)

 

 

With good chapter symmetry, the imagery here I believe parallels the second scene in the next chapter.

 

There too, we have a huge dark shape hard beside a stream with a snowdrift up against it. And it’s later revealed, when Ned holds it up for all to see, that there’s a foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off in the dark shape. The antler, too me, symbolizes a broken branch with the twigs snapped off. And it’s likely from a stag. A stag with the same hide as the lean-to. With this logic, the dead stag should be under the snowdrift. Were Robb and Bran standing in the waist-high draft right next to the stag? The dark shape is, of course, the dead mother direwolf.

Quote

 

"A freak," Greyjoy said. "Look at the size of it."

 

Bran's heart was thumping in his chest as he pushed through a waist-high drift to his brothers' side.

 

Half-buried in bloodstained snow, a huge dark shape slumped in death. Ice had formed in its shaggy grey fur, and the faint smell of corruption clung to it like a woman's perfume. Bran glimpsed blind eyes crawling with maggots, a wide mouth full of yellowed teeth. But it was the size of it that made him gasp. It was bigger than his pony, twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel.

(AGOT, Prologue)

 

 

The idea of stone direwolves comes up again later. And the antler and branches have both been figuratively associated with swords in both these scenes.

 

So what if, the rock and the direwolf, and the lean-to and the stag, are parallel elements….? Then we can begin to infer Other things…

Edited February 26 by Nadden

[EggBlue]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:18 PM, Nadden said:

For many of the readers of ASOIAF, the ones  that have spent countless hours exploring and rereading the books, the ones that have spent time on discussion boards and watching YouTube videos, the ones that like to analyze the text, I think I’ve found an interesting parallel.

you make us seem like Rhaegar!

On 2/21/2023 at 7:18 PM, Nadden said:

 

Comparing the second scene in AGOT, Prologue and the second scene in AGOT, Bran 1:

 

In the first scene of the Prologue, the young ranger Will has already reported back to his green commander, Ser Waymar Royce. Waymar, deciding to press on, is quarreling with the older ranger. Dragging Will into the quarrel, he orders Will to tell him again what he saw. All the details. Will, tracking a band of wildling raiders, came upon a camp two miles farther on, over a ridge. He tells the young lordling,

 

 

The lean-to here, a temporary shelter, is likely made of animal hide and branches. Both dead. The hide of a stag is commonly used as the cover for many lean-tos. And  broken tree branches with the small twigs snapped off are placed sloping against, in this case, the rock to support the cover. In this scene the snow has pretty well covered the lean-to. It’s not hard to imagine it as a snowdrift up against a rock. Later, in his head Will describes the rock hard beside a stream as, “the great rock”. There’s a couple sitting up against it.

 

Here’s the quote about the couple,

 

With good chapter symmetry, the imagery here I believe parallels the second scene in the next chapter.

 

There too, we have a huge dark shape hard beside a stream with a snowdrift up against it. And it’s later revealed, when Ned holds it up for all to see, that there’s a foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off in the dark shape. The antler, too me, symbolizes a broken branch with the twigs snapped off. And it’s likely from a stag. A stag with the same hide as the lean-to. With this logic, the dead stag should be under the snowdrift. Were Robb and Bran standing in the waist-high draft right next to the stag? The dark shape is, of course, the dead mother direwolf.

 

The idea of stone direwolves comes up again later. And the antler and branches have both been figuratively associated with swords in both these scenes.

 

So what if, the rock and the direwolf, and the lean-to and the stag, are parallel elements….? Then we can begin to infer Other things…

this was interesting... I should re-read...

[Ser Arthurs Dawn]

9 hours ago, EggBlue said:

you make us seem like Rhaegar!

Take that back 

[Nadden]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:17 PM, EggBlue said:

this was interesting... I should re-read...

If you do, let me know what you think the significance of Will losing his dirk is about:) I have more thoughts