Direwolves vs Lions

[Moiraine Sedai]

Real life lions are much larger and stronger than wolves. The direwolf is bigger, stronger than a normal wolf. The fight will be closer to fair but it seems to me that a lion still holds the advantage. The battle will be interesting. 
 

The family symbols are the power rankings of the ruling class. The lions are stronger than the direwolves and won the feud. The direwolves are still breathing and may battle the lions one final time.

The krakens are second in strength only to the great Dragons. It needed the power of Balerion to destroy the wicked house of black Harren. 
 

The Frey towers are strongholds but may also indicate the power of that family in the great game of thrones. The Starks may try to assault the castle and fail.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

Yes it's true that House Hoare's symbol was the Kraken, and that the Greyjoys are second only in power and wealth to the Targaryens. 

[Craving Peaches]

Scorpion beats dragon. So that's what you'd want on your sigil.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

The Martell's symbol is the sun which by this logic put them far above the other great houses, even the Targaryens. 

Edited March 26 by Terrorthatflapsinthenight9

[Craving Peaches]

9 minutes ago, Terrorthatflapsinthenight9 said:

The Martell's symbol is the sun which by this logic put them far above the other great houses, even the Targaryens. 

Yeah but it has a spear going through it meaning spear beats sun so every house with a spear is now top tier by this logic.

[the trees have eyes]

Lord, I'm torn on this. 

Part of me says it's clearly the bantam rooster of House Swyft, followed narrowly by the white lamb of House Stokeworth.

But another part of me thinks the purple unicorn of House Brax might just style out the win from the pink maiden of House Piper.

[Club-foot cleft-lips]

no wonder bracker and blackwood cant beat eachother. 

were talking about a tree vs a horse

[Evolett]

Well, according to the CotF, the great lions have all been slain but Cersei does mention a couple of caged lions down in the depths of Casterly Rock. Now, imagine trotting these out against wild Nymeria. My bet would definitely be on the direwolf!

[Universal Sword Donor]

21 hours ago, Evolett said:

Well, according to the CotF, the great lions have all been slain but Cersei does mention a couple of caged lions down in the depths of Casterly Rock. Now, imagine trotting these out against wild Nymeria. My bet would definitely be on the direwolf!

The CotF are in the far north. Tywin's own father was rescued from lions near Lannisport and that sprouted house Clegane. Given that Ghost would likely be torn apart by the boar at the wall, I don't think one direwolve would fare especially well against a lion. Their strength is in the pack; the same could be said for the lion.

Edited March 28 by Universal Sword Donor

[Club-foot cleft-lips]

 

2 hours ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

The CotF are in the far north. Tywin's own father was rescued from lions near Lannisport and that sprouted house Clegane. Given that Ghost would likely be torn apart by the boar at the wall, I don't think one direwolve would fair especially well against a lion. Their strength is in the pack; the same could be said for the lion.

any one else here ever read call of the wild?

we might have a buck (name of a dog not a male deer) vs the bear situation is all i'm saying

[Mourning Star]

Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. 
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back —
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

[Alester Florent]

Individually, lions are stronger than direwolves, but a pack of direwolves could take down a lion. When the Lannisters were united in a pride, they were stronger, but the males have largely deserted and all that's left is one lioness alone with her cubs. Not promising!

The kraken may be invincible at sea, but is entirely helpless on land.

The mightiest of all sigils, of course (if we're not counting the Sun), is the Titan, which is big enough even to see off dragons. Don't count Littlefinger out yet.

[Evolett]

4 hours ago, Alester Florent said:

Individually, lions are stronger than direwolves

Speaking of the animals here and regarding George's version of a direwolf, can we be sure of this? If size matters, then the direwolves are on a par with lions - the dead mother direwolf was bigger than Bran's pony, according to Bran's thoughts:

Quote

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.

 

Both lions and wolves hunt in packs, especially to bring down large prey. Nymeria however is said to bring down an aurochs by herself:

Quote

They say the pack is led by a monstrous she-wolf, a stalking shadow grim and grey and huge. They will tell you that she has been known to bring aurochs down all by herself, ...

 

Shaggydog tackles a huge horned unicorn...

These lions and fantasy direwolves seem well matched to me - teeth, claws, size. No horns or antlers. I see no reason why a direwolf wouldn't be able to gain the upper hand and come out on top in such a contest. 

[Alester Florent]

17 hours ago, Evolett said:

Speaking of the animals here and regarding George's version of a direwolf, can we be sure of this? If size matters, then the direwolves are on a par with lions - the dead mother direwolf was bigger than Bran's pony, according to Bran's thoughts:

Both lions and wolves hunt in packs, especially to bring down large prey. Nymeria however is said to bring down an aurochs by herself:

Shaggydog tackles a huge horned unicorn...

These lions and fantasy direwolves seem well matched to me - teeth, claws, size. No horns or antlers. I see no reason why a direwolf wouldn't be able to gain the upper hand and come out on top in such a contest. 

I may have underestimated the size of direwolves. If they're of similar size though I would still give the lion the edge. Firstly because of its claws: wolf claws are not really combat weapons. They're used for gripping but the paws are not well articulated and the claws themselves are smaller: wolves rely almost entirely on their jaws (and prey exhaustion) to tackle large animals. Lions are a different story. Their claws are fearsome weapons in their own right and they're ambush hunters which use all parts of their body, including its bulk, to overpower prey while it's still at full capacity. Male lions in particular are specialist brawlers adapted for fighting other large carnivores. If we consider a spotted hyena - about the size of a grey wolf, but much stronger and with more dangerous jaws, a male lion will kill it without apparent effort. In a straight fight, even if a direwolf is a bit bigger than a lion, I'd still back the lion.

Of course, a brown bear would make short work of either, so there's a limit to the sigil comparison. 

Edited March 28 by Alester Florent

[Alden Rothack]

13 hours ago, Alester Florent said:

I may have underestimated the size of direwolves. If they're of similar size though I would still give the lion the edge. Firstly because of its claws: wolf claws are not really combat weapons. They're used for gripping but the paws are not well articulated and the claws themselves are smaller: wolves rely almost entirely on their jaws (and prey exhaustion) to tackle large animals. Lions are a different story. Their claws are fearsome weapons in their own right and they're ambush hunters which use all parts of their body, including its bulk, to overpower prey while it's still at full capacity. Male lions in particular are specialist brawlers adapted for fighting other large carnivores. If we consider a spotted hyena - about the size of a grey wolf, but much stronger and with more dangerous jaws, a male lion will kill it without apparent effort. In a straight fight, even if a direwolf is a bit bigger than a lion, I'd still back the lion.

Of course, a brown bear would make short work of either, so there's a limit to the sigil comparison. 

a pony sized wolf would have a brown bear for lunch, lions have been killed by considerably less than their weight in wolves and so have bears. the only land animal thats got a pray would be a polar bear.

[House Cambodia]

Sounds like whoever comes up with 'Rock, Scissors, Paper' as a sigil wins The Game of Thrones.

[Quoth the raven,]

The symbolism goes deeper.  If we take the direwolves for example.  They are pack animals and we see that nature in the Starks.  It is the Starks' pack nature which will bring the darkest tragedies to Westeros.  Arya and Jon will no longer have the ability to discern right from wrong. They will start a campaign of revenge and seek to murder entire families as they lose the ability to separate the guilty from the innocent.

[Quoth the raven,]

On 3/26/2024 at 11:03 PM, Moiraine Sedai said:

Real life lions are much larger and stronger than wolves. The direwolf is bigger, stronger than a normal wolf. The fight will be closer to fair but it seems to me that a lion still holds the advantage. The battle will be interesting. 
 

The family symbols are the power rankings of the ruling class. The lions are stronger than the direwolves and won the feud. The direwolves are still breathing and may battle the lions one final time.

The krakens are second in strength only to the great Dragons. It needed the power of Balerion to destroy the wicked house of black Harren. 
 

The Frey towers are strongholds but may also indicate the power of that family in the great game of thrones. The Starks may try to assault the castle and fail.

GRRM will repeat the cycle and Euron will dominate the south in westeros.  His rule will end when Daenerys and her dragons come to Westeros.  Euron will kill many people before that happens though.  I am thinking poor Aegon and Arianne will be among the casualties of the Iron born invasion. 

[StarkTullies]

8 hours ago, Quoth the raven, said:

Arya and Jon will no longer have the ability to discern right from wrong. They will start a campaign of revenge and seek to murder entire families as they lose the ability to separate the guilty from the innocent.

If you're thinking of the time that someone killed 163 randomly selected people based on their social class as a misfired attempt at an eye for eye, knowing nothing about them or even attempting to judge their guilt, you're misremembering.  That wasn't Jon or Arya.

Arya was present at the Red Wedding and yet she did not add a single Frey to her "list" because she doesn't know specifically the individuals who were responsible.  Arya above all other vengeance-driven characters doesn't target families.

8 hours ago, Quoth the raven, said:

I am thinking poor Aegon and Arianne will be among the casualties of the Iron born invasion. 

Hold onto that "poor Aegon and Arianne" thought for when/if the next books ever come out.  I don't pretend to know how the story will end, but I am 100% confident that Aegon and Arianne were brought into the story to be Dany's adversaries.  They're most likely going to be Dany's casualties for claiming "her" throne.

Edited March 29 by StarkTullies

[The Lord of the Crossing]

There exists a pecking order where the Targaryens stand at the top.  They are the rightful rulers of the West.  The Starks seem to have blood kinship with the Others.  I could believe the Starks are the rightful rulers of the dark hell in the very north past the Wall.