Darkstar & the wormy apple

[Sandy Clegg]

This is very much a 'spitballing' post - I really just wanted to post my ideas before I lost the thread of what I was trying to get at. Anyway ...

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"Fuck your quiver." Mollander scooped up the windfall. "This one's wormy," he complained, but he threw it anyway. The arrow caught the apple as it began to fall and sliced it clean in two. One half landed on a turret roof, tumbled to a lower roof, bounced, and missed Armen by a foot.

"If you cut a worm in two, you make two worms," the acolyte informed them. - AFFC

These damn apples are fated to come back to haunt me forever, it seems. This time, I was pondering on the connection between wormy apples and Gerold Dayne:

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She could not believe they would inform on her . . . but that left only Darkstar, and if he was the betrayer, why had he turned his sword on poor Myrcella? He wanted to kill her instead of crowning her, he said as much at Shandystone. He said that was how I'd get the war I wanted. But it made no sense for Dayne to be the traitor. If Ser Gerold had been the worm in the apple, why would he have turned his sword upon Myrcella? - AFFC, The Princess in the Tower

These are the only two references to wormy apples in Feast. Such specificity makes me suspicious, especially when we have a name like Darkstar's

If we run with Armen's metaphor, and split Darkstar's 'wormy apple' in two pieces, then we are left with the names of two of the Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy:

  Gerold Hightower  /  Arthur Dayne.

Ok. So, one half of Alleras' fallen apple clearly falls in a place that symbolises 'Hightower':

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One half landed on a turret roof, tumbled to a lower roof, bounced, and missed Armen by a foot.

It bounces on a turret, then another roof- so not hitting a 'low tower' - then lands at the foot of an acolyte of the Citadel. And The Hightower's built the High Tower which is at the heart of the Citadel. So that gives us the Gerold half. 

But the fate of the other half of the apple is not described. Would it presumably symbolise Arthur Dayne, if we take Darkstar to be the key to this? Or is George just having fun with us?

Might these arrows and apples in some way be telling us about events at the Tower of Joy? We have one cored apple, and one apple which survives to fall into the river, then this wormy apple which might represent two of the kingsgaurd in one. Any thoughts? 

Edited April 24 by Sandy Clegg

[Hippocras]

The analysis feels a bit like grabbing in the dark but I do think you are probably on to something in noticing the wormy apple reference.

The question is, what exactly, right? I will have a think.

One thing that does stand out to me is that it landed at the feet of Armen. We know next to nothing about Armen the acolyte, except his name. But that name is one that appeara only one other time in the histories, and that is Armen Peake. So this Armen might well be a Peake as well, or at least a descendant by the female line.

House Peake is a suspected Marcher Lord house, so definitely candidates for having been pushed into a peacemaking match with House Dayne during the period of Dornish integration. We might be getting a hint that Darkstar has friends and allies in House Peake.

We are also talking about an apple here, wormy or not, which could be a reference to the Fossoways in and of itself, regardless of where the other part of this particular apple landed.

I am wondering if we are meant to think of the expression about apples not falling far from the tree as well, if indeed this wormy apple thing is a reference to lineage.

Edited April 25 by Hippocras

[Evolett]

On 4/24/2024 at 1:26 PM, Sandy Clegg said:

But the fate of the other half of the apple is not described. Would it presumably symbolise Arthur Dayne, if we take Darkstar to be the key to this? Or is George just having fun with us?

Might these arrows and apples in some way be telling us about events at the Tower of Joy? We have one cored apple, and one apple which survives to fall into the river, then this wormy apple which might represent two of the kingsgaurd in one. Any thoughts? 

I've more or less exhausted my thoughts on that prologue chapter in other threads but will have a stab at this new puzzle. 
From a logical point of view, associating Arthur Dayne and Gerold Hightower with a wormy apple / Darkstar suggests these two kingsguards were not as noble, chivalrous etc. as they are made out to be. Darkstar sticks out because of his attempt on Myrcella's life, a child. So if there is a connection to the Tower of Joy, perhaps this is it - the attempted / intended murder of a child. 

I've long puzzled over something Ned said to Robert:

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“Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?”

 

Aerys is responsible for murdering a great many people but did he also specifically target children? Not that we know of, though Ned's statement has me wondering if Aerys secretly attempted to wake dragons from stone, thereby sacrificing  babies or children for this purpose. 

Back to the Tower of Joy. Someone on this forum (sorry can't remember who it was) theorized that Jon Snow was meant to be sacrificed in a waking dragons from stone ceremony (parallel to Rhaego), hence the need for Ned's contigent to fight the kingsguard for access to Lyanna and her child. It's not something widely discussed in the fandom but not impossible. 

Of note: It was Gerold Hightower who reminded Jamie that he "swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him"

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"As for Lord Rickard, the steel of his breastplate turned cherry-red before the end, and his gold melted off his spurs and dripped down into the fire. I stood at the foot of the Iron Throne in my white armor and white cloak, filling my head with thoughts of Cersei. After, Gerold Hightower himself took me aside and said to me, 'You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him.'

That was the White Bull, loyal to the end and a better man than me, all agree." aCoK, Catelyn VII

 

All stood by as the king had atrocious acts carried out - even the "most honourable" kingsguards. So at the very least, comparing A. Dayne and G. Hightower to Darkstar and wormy apples suggests we should examine them in a different light. 

If the intention to kill a child or defending the child's future use as a sacrifice applies to those two honourable men, then Jamie's statement, "That was the White Bull, loyal to the end and a better man than me, all agree," is laden with meaning, for Jamie did attempt to kill a child, Bran.  

[Hippocras]

I personally doubt that this wormy apple hint has anything much to do with Gerold Hightower I have to say. 

The OP was excellent at drawing our attention to the wormy apple, but the analysis of what it means could take off in so many different directions from there, and really there is nothing solid at all to make us choose that particular interpretation. 

If we want to investigate Gerold Hightower anyway here, some things are worth pointing out. Certainly he comes into this discussion because he shares a first name with Gerold Dayne so we should start there, looking also at other characters named Gerold:

1. Gerold Grafton is the current lord of Gulltown. The Grafton sigil seems distictly similar to the Hightower one, hinting at a connection older than the conquest between these Houses. As Corbrays and Graftons fought together against Jon Arryn at the beginning of Robert's rebellion, a recent link also clearly exists with House Corbray, who also have connections to House Hightower. House Grafton is also connected to House Peake via the Celtigar matches in 55 AC - with the Peakes also connected historically to Houses Redwyne and Hightower.

2.The first Gerold Grafton, and probably first Gerold in Westeros, was a brutal Andal King who led Gulltown to prosperity. His reputation is reminiscent of Tywin Lannister; dishonourable but remembered as a good ruler all the same. Which is why it is unremarkable really that the name Gerold also appears in the Westerlands a short time later, where there were at least 3 Lannister Kings named Gerold.

3. Gerold Dayne, we can reasonably surmise, is named after one of these other Gerolds and likely descends from one or more of them. He has no loyalty at all to House Lannister, so the path would more likely pass via Houses Grafton or Hightower, maybe both. His appearance also strongly implies descent from Maegor Targaryen (son of Aerion). Hightowers and Daynes likely were tied together in one or more matches made during the period of Dornish integration (161-172 AC, 184-196 AC).

4. So coming now to the particular character named Gerold Hightower, who was born and came of age in the reign of Aegon V. He took his KG vows seriously and defended Aerys no matter what. This would be why he was not a particular confidante of Rhaegar as Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent were when Lyanna was "abducted". And yet he stayed to defend Lyanna and her unborn child instead of returning to KL to fight for Aerys (strong evidence her child was legitimate). I simply do not see any reason to see him as a "wormy apple". He was just a KG who fought to ensure a royal child would not fall into Robert Baratheon's hands.

 

I think this discussion should focus some attention on Derrick Fossoway, known as the "bad apple".

He stands out in the Band of Nine for having a clear and direct connection to Westeros. In 260 AC Maegor Targaryen would have been 28 years old so Derrick did not descend from him. Derrick's child may have married Maegor's though, leading eventually to Gerold Dayne (possibly Derrick Fossoway's grand or great-grandson).

Edited April 29 by Hippocras

[Phylum of Alexandria]

@Sandy Clegg, have you seen Crowfood's Daughter's most recent video, specifically its section on Gerold Dayne?

She covers several mentions of Gerbear that link him to being poison. Which, given his epithet "Darkstar," she takes to mean the cataclysmic black meteor that poisoned the trees of Asshai, yielding iron that was imbued with the soul-sucking powers of the trees, which was forged into the magical steel blades of lore.

Your notion of Gerold being a worm in the apple seems at least tangentially consonant with this theory. Certainly similar in terms of the passages.

[Hippocras]

On 4/26/2024 at 5:55 PM, Evolett said:

Aerys is responsible for murdering a great many people but did he also specifically target children? Not that we know of, though Ned's statement has me wondering if Aerys secretly attempted to wake dragons from stone, thereby sacrificing  babies or children for this purpose. 

Maybe that is why, despite Aerys having a large number of mistresses, no bastards appear to be remaining - except for those that were “claimed” and hiding under different names of course.