More Mythical Beasts?

[cygmund]

Surprised nobody has said this considering one particular crack-pot theory: Merlings.

Also, what about some grumkins and snarks???

[Child of the Forest]

[quote name='DocBean' post='1588963' date='Nov 14 2008, 11.07']well Vikings used to flaunt Narwhal horns as Unicorn horns.
so that helped keep the legend alive.

I hope we see a Narwhal.

also, aren't Snow Bears just polar bears? I got the feeling that snow bears were just really big white bears, which sounds like a polar bear to me.[/quote]

Other real "unicorns" have been single-horned deer and antelopes, but not always centered.

I also assume snow bears are polar bears - just that Westeros has no concept of a north pole - just inknowable frozen wastes in the north.

-Child of the Forest

[Lampmonster]

Well Sam says in AFFC that the men of Skagos, an island in the north, ride into battle on "great shaggy unicorns". I don't see riding into battle on a goat, so I'm gonna guess that they are real, and somewhat different from our typical conception of a unicorn.

[Guest Other-in-law]

The unicorns sound like wooly rhinos to me, which goes well with the mammoths on Ibben and north of the Wall.

[Daena the Defiant]

[quote name='Other-in-law' post='1589684' date='Nov 14 2008, 19.36']The unicorns sound like wooly rhinos to me, which goes well with the mammoths on Ibben and north of the Wall.[/quote]

That was my thought as well - Westeros, particularly the North, has a lot of Ice Age mega-fauna running and prowling about, direwolves, mammoths, aurochs, giant elk, etc....

[King Nobody]

[quote name='Lampmonster' post='1589545' date='Nov 14 2008, 18.32']Well Sam says in AFFC that the men of Skagos, an island in the north, ride into battle on "great shaggy unicorns". I don't see riding into battle on a goat, so I'm gonna guess that they are real, and somewhat different from our typical conception of a unicorn.[/quote]Still not mythical [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium[/url].


Also, as to the size of Dire wolves, i never really got the impression they were "huge", any references?

[Lampmonster]

[quote name='King Nobody' post='1589900' date='Nov 15 2008, 03.03']Still not mythical [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmotherium[/url].


Also, as to the size of Dire wolves, i never really got the impression they were "huge", any references?[/quote]


They say multiple times that they'll stand as tall as a man when full grown and the dead mother in the snow in GOT is described as being huge. Also how big would a wolf have to be to tear a grown man's arm from it's socket, as they often describe the wolfs being capable of.

[The_BlauerDragon]

[quote name='Lampmonster' post='1590008' date='Nov 15 2008, 08.08']They say multiple times that they'll stand as tall as a man when full grown and the dead mother in the snow in GOT is described as being huge. Also how big would a wolf have to be to tear a grown man's arm from it's socket, as they often describe the wolfs being capable of.[/quote]


So they are smaller than a Great Dane then? I did not see any referrence to that height being at the shoulders or "on all fours"... Plus, it may be exaggerated a bit.

As for how big they would have to be, not all that big... just strong. There are several species of animals that are the size of a large dog (including some types of dogs) that are capable of tearing someone's arm off... A very large (real world) wolf would be more than capable, I would think...

[Guest Other-in-law]

[quote name='the Blauer Dragon' post='1590076' date='Nov 15 2008, 12.23']A very large (real world) wolf would be more than capable, I would think...[/quote]
I doubt that.

[Branfangd]

I'm guessing it's too much to hope for Griffins Chimera's and Hydra's?

[Lampmonster]

[quote name='the Blauer Dragon' post='1590076' date='Nov 15 2008, 11.23']So they are smaller than a Great Dane then? I did not see any referrence to that height being at the shoulders or "on all fours"... Plus, it may be exaggerated a bit.

As for how big they would have to be, not all that big... just strong. There are several species of animals that are the size of a large dog (including some types of dogs) that are capable of tearing someone's arm off... A very large (real world) wolf would be more than capable, I would think...[/quote]

Even a lion would have difficulty with tearing off a full grown man's arm. A wolf simply could not do it. And why would it be exaggerated? The author is making the descriptions. By the end of AFFC ghost stands as tall as Jon's chest and is not fully grown.

[Septic Septon]

[quote name='Lampmonster' post='1590008' date='Nov 15 2008, 17.08']They say multiple times that they'll stand as tall as a man when full grown and the dead mother in the snow in GOT is described as being huge.[/quote]


By Bran. A lot of things seem huge when you are eight.

[King Nobody]

[quote name='Lampmonster' post='1593243' date='Nov 18 2008, 19.01']By the end of AFFC ghost stands as tall as Jon's chest and is not fully grown.[/quote]Jon wasn't even in AFFC, if your talking about ASOS, reference please, because i don't remember that at all. If they say multiple times that a direwolf will stand as tall as a man, why don't i remember a single time, again, references please.

[Dryvus]

I think I remember mention that they are the size of a pony full grown. In Game of Thrones.

[brandon blackfyre]

last Jon chapter in Storm when they are voting for the new LC[quote]...ghost was twice as large as the common wolves that prowled their southron greenwoods.[/quote]There is more references but I remember reading this one recently.

[Venardhi]

I imagine the size difference is along the lines of [url="http://www.venardhi.com/temp/wolfsize.jpg"]THIS[/url].

[Lampmonster]

[quote name='King Nobody' post='1593379' date='Nov 18 2008, 18.52']Jon wasn't even in AFFC, if your talking about ASOS, reference please, because i don't remember that at all. If they say multiple times that a direwolf will stand as tall as a man, why don't i remember a single time, again, references please.[/quote]

You're correct, I meant asos. And I can't give you dirrect references as I have lent my books out.

[Guest Other-in-law]

[quote name='Lampmonster' post='1593849' date='Nov 19 2008, 08.21']You're correct, I meant asos. And I can't give you dirrect references as I have lent my books out.[/quote]
To be sure, Jon very much [i]does[/i] appear in aFfC, but in Sam's POV rather than his own.

[bacchys]

IIRC, direwolves are near-mythical south of the Wall at the beginning of the books, with a mention about how long it had been since any had been sighted.

[King Nobody]

[quote name='Other-in-law' post='1590325' date='Nov 15 2008, 18.16']I doubt that.[/quote]An alligator can do it. I tend to agree with Venardhi's size comparison.