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So on a reread of ASoS, during the Arya chapter where she sees the Ghost of High Heart the second time, I was trying to peace together her entire prophecy as we know it so far, and ran into a passage I couldn't place.

The whole prophecy is as follows:

Thoros and Lem were with Lord Beric when the dawrf woman sat down uninvited by the fire. She squinted at them with eyes like hot coals. "The Ember and the Lemon come to honor me again, and His Grace the Lord of Corpses."

"An ill-omened name. I have asked you not to use it."

"Aye, you have. But the stink of death is fresh on you, my lord." She had but a single tooth remaining. "Give me wine or I will go. My bones are old. My joints ache when the winds do blow, and up here the winds are always blowing."

"A silver stag for your dreams, my lady." Lord Beric said, with solemn courtesy. "Another if you have news for us."

"I cannot eat a silver stag, nor ride one. A skin of wine for my dreams, and for my news a kiss from the great oaf in the yellow cloak." The little woman cackled. "Aye, a sloppy kiss, a bit of tongue. It has been too long, too long. His mouth will taste of lemons, and mine of bones. I am too old."

"Aye," Lem complained. "Too old for wine and kisses. All you'll get from me is the flat of my sword, crone."

"My hair comes out in handfuls and no one has kissed me in a thousand years. It is hard to be so old. Well, I will have a song then. A song from Tom o' Sevens, for my news."

"You will have your song from Tom," Lord Beric promised. He gave her the wineskin himself.

The dwarf woman drank deep, the wine running down her chin. When she lowered the skin, she wiped her mouth with the backof a wrinkled hand and said, "Sour wine for sour tidings, what could be more fitting? The king is dead, is that sour enough for you?"

Arya's heart caught in her throat.

"Which bloody king is dead, crone?" Lem demanded.

"The wet one. The kraken king, m'lords. I dreamt him dead and he died. and the iron squids now turn on one another. Oh, and Lord Hoster Tully's died too, but you know that, don't you? In the hall of kings, the goat sits alone and fevered as the great dg descends on him." The old woman took another long gulp of wine, squeezing the skin as she raised it to her lips.

The great dog. Did she mean the Hound? Pr maybe his brother, the Mountain That Rides? Arya was not certain. They bore the same arms, three black dogs on a yellow field. Half the men whos deaths she prayed for belonged to Ser Gregor Clegane; Polliver, Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, the Tickler, and Ser Gregor himself. Maybe Lord Beric will hang them all.

"I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief," the dwarf woman was saying. "I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow." She turned her head sharmply and smiled through the gloom, right at Arya. "You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now."

Cold fingers walked down Arya's neck. Fear cuts deeper than swords, she reminded herself. She stood and approached the fire warily, light on the balls of her feet, poised to flee.

The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. "I see you," she whispered. "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." She began to sob, her little body shaking. "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

There was such fear in her voice that Arya took a step backward, wondering if the woman was mad. "don't frighten the child," Thoros protested. "There's no harm in her."

Lem Lemoncloak's finger went to his broken nose. "Don't be so bloody sure of that."

"She will leave on the morrow, with us," Lord Beric assured the little woman. "We're taking her to Riverrun, to her mother."

"Nay," said the dwarf. "You're not. The black fish holds the rivers now. If it's the mother you want, seek her at the Twins. For there's to be a Wedding." She cackled again. "Look into your fires, pink priest, and you will see. Not now, though, not here, you'll see nothing here. This place belongs to the old gods still...they linger here as I do, shrunken and feeble but not yet dead. Nor do they love the flames. For oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both. And they remember when the First Men came with fire in their fists." She drank the last of the wine in four long swallows, flunk the skin aside, and pointed her stick at Lord Beric. "I'll have my payment now, I'll have the song you promised me."

And so Lem woke Tom Sevenstrings beneath his furs and brought him yawning to the fireside with his woodharp in hand. "The same song as before?" he asked.

"Oh, aye. My Jenny's song. Is there another?"

And so he sang, and the dwarf woman closed her eyes and rocked slowly back and forth, murmuring the words and crying. Thoros took Arya firmly by the hand and drew her aside. "Let her savor her song in peace," he said. "It is all she has left."

So, first off a recap.

"The Ember and the Lemon come to honor me again, and His Grace the Lord of Corpses."

"Aye, you have. But the stink of death is fresh on you, my lord."

"Give me wine or I will go. My bones are old. My joints ache when the winds do blow, and up here the winds are always blowing."

"I cannot eat a silver stag, nor ride one. A skin of wine for my dreams, and for my news a kiss from the great oaf in the yellow cloak."

"Aye, a sloppy kiss, a bit of tongue. It has been too long, too long. His mouth will taste of lemons, and mine of bones. I am too old."

"My hair comes out in handfuls and no one has kissed me in a thousand years. It is hard to be so old. Well, I will have a song then. A song from Tom o' Sevens, for my news."

This to me reads just as greetings and barter.

"Sour wine for sour tidings, what could be more fitting? The king is dead, is that sour enough for you?"

"The wet one. The kraken king, m'lords. I dreamt him dead and he died. and the iron squids now turn on one another. Oh, and Lord Hoster Tully's died too, but you know that, don't you? In the hall of kings, the goat sits alone and fevered as the great dog descends on him."

Here she tells us that Balon Greyjoy has died, as she forewarned in her episode with Lem and Tom earlier in the book.

She also mentions 'the goat' (Vargo Hoat) sitting alone in the 'hall of kings' (Harrenhal) while the 'great dog' (Gregor Clegane) approaches. All of which have been referenced at least similarly in this manner in the past.

"I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief,"

Ghost mourning the loss of Robb at the Red Wedding.

"I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells.

The Red Wedding, the little bells being Jinglebell's death.

I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs.

Sansa and her hairnet at the Purple Wedding.

And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow."

Sansa again destroying, Robert Arryn's doll in her Winterfell recreation in the garden in the Eyrie. (At least my interpretation, no idea why she would dream this scene, unless I need to reread that passage a little closer.)

"You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." "I see you," "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

This is the passage that confuses me, admittedly, it's not strictly part of the prophecies, but still the lady knows stuff. Is this merely a precursor to Arya going to the Temple of Black and White, or, [crackpot] has Arya died at some point and has been resurrected [/crackpot] or simply meaning that Arya of House Stark is dead, due to all the losses she's suffered, she's no longer 'herself'? Then there's the reference to Summerhall, which I know next to nothing about, aside from there was some great Targaryen tragedy there, presumably during the early childhood of Rhaegar, as he was wont to visit the ruin. She also calls Arya 'dark heart' which I swear I've heard somewhere before, but can't seem to find.

"Nay," "You're not. The black fish holds the rivers now. If it's the mother you want, seek her at the Twins. For there's to be a Wedding." "Look into your fires, pink priest, and you will see. Not now, though, not here, you'll see nothing here. This place belongs to the old gods still...they linger here as I do, shrunken and feeble but not yet dead. Nor do they love the flames. For oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both. And they remember when the First Men came with fire in their fists."

Straightforward here I think, Catelyn isn't at Riverrun, Brynden Tully was named castellan, Edmure's wedding at the Twins, High heart is the domain of the Old Gods still, denying R'hllor power there, blah blah blah.

"I'll have my payment now, I'll have the song you promised me." "Oh, aye. My Jenny's song. Is there another?"

Here's another part of the old woman that confuses me, I'm assuming the song is 'Jenny of Oldstones' but that doesn't jibe with her 'gorging on grief at Summerhall', again assuming she was somehow related to the Mudd's, old kinds of the riverlands, as Oldstones was their seat.

DISCUSS!

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"You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." "I see you," "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

This is the passage that confuses me, admittedly, it's not strictly part of the prophecies, but still the lady knows stuff. Is this merely a precursor to Arya going to the Temple of Black and White, or, [crackpot] has Arya died at some point and has been resurrected [/crackpot] or simply meaning that Arya of House Stark is dead, due to all the losses she's suffered, she's no longer 'herself'? Then there's the reference to Summerhall, which I know next to nothing about, aside from there was some great Targaryen tragedy there, presumably during the early childhood of Rhaegar, as he was wont to visit the ruin. She also calls Arya 'dark heart' which I swear I've heard somewhere before, but can't seem to find.

I think the "smelled of death" just refers to Arya's ever increasing death toll.

The Tragedy of Summerhall happened on the night Rhaegar was born actually. It's rumoured that the Targs tried to hatch dragons again, but it failed (spectacularly so). The palace burned down, killing King Aegon V, Lord Commander Duncan the Tall and Prince Duncan the Small (though he probably wasn't prince anymore back then). We don't know what really happened, there's supposed to be a Dunk & Egg novella about this one day.

"I'll have my payment now, I'll have the song you promised me." "Oh, aye. My Jenny's song. Is there another?"

Here's another part of the old woman that confuses me, I'm assuming the song is 'Jenny of Oldstones' but that doesn't jibe with her 'gorging on grief at Summerhall', again assuming she was somehow related to the Mudd's, old kinds of the riverlands, as Oldstones was their seat.

DISCUSS!

I don't think Jenny of Oldstones was a noble, considering that Prince Duncan the Small gave up his crown so he could marry her. If she'd been a noble, even a minor one, I think he could have married her without giving up the throne. Besides Jenny doesn't sound like a name a noble might give his daughter. The noble women seem to have more fantasy-like names (even it's just by changing the spelling like Lysa and Catelyn) while a lot of common girls have normal names like you'd find today (Jenny, Rosie, Penny, Bella etc.). Jenny of Oldstones was supposedly a friend of the Ghost of High Heart, just known as a woods witch back then, and she's the one who told Aegon V that TPTWP would be born of their line, resulting in him arranging Rhaella and Aerys' marriage.

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Maybe everyone close to Arya will die if the Ghost gorged on grief and doesn't want Arya's. The Ghost of High Heart lost the one she was close to.

Jenny, better known as Jenny of Oldstones is a character from a song. She wove flowers in her hair and her lover was the Prince of Dragonflies.[1] Prince Duncan fell in love with a woman known as Jenny of Oldstones and loved her so much he gave up his crown for her and married her against his father's wishes. It was possible that after this he became known as the Prince of Dragonflies. He died in the Tragedy at Summerhall alongside his father, Aegon V Targaryen, and his namesake, Ser Duncan the Tall.

"Why did they wed if they did not love each other? Your grandsire commanded it. A woods witch had told him that the prince was promised would be born of their line." "A woods witch?" Dany was astonished. "She came to court with Jenny of Oldstones. A stunted thing, grotesque to look upon. A dwarf, most people said, though dear to Lady Jenny, who always claimed that she was one of the children of the forest. " "What became of her?" "Summerhal."

Arya may smell of death because as a FM she would be the giver of death. While in Braavos she said:

I have a hole where my heart should be, she thought, and nowhere else to go.

That could make her a dark heart.

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I think you pretty much have it, for the most part.

"You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." "I see you," "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

We know that Arya's eventually going to train to be an assassin, so it makes sense for her to "smell of death."

The Summerhall thing is trickier. We know that the Ghost of High Heart accompanied Jenny of Oldstones to court, and it was from her that Aegon V supposedly heard that the Prince That Was Promised would be born from Aerys and Rhaella's line. Jenny was in love with Prince Duncan (the Prince of Dragonflies), Aegon V's oldest son and the crown prince. Supposedly Duncan "gave up his crown for her" (why would he have to, though?). Aegon V married for love and allowed his sons to do likewise, which supposedly led directly to the Summerhall tragedy. Aegon, Duncan and possibly Jenny (?) died in the Summerhall tragedy (and supposedly treason too, interestingly enough). This occurred the same day that Rhaegar was born. Having lost Jenny (again, ?) and Duncan at Summerhall, the Ghost of High Heart would thus have "gorged on grief." Her own prophecies and visions might have directly caused the tragedy.

Story goes that Summerhall went up in flames because they were trying to hatch a dragon. If the Ghost of High Heart had said something like, "I saw a dragon hatched out of Summerhall," it's entirely possible that Aegon would have taken it literally and attempted to actually hatch a dragon. In hindsight, this dragon would have been Rhaegar (born the same day, who always felt a kindred connection to Summerhall and lived in its shadow). If this is the case, the Ghost of High Heart might feel personal responsibility for the tragedy and thus have lived with the constant guilt and reminder of it.

Summerhall will supposedly — eventually — conclude the Dunk & Egg series of novellas. The answers should be revealed then. I myself would love to know what the "treason" was ...

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"You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." "I see you," "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

If it wasnt for the context of Arya coming to her, it could also have been about Bran's future... she senses him, she smells Bloodraven...

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And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow."

Perhaps the snow castle scene isn't the event but just more foreshadowing, and the Vale forces will retake Winterfell (Mors Umbers perhaps left by Stannis to hold it).

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"You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." "I see you," "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death..." "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

This is the passage that confuses me, admittedly, it's not strictly part of the prophecies, but still the lady knows stuff. Is this merely a precursor to Arya going to the Temple of Black and White, or, [crackpot] has Arya died at some point and has been resurrected [/crackpot] or simply meaning that Arya of House Stark is dead, due to all the losses she's suffered, she's no longer 'herself'?

When reading this I took it the lady saw the darkness Arya has inside her. And as a foreshadowing to Arya forced to hide who she is, which becomes her second nature when becoming 'no one' and training as a 'Faceless Man'.

The lady says she sees Arya's dark heart. And she smells death on Arya.

We know Arya has a fair body count by then. And probably the Ghost saw the ones to come.

It could be she saw Arya's own death as well, I have the feeling Arya is one of the remaining Stark kids who will not be alive when ASOIAF ends.

As for the reference to Summerhall: it can just be reference to death and devastation the Ghost experienced there. Or - wildly speculating here - could she refer to that Faceless Men were responsible for the mayhem that occurred at Summerhall?

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That giant being slain in a snow castle seems strange. I mean, it kind of fits with Robert stamping on Sansa's castle, but that hardly seems worthy of prophecy, and while Robert is a bit of a spaz, he's hardly a savage giant. Could this be a vision of Sansa killing Littlefinger, after he has restored her to Winterfell. The only actual giant in the story so far, has been Wun Wun, and I doubt they'll ever meet. If I recall, the Ghost of High Heart is believed to be a Child of the Forest, hence her memory or events hundreds of years ago, and her greeneeing abilities.

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Ah thanks Apple_martini, didn't know the story behind the song I guess, always assumed Jenny was from pre-conqueror days, rather than just 2-3 generations back. That would tend to explain it all :) Still worries me about translating 'the smell of death' as Arya's headcount though...

The Ghost thought she smelled death on lord Beric, who has died 6 times at this point, but realized the smell was coming off arya, who hasn't died yet. Very grim foreshadowing if you ask me... :(

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Ah thanks Apple_martini, didn't know the story behind the song I guess, always assumed Jenny was from pre-conqueror days, rather than just 2-3 generations back. That would tend to explain it all :) Still worries me about translating 'the smell of death' as Arya's headcount though...

The Ghost thought she smelled death on lord Beric, who has died 6 times at this point, but realized the smell was coming off arya, who hasn't died yet. Very grim foreshadowing if you ask me... :(

Well she has added to her death count since then,and is being trained by the most feared,respected and accomplished assassins in the world.

On top of which she has a direwolf to which she is wargically connected,who leads an army of wolves "hundreds" strong.

I wonder about the name Nymeria too.We don't know too much about about the Warrior Queen,but presumably the direwolf is named after her.It looks like she brought her 10,000 ships to invade via Dorne but fell for a Martell and brokered peace.

And Nymeria Sand is on her way to King's Landing to sit on the small council.But Arya doesn't know her........

I do like Arya,and hope she makes it through the series.But she is a bit too death connected for comfort.

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That giant being slain in a snow castle seems strange. I mean, it kind of fits with Robert stamping on Sansa's castle, but that hardly seems worthy of prophecy, and while Robert is a bit of a spaz, he's hardly a savage giant. Could this be a vision of Sansa killing Littlefinger, after he has restored her to Winterfell. The only actual giant in the story so far, has been Wun Wun, and I doubt they'll ever meet. If I recall, the Ghost of High Heart is believed to be a Child of the Forest, hence her memory or events hundreds of years ago, and her greeneeing abilities.

There are a number of potential candidates for the giant being slain, and a castle of snow:

  • Robert Arryn's doll, and Sansa's snow castle, often thought to be a red herring,
  • Petyr Baelish, whose sigil is the giant of Braavos,
  • Tyrion, known as the "Giant of Lannister,"
  • UnGreg, who is a kind of giant, though I don't think the term has yet been used to describe him,
  • Wun Wun (though this would make me terribly sad), and
  • someone important from House Umber.

My bet's on Littlefinger: his secrets (the betrayal of Ned, lies about the dagger to sow discontent between Stark and Lannister houses, stowing Jeyne Poole in a brothel), when they're revealed, are most likely to finally stir Sansa into wrath and bring out her inner she-wolf.

Doesn't the ghost also refer to Arya at some point as "evil child"? This, the stink of death, blood-child, and dark heart sent chills down my spine.

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There are a number of potential candidates for the giant being slain, and a castle of snow:

  • Robert Arryn's doll, and Sansa's snow castle, often thought to be a red herring,
  • Petyr Baelish, whose sigil is the giant of Braavos,
  • Tyrion, known as the "Giant of Lannister,"
  • UnGreg, who is a kind of giant, though I don't think the term has yet been used to describe him,
  • Wun Wun (though this would make me terribly sad), and
  • someone important from House Umber.

My bet's on Littlefinger: his secrets (the betrayal of Ned, lies about the dagger to sow discontent between Stark and Lannister houses, stowing Jeyne Poole in a brothel), when they're revealed, are most likely to finally stir Sansa into wrath and bring out her inner she-wolf.

Doesn't the ghost also refer to Arya at some point as "evil child"? This, the stink of death, blood-child, and dark heart sent chills down my spine.

It was pretty chilling. I hope Arya will be all right but this worries me. :frown5:

And regarding snow castle etc, I firmly believe it was not what we already saw with Sweetrobin trampling Sansa's creation. I think it will be either Littlefinger (with the old famil sigil being the stone giant of Braavos) or Tyrion who perhaps gets grayscale. [un!Greg is going to be too busy inciting a certain gravedigger into fighting spirit enough to become the valonquar on Mont St. Michel the Quiet Isle ;)]

@Arkash, could you explain the Bran/Bloodraven angle you suggested, please? :)

Finally, this part of the prophecy made me wonder:

"Look into your fires, pink priest, and you will see.

Is she just insulting Thoros sine he's of different faith? Does pink mean he is not a good Rhollor priest (in terms of skills or devotion)... or possibly a really subtle reference that Melisandre is of the stronger "Stuff" than Thoros as she is the Red lady and Thoros the Pink priest?

ETA: Though I took the stuff about Arya to mean she will go down a dark road rather than portending of her dying.

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I think it's possible, even probable that Arya will take a dark path for a time, given the traumatic events she's been through.

(I think with the "wildness" she has, it is imperative that it be channeled in a positive direction as Caitlyn and Ned would have ultimately done had they survived).

And that is the difference between her and Lyanna.

While Lyanna may have gone through the tragedy of losing her Mother, she still had a stable family unit and support system of love that allowed for some of that "wildness" to be positively channeled.

Having said that, I think her Arc comes full circle, and she will remember who she is, which is what may save her, but she will do some damage.

I think actually both sisters will be pretty lethal in their own ways, which also why we may be getting the Dunk & Egg story "She wolves of Winterfell."

As for the treason aspect of the story, is it possible that Aerys also had a hand in the tragedies?

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Is she just insulting Thoros sine he's of different faith? Does pink mean he is not a good Rhollor priest (in terms of skills or devotion)... or possibly a really subtle reference that Melisandre is of the stronger "Stuff" than Thoros as she is the Red lady and Thoros the Pink priest?

It was a minor slight, but wasn't it quite literally because his red robes had at that point faded to pink. Where he normally would be called a red priest, she called him pink due to his robes.

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I wonder how far High Heart is from Ravetree Hall? Bloodraven was raised there. Could Bloodraven have met her?

after a certain Dunk & Egg story, I'm almost sure those weirwood tree stumps are leftover from building Butterwell's "Whitewalls" stronghold (it had massive rafters carved from weirwood trunks)

they all must be in a relatively close area dammit

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Doesn't the ghost also refer to Arya at some point as "evil child"? This, the stink of death, blood-child, and dark heart sent chills down my spine.

This post has everything the Ghost has ever said to Arya. It was Jaqen who said that because she named him.

"A man hears the whisper of sand in a glass. A man will not sleep until a girl unsays a certain name. Now, evil child."
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