HotU showed the Red Wedding ... or did it?

[J. Stargaryen]

What I don't understand is why the wolf-headed king looks to Dany in mute appeal. Robb isn't even aware of her existence to the best of my knowledge, so perhaps it shows Dany will be in a position to bring justice down upon the Freys? My guess is along with what some others have said on this thread; that the vision applies to a future slaughter where Robb's specter looms over the wedding in revenge.

She pressed the blade deeper into Jinglebell’s throat. The lackwit rolled his eyes at her in mute appeal.

- ASoS, Catelyn VII (Red Wedding)

It serves as a linguistic connection, for starters.

[Lost Melnibonean]

What I don't understand is why the wolf-headed king looks to Dany in mute appeal. Robb isn't even aware of her existence to the best of my knowledge, so perhaps it shows Dany will be in a position to bring justice down upon the Freys? My guess is along with what some others have said on this thread; that the vision applies to a future slaughter where Robb's specter looms over the wedding in revenge.

I submit that it is a representation of Westeros torn apart by war, a vision designed to lure Daenerys in.

[The Bedding]

Interesting. Maybe this supports the Red Wedding 2.0 theory I've been seeing posts about. Maybe it symbolizes Robb observing the vengeance from the afterlife.

[The Bedding]

Maybe tinfoil, but the wolfs head could be Bran (warging) in another persins head during another wedding

I like this. But didn't the passage indicate the wolf head man was dead?

[Ser-Hodor]

I like this. But didn't the passage indicate the wolf head man was dead?

a dead man's eyes...hmm i need to pick up some tinfoil

[OberynBlackfyre]

People are being weird about the prophecies. I can only put it down to the span of time between books, that people start digging deeper and deeper and begin to convince themselves that there's "more" to it than what's obviously there.

The dead wolf king vision is obviously about the Red Wedding. Patchface's song, too. Simple enough.

I also wish people would stop digging into mythic stuff, or biblical matter, to try and "decode" the narrative. I think one can see that these things (especially the latter) have pretty much nothing to do with GRRM's writing if you look across the whole body of his work. He's not a "Hero with a Thousand Faces" kind of guy. He's likelier to draw from actual history or other works of the fantastic (e.g. Lovecraft) than he is from myth or the Bible, and while he does reference myths at times it's fairly haphazard and generally for superficial detail.

Clear away the cruft and it'd be easier to actually discuss these things. So many potentially interesting discussions are overwhelmed by people bringing in masses of unrelated texts with no real evidence for their relevance beyond the fact that people want them to be relevant.

all I can say is THANK YOU RAN! I admit I like the occasional crackpot here and there, but when people start doing about four-six hours of research for something that was a paragraph in the book...let alone a vision, and we know GRRM has made those completely unreliable or biased at times...it gets to be a little much.

[CharlesW]

I think so.

[Vegeta_Greyjoy]

What I don't understand is why the wolf-headed king looks to Dany in mute appeal. Robb isn't even aware of her existence to the best of my knowledge, so perhaps it shows Dany will be in a position to bring justice down upon the Freys? My guess is along with what some others have said on this thread; that the vision applies to a future slaughter where Robb's specter looms over the wedding in revenge.

Figure of speach. The thing is dead, and Dany feels like she's being watched by it. Or who knows, it's her vision, it can be both dead and watching as far as Dany is concerned.

Either way, the idea being that this is a dead thing Dany projects her pity upon.

[JonStarkIII]

I like it....was just directed here reading redditt posts on all theories....do most people think this is the frey=davon lannister wedding at Riverrun that LSH and CO crashes? My only question is who is the wolf on the throne?

[kiasyd]

The HotU vision shows the aftermath of the red wedding. Remember the freys made a DISPLAY of Rob!

They sewed Grey Wind's head on his decapitated body and the HotU vision gives us the rest of the picture - they sewed a lamb's leg as a king's sceptre on his hand as mockery - etc. and set them all up at a big table where everyone could laugh at them. Sickening.

I think this is spot on - It wouldn't be the first time that GRRM twists a prophetic view using a literal image for it, like the prophecy of Sansa slaying a giant.

[Elessar]

Ran and I would get along quite well, I think.

[bemused]

I just posted this in another thread, but it fits here as well...

I don't know if anyone has suggested this before , but I think Dany's vision in the HotU might be more generic than specific... or at least it can be taken that way. A picture can evoke more than one thing, etc.,etc.

The Kings of Winter wore an iron crown. The Kings of Winter were Starks. Aegon subjugated them , perhaps unknowingly interfering with any magic that may be inherent in their kingship. Magically speaking, he may have done better to share power.

Torrhen Stark may have thought he was saving lives by bending the knee , when in fact he was unknowingly contributing to more death in the long term. Who would a King of Winter be feasting with , but his own family and the lords under him.. but instead of enjoying a feast, they have been led to the slaughter - in part, by his own hand (lamb sceptre).

Mute appeal : Dany may have the opportunity to rectify the situation in future. ( Perhaps she's the only one who can.)

[Alaynsa Starne]

Personally, I never saw this vision as a literal translation of the physical RW, but rather a metaphorical feast for the dead similar to an afterlife in which the victims of the RW will reside. Therefore the not all the literal details must line up with what happened at the RW. Robb presides over the feast because he was the most important character who died at the RW, because he was the leader of those who were slaughtered, not necessarily because the Freys set him on the lord's seat to mock him. Other symbolic details such as the lamb and the dismembered arms indicate, as many pointed out already, that they were killed in defenseless innocence in violation of guest right.

How does this pertain to Dany? Perhaps it indicates that Dany could have affected events in such a way that would have prevented the RW if she left for Westeros earlier. Or maybe it symbolizes a wrong that needs to be served justice, which may become important in her future arc. In this case, details of the violation of guest right are the most important to include rather than the fact that it was a wedding, which is why Dany does not note or is not shown musicians or a bridal cloak -- because those details aren't important to how this will affect her in the future. Alternatively, it may serve as a warning to Dany, either to warn her against becoming a victim of violation of guest right or from perpetrating a similar crime. I think it likely that Dany was shown the RW, but the reasons for why just haven't been revealed yet.