AGoT Reread: Direwolves, Dragons [eggs], Momont’s Raven, and Cats, Oh My! Pets or Providence?

[Little Wing]

<snip>

Oh, Evita, I've already covered Tyrion, as you can see up thread :)

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be here to post the Eddard chapter tomorrow, so I'll post today. Though, I can't really bring myself to analyze the chapter - I was like Ned and said - I'll do it myself, and now that I've read it I'm furious and sad all over again :(

Summary: Arya is found and brought to the king. A mini trial takes place where it is Arya's word against Joff's about what happened in their confrontation at the Trident. Sansa is in the position to resolve it but is also in the tough situation where she must choose between her family and her bethrothed and so she says she can't remember what happened. The trial ends in Robert ruling that both Ned and himself will discipline their children, but Cersei demands blood and that the direwolf that hurt Joff's hand be killed. Since Nymeria has escaped, Cersei asks Lady be killed instead and Ned decides to do it, to at least give her a quick death... The chapter ends with the Hound bringing Mycah's body, boasting how he rode him down because he ran, but not fast enough...

Although we as readers have been shocked already well before this chapter, seeing a child be pushed off a tower and almost murdered in his bed, this chapter and this event, I think, are the ones that really hit home how GRRM means business... Innocents die and justice is nowhere to be found. As many of the characters involved, the reader feels as betrayed and shocked and disillusioned.

Many characters are revealed for what and who they are. Joffrey is a lying, cruel bastard (literally, we know) with an over protective, equally cruel and proud mother. Cersei seeks revenge for the physical wound afflicted on her son but also, for the wounded pride of their house, as Joff is overpowered by Arya and Nymeria and a possible object of ridicule. We see in Renly's reaction that people would laugh when telling the story to each other, and we know how Tywin and by extension his daughter feel about any thing said of them in jest. No one's gonna laugh at a Lannister... <_<

Robert is uninterested and wants to get things done and over with quickly. It wasn't as tedious as counting coppers, but close enough. An irresponsible and casual king, this mini trial shows how much patience Robert Baratheon has for holding court and how much the Lannisters hold sway, as it is Cersei who has the final say, however much Robert calls her "woman" or tells her to be quiet. But not to be too hard on ol' king Bob, the situation was tricky. If he had not given Cersei her say, it would be as there is no crime in striking and wounding the crown prince and Robert would be explicitly stating that the direwolf was more important than his son. Well, "son", but it's the reader who knows this... Cersei was unspeakably cruel and knew Robert wouldn't choose Lady over his son... and so she asked for her death to show everyone that you do not mess with a Lannister and get away with it...

As for the children... I guess this is Sansa's first taste of what the Lannisters are but it'll take some time for her to learn this lesson... losing Lady this way is awful and we are yet to see what this will mean in the warging department - will she ever experience it? We shall see...

And Arya... we've seen in Sansa's chapter that Arya hadn't been swept away by the Lannisters as Sansa was, but now she definitely knows not to trust them and starts to long for Winterfell and blame herself for Mycah... :crying: (but that's in her later chapter) She was protecting her friend from a bully, that's what she saw, not a butcher's boy and a prince. Ranks are not something that influence her judgment and, unfortunately, she learned that bullies who are princes sometimes win...

And Ned... to have to kill your child's pet and the symbol of your own house... he is obedient and honorable and does this although it is hard for him (I know I wouldn't be able to go through with it and just head back home with the girls, leaving the office of the Hand to rot!) He is much like Sansa here, and Lady for that matter - still trusting and obedient and doing what is expected of him - being the Hand and obeying his king, much to his own downfall... :crying: :bawl: :crying:

[Little Wing]

<Cat's POV analysis snipped for length>

I rather agree with you, Evita, on Robb definitely having his own connection to Grey Wind. The connection has changed him - he has physically grown and here we see he's mentally grown as well - he takes responsibility and has the right of it where Cat is concerned and her withering away in her vigils. He has matured and I think the connection to Grey Wind has also enhanced his intuitive side, as with the rest of the Stark kids (an aside: maybe Sansa has difficulty to see through the Lannisters, feel their malice intuitively because she lost Lady so soon?). I can imagine Grey Wind took over for Cat and gave him support, and we get to see a more mature, wise and in tune with the wolves (and therefore himself) Robb.

Also, I would like to add that this chapter is full of Red Wedding allusions.

"I would gladly butcher every horse in Winterfell with my own hands if it would open Bran's eyes..." says a desperate and hysterical Cat to Maester Luwin when he informs her of all the things that need her attention, one of them being choosing a new horse master. Her reaction and saying how she would butcher with her own hands and later wishing the direwolves dead reminds me of her Lady Stoneheart self.

Now, we see Cat goes mad with grief here. The assassin almost cuts her throat. He pulls her by the hair (her scalp gets injured where he tore a handful of her hair). Blood sprays her face as Summer makes the kill - also throat. All of this happens during the Red Wedding as well (minus a direwolf saving the day and Cat is the one doing the throat cutting as well as being killed in the same fashion) :crying: so, a foreshadowing chapter indeed.

The stuff about light in this chapter and the library burning is interesting. It symbolizes knowledge and after her four day sleep, we see Cat attaining knowledge after the assassin's attack and her close brush with death - she knows what she must do (go to KL) and she knows that the attempt on Bran's life means Bran knows something, and that is the reason he was pushed and attacked again. She also finally knows the importance of direwolves to her children....

As to the library - the books Tyrion chose to borrow are now the only ones that are left from the rich Stark library. I wonder where they ended up as Tyrion's journeys really take him places in AGoT... In the Vale mayhaps? Anyway, such a shame all those books burned.

ETA: Also, awesome job on the Sansa chapter! Don't have much to add except ask all of you guys, how much importance do you give to Sansa freaking out over Ilyn Payne?

It can be set aside as her just strongly disliking him, but Sansa is a proper lady, she's very much in control of her public self and won't freak out or make a scene just like that. This very trait is why she could use courtesy as armor later on - she can play the social skills game well. She does not make her emotions public, as it is uncouth and unladylike. So, for her to really lose it like that just on seeing Ilyn Payne's face has always nagged me... What is it? A premonition? We know he will be the one to behead Ned so she may be getting a vibe of some sorts that he will hurt those she loves, but I dunno... Is it just that? Will Payne have some other role to play in Sansa's arc that is yet to come to pass?

[evita mgfs]

CHAPTER 18 AGOT Bran III

CHAPTER SUMMARY IN BRIEF

In Bran’s third POV in AGoT, we as readers enter his mind to experience a vivid dream sequence in which the Stark lordling meets the persistent three-eyed crow who acts as a winged spiritual guide exposing Bran to provocative visions with far-reaching significance and symbolic meaning; moreover, this needling crow shows Bran why he must choose to live, why he must choose to “fly”, not “die”, and before Bran and the ground meet in his dream, Bran does make his choice. As a result of Bran opting for life and subsequently learning the ominous outcome of “Winter is Coming”, he becomes conscious, waking from his extended coma with a sense that he has no feeling in his legs when his direwolf moves against him in the bed. Just as Bran’s brother Robb enters the room, Bran announces that he has named his guard and companion, his direwolf, “SUMMER”.

INITIAL REACTIONS

When I reflect on the first time I read this chapter, before I realized how Martin weaves his words into a tapestry filled with foreshadowing, design, and symbology, I was filled with trepidation during Bran’s long fall, fearing that he would relive the moment when his body hit the ground. I marveled at Martin’s way of composing a scene that evokes for his readers a nightmare many of them share with Bran: the experience of “falling” in a nightmare.

As Bran does, the readers are comforted by the fact that “falling dreams” end before those asleep hit the ground, spared by being jolted awake before the tragic outcome is realized. Consequently, I “experienced” Bran’s fall with him, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Bran decides to “fly” with the three-eyed crow instead of giving up and resigning himself to a fatal conclusion.

I also recall thinking that Martin smartly composed the entire sequence of events, arousing the readers’ own fears, provoking the readers’ concern for Bran, and piquing the readers’ curiosity in regards to the meaning of the three-eyed crow and the knowledge he shares with Bran. This POV made me sit up and take notice, and slowly I came to realize that much of Martin’s prose contained not only words that advanced the plot but also poetic language that engaged the mystical, the mysterious, and the enigmatic aspect of Bran’s characterization as a whole.

I became intrigued with Bran, a child embracing a brave and heroic spirit, who otherwise may not have won my attention and compelled me to read his following POV’s with great appetite, for I was never one who found storylines featuring a child as endearing before this, with a few exceptions, such as Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Mark Twain’s Huck Finn. Much to my delight and amazement, Bran won my heart and placed high on my list of favorite characters in Martin’s novels overall. However, I confess that I soon had a growing list of “favorite” characters because Martin somehow makes his fictional personalities innately human through disclosing traits and personal conflicts that I find easy to identify with.

Furthermore, I am proud to write that I did know the implications of the three-eyed crow and his pecking at the middle of Bran’s forehead because when I was in college, I took an elective course offered in the philosophy department entitled Mystic and Psychic Research, which required extensive reading dealing with scientific data, case studies, and historical documentation of all things unnatural, or phenomena that ranged from the UFO’s, alien abductions, crop circles, hauntings, psychic powers, poltergeists, astral projection, telekinesis, and tons more. A priest from India who demonstrated psychic gifts as a student in the class became a contributor on mysticism and discussed the concept of the third eye as a portal through which one may find knowledge and understanding of all things supernatural, magical, and preternatural.

Since the course demanded that the students study the findings of the scientific community regarding these transcendent entities or events, the class had to go beyond reading fantastic accounts of others’ psychic familiarity and skill and be informed about how those driven by reason and logic deemed to account for otherwise unexplainable events, like poltergeists, astral projection, and telepathy, among many, many others.

In general, the class learned that children possess the innocence and the “energy” to cause a psychic event or to demonstrate a proficiency in a psychic gift because they are as yet not tainted with the rational explanations that adults apply to instances in life that are otherwise unexplainable. So children are easy conduits into the spirit world; that is, until their parents and teachers confirm that there is no Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, ET’s, Gremlins, and ghosts. The class even entertained a local couple who had a documented poltergeist in their historic home and were under investigation via a university that had an entire department devoted to psychic and mystic research – what would be a precursor to Ghostbusters, if you will. Since poltergeists are believed to be caused, or linked to, excess energy from an active child or children who live in the household or nearby the residence, the psychic community investigating their haunting had pinpointed two children who lived next door to their home as the source of the mischievous acts caused by their playful poltergeist.

Because of this college elective, I discerned the magnitude of Bran opening his third eye, and I also speculated the import of the three-eyed crow who seemingly acts as an escort sent to steer Bran accordingly, showing him profound visions from a bird’s-eye-point-of-view. So I deduced that Bran would have some kind of connection with the spirit world, or magic, or mysticism because he is a child, still young and not too disillusioned with life, open to the powers the three-eyed crow represents as it conducts him on his journey to the lands beyond the Wall and to the world of mysticism, spirituality, and sorcery.

FIRST SENTENCES OF POV

It seemed as though he had been falling for years.

Fly, a voice whispered in the darkness, but Bran did not know how to fly, so all he could do was fall.

• I always find first sentences in Martin’s POV’s loaded with subtle innuendo, and this first sentence is no different. I draw your attention to Martin setting this particular sentence as a paragraph unto itself, as he does the second sentence. This literary choice is deliberate on the author’s part, so they must be important.

• The fact that Bran indicates that it seems he has been falling for years, we get a sense that Bran is nearing consciousness because he has some semblance of a memory of the accident he had evident in his falling sequence dream.
  
• “Falling for years” is a child’s exaggeration of the length of time Bran perceives in his own mind. But it also alludes to a passage of time, indicating that to Bran, the time spent falling seems long and tedious. Also, “falling” takes on many significances as well, for Bran actually “falls” from a tower, but Winterfell will soon fall to the Ironborn, many WF retainers will fall in death, and so on.
  
• The “years” also suggests Bran’s journey to the three-eyed crow and the time that must advance in order for him to learn the magic of the greenseers.
  
• Bloodraven’s voice whispers in the darkness, telling him to “fly”, which intimates the warded cave where Bloodraven will whisper to Bran in darkness and teach him how to ride a raven and fly!
  
• All Bran can do is fall – well, it will not take long for him to learn to fly, and he will become a survivor and a force of the old gods where he will live his life through the lives of others, watching and warging. The fall is part of the lesson, and the voice tells him this as well.
  
• Bran is now on a holy quest – or an archetypical pattern of young hero faced with a great challenge, and if he is brave and faces his obstacles, he will overcome them and receive great rewards. In Bran’s case, he will learn knowledge as deep as the roots of trees.
  

ANALYSIS OF REMAINING POV

Maester Luwin made a little boy of clay, baked him till he was hard and brittle, dressed him in Bran's clothes, and flung him off a roof. Bran remembered the way he shattered. "But I never fall," he said, falling.

• Bran recalls the clay figure Maester Luwin dressed in his clothes and threw from a tower to scare him against climbing. Ironically, Bran is now “shattered” just as the clay figure.
  
• It is ironic that Bran recalls that he never falls as he is actually falling. And more importantly, Bran is technically correct. He only falls because he has been pushed.
  

The ground was so far below him he could barely make it out through the grey mists that whirled around him, but he could feel how fast he was falling, and he knew what was waiting for him down there. Even in dreams, you could not fall forever. He would wake up in the instant before he hit the ground, he knew. You always woke up in the instant before you hit the ground.

And if you don't? the voice asked.

• I wish to draw your attention to a stock epithet Martin employs concerning a “grey mist” that shrouds Bran and whirls around him. Martin will repeat this throughout Bran’s falling POV.
  
• I speculate that this grey mist is like a protective veil that covers Bran, and that the mist is grey indicates that the mist is a safeguard against danger for it is the color most associated with the Starks.
  
• Furthermore, Martin taps into a dream many of his readers have experienced as well: dream where we are falling. I know I fell along with Bran in this POV.
  
• Bran also relates an Old Wive’s Tale where people who dream of falling wake up before they hit the ground. I know I had heard this myth before.
  
• The crow asks Bran what will happen if he doesn’t wake up? This is also part of the Old Wive’s Tale: if you do not wake up, the shock of hitting the ground will kill the dreamer.
  

The ground was closer now, still far far away, a thousand miles away, but closer than it had been. It was cold here in the darkness. There was no sun, no stars, only the ground below coming up to smash him, and the grey mists, and the whispering voice. He wanted to cry.

Not cry. Fly.

"I can't fly," Bran said. "I can't, I can't . . . "

How do you know? Have you ever tried?

• The cold in the darkness may suggest imminent death if Bran does not fly, for many of those who die “feel the cold” – including Jon and Renly, among others.
  
• The cold and darkness also intimate the warded cave and the darkness within.
  
• Note the second time “grey mists” are referenced, as well as the “whispering voice”- we have both a visual image and an auditory image created by Martin. He evokes all the senses during this fall, even our own feelings of fear regarding falling.
  
• Bran says he can’t fly without even trying, as the crow seems to tell him. This could be an anthem for all people who are afraid to try something, or take on a challenge: How do you know? Have you ever tried?
  

***********************************

The voice was high and thin. Bran looked around to see where it was coming from. A crow was spiraling down with him, just out of reach, following him as he fell. "Help me," he said.

I'm trying, the crow replied. Say, got any corn?

Bran reached into his pocket as the darkness spun dizzily around him. When he pulled his hand out, golden kernels slid from between his fingers into the air. They fell with him.

The crow landed on his hand and began to eat.

"Are you really a crow?" Bran asked.

Are you really falling? the crow asked back.

• It is appropriate that Bran’s spiritual guide and mental coach is a crow, the birds Bran enjoyed visiting and feeding when he climbed the towers.

• The crow asking for corn at such a pivotal moment is humorous, and it brings to mind Mormont’s raven who always asks for corn.
  
• Bran is able to find corn in his pocket while falling, so maybe he will also be able to fly?
  
• The crow sits on Bran’s hand to eat as he continues to fall.
  
• The crow is sarcastic when he responds smartly to Bran’s question, “Are you really a crow?” Are you really falling? the crow asked back.
  

"It's just a dream," Bran said.

Is it? asked the crow.

"I'll wake up when I hit the ground," Bran told the bird.

You'll die when you hit the ground, the crow said. It went back to eating corn.

Bran looked down. He could see mountains now, their peaks white with snow, and the silver thread of rivers in dark woods. He closed his eyes and began to cry.

That won't do any good, the crow said. I told you, the answer is flying, not crying. How hard can it be? I'm doing it. The crow took to the air and flapped around Bran's hand.

"You have wings," Bran pointed out.

Maybe you do too.

Bran felt along his shoulders, groping for feathers.

There are different kinds of wings, the crow said.

• The crow confirms the myth about dying when the dreamer hits the ground.
  
• The crow chides Bran, trying to get him not to give way to tears.
  
• Martin utilizes the rhyming to relate to a child like Bran: flay/die/cry.
  
• Bran bemoans the fact that he has no feathers, but the crow answers him with significant words: there are different kinds of wings. Wings now becomes a metaphor for the manner in which the three-eyed crow and Summer will relate to him in the near future, and it even suggests what will happen in the warded cave.
  

Bran was staring at his arms, his legs. He was so skinny, just skin stretched taut over bones. Had he always been so thin? He tried to remember. A face swam up at him out of the grey mist, shining with light, golden. "The things I do for love," it said.

Bran screamed.

The crow took to the air, cawing. Not that, it shrieked at him. Forget that, you do not need it now, put it aside, put it away. It landed on Bran's shoulder, and pecked at him, and the shining golden face was gone.

• A face swims up out of the grey mist, and we know the implication of this shining golden light and the words, “The things I do for love.” Bran is remembering that because of Jaime Lannister’s push, Bran would not be falling.
  
• The crow orders Bran not to think of that, and when the crow lands on Bran’s shoulder and pecks at him, the golden face disappears.
  
• The crow wants Bran to concentrate all his energies on flying, not reliving past baggage that he can visit later when the situation is not as dire as this.
  
• The grey mist appears for the third time, and it seems to bring the image of Lannister to light, but it still safeguards Bran as he falls.
  

***********************************

Bran was falling faster than ever. The grey mists howled around him as he plunged toward the earth below. "What are you doing to me?" he asked the crow, tearful.

Teaching you how to fly.

"I can't fly!"

You're flying right now.

"I'm falling!"

Every flight begins with a fall, the crow said. Look down.

"I'm afraid . . . "

LOOK DOWN!

• Note for the fourth time “the grey mists” are referenced, this time “howling” around Bran as he plunges toward the earth below. The fact that Martin personifies the grey mists with “howling” suggests the howling of the direwolves of House Stark, which leads credence to this “grey mist” being somehow aligned with a Stark force, since it is represented as “grey” and howls like a wolf.
  
• The crow continues to cajole Bran, offering sage advice that is applicable today:
  

EVERY FLIGHT BEGINS WITH A FALL.This is proverbial, and “flight” is a metaphor for many, many possibilities.

• The school master and voice of authority comes through the crow when he orders Bran to Look Down! And Bran obeys!
  

***********************************

BRAN’S SIGHT-SEEING TOUR THROUGH A BIRD’S EYE POV

Bran looked down, and felt his insides turn to water. The ground was rushing up at him now. The whole world was spread out below him, a tapestry of white and brown and green. He could see everything so clearly that for a moment he forgot to be afraid. He could see the whole realm, and everyone in it.

• Bran notes how quickly the ground rushes to meet him, yet he can see so clearly, the whole realm and everyone in it. The magic of the three-eyed crow, the grey mist, and the old gods in general must protect Bran’s eyes from the updraft and allow him to see clearly far below, otherwise the rushing wind might blind him, especially since he is not wearing protective head gear. But then again, this is only a dream!

• The sight of the whole realm makes Bran forget his fears.
  

***********************************

He saw Winterfell as the eagles see it, the tall towers looking squat and stubby from above, the castle walls just lines in the dirt. He saw Maester Luwin on his balcony, studying the sky through a polished bronze tube and frowning as he made notes in a book.

• Bran, from his eagle eyed view, sees his home Winterfell as squat and stubby, with castle walls lines in the dirt. This view makes WF a small mark on the face of the entire world set before him for scrutiny.
  
• Maester Luwin is looking through a lens at the sky, noting in his book the signs of the changing seasons.
  
• That Maester Luwin is using a lens reminds readers of an earlier lens sent to Catelyn Stark. It is also ironic that Maester Luwin, who has this lens, is not canvasing the sky for wayward crows!
  

***********************************

He saw his brother Robb, taller and stronger than he remembered him, practicing swordplay in the yard with real steel in his hand.

• Bran sees his brother Robb, taller and stronger, practicing with real steel in the yard, and all this speaks to the fact that Robb has taken over the duties and responsibilities of Winterfell as Bran fell.

***********************************

He saw Hodor, the simple giant from the stables, carrying an anvil to Mikken's forge, hefting it onto his shoulder as easily as another man might heft a bale of hay.

• Hodor carrying an anvil on his shoulder with ease foreshadows how Hodor will carry Bran on his shoulders with like ease.
  
• Martin reinforces that Hodor is ‘simple’ and a ‘giant’ – the first will lend Hodor to Bran warging him in the future; Hodor’s giant stature will be a safeguard on their journey to and beyond the Wall.
  

At the heart of the godswood, the great white weirwood brooded over its reflection in the black pool, its leaves rustling in a chill wind. When it felt Bran watching, it lifted its eyes from the still waters and stared back at him knowingly.

• The encounter with the knowing weirwood speaks to Bran’s future in the weirwood throne as a greenseer.
  

***********************************

He looked east, and saw a galley racing across the waters of the Bite. He saw his mother sitting alone in a cabin, looking at a bloodstained knife on a table in front of her, as the rowers pulled at their oars and Ser Rodrik leaned across a rail, shaking and heaving. A storm was gathering ahead of them, a vast dark roaring lashed by lightning, but somehow they could not see it.

• The galley on the water contains his mother and Ser Rodrik Cassel enroute to King’s Landing.

• Bran’s mother has the bloody knife as evidence of the attempt on Bran’s life.
  
• Ser Rodrik is seasick.
  
• Regarding the “storm” gathering ahead of them, a vast dark “roaring”, I immediately think of Robert Baratheon and the ancestral seat of House Baratheon called Storm’s End. The formidable castle supposedly has spells woven through its walls to prevent magic from impacting it in or out. The “dark storm” heading for the Starks was already foreshadowed by the stag antler plunged into a dead direwolf. Now the dark storm that is the Baratheon family and their retainers, especially the Lannisters, will cause tragedy to befall the Starks in the near future and beyond.
  
• The “roaring” sound associated with the storm also harks back to King Robert roaring.
  
• For alternate interpretations, see The Citadel Prophecies http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1791
  

***********************************

He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart.

• The king’s van stopped near the Trident for respite on their journey.
  

• Bran sees his father and sisters, evidently just before and after Lady’s death, which explains his father pleading with the king, Sansa crying herself to sleep, and Arya holding secrets in her heart: Arya is nursing a resentment against the royals for allowing the lying Prince Joffrey to win the day, and her friend Micah dead, Nymeria gone, Sansa’s betrayal, and Lady put down.
  

***********************************

There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

• The shadows all around them, I take, following the earlier mention of the impending storm, to infer dark clouds, or Baratheon Storm Clouds, shadowing the Starks.

• The first shadow all around them is the hound, dark as ash for his face is marred by fire.
  
• The other in golden armor may be Joffrey, looming over Sansa.
  
• The giant in armor made of stone may be Sansa’s romantic ideal of a Knight, which Sansa finally learns is just the subject of heroic songs and not a figure based in reality, so when the visor opens, the darkness and black blood represent the corruption of her white girlhood dreams of chivalry.
  
• For alternate interpretations, see The Citadel Prophecies http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1791
  

***********************************

He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the JadeSea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.

• Bran also sees other locations or future locations for the story’s plotline to visit.
  
• The dragons stirring beneath the sunrise suggests that there are dragons.
  

***********************************

Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him.

• The Wall shining like a blue crystal suggests instances in which a frosty blue color played a role: the eyes of the wights and Others; the blue rose in a chink of ice in Dany’s vision while in the House of the Undying; the crown of blue roses Rhaegar gives to Lyanna Stark; and even Ygritte’s story about Bael the Bard.

• Bran sees Jon at the Wall, and the references to the cold and growing pale and hard may define Jon’s plight as a brother of the Night’s Watch. “Warmth” will flee from him as he does his duties in the cold, which will pale his skin and make him “hard” – toughen him up for his new role.
  
• This part of Bran’s dream may also foreshadow Jon Snow in a future novel, since at the end of his POV in ADwD, Jon is stabbed by several of his loyal black brothers. In the event Jon dies, his body may be held in storage in the ice cells until it can be transported to Winterfell, or until Ghost returns Jon to his host, with the magic he learns from Bran, Bloodraven, and the old gods.
  

***********************************

And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks.

Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live.

"Why?" Bran said, not understanding, falling, falling.

Because winter is coming.

• Bran travels beyond the Wall, further north, to the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. Then further north where he looks to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain where Bran looks into the heart of winter. He cries out, afraid, and hot tears burn his cheek.
  
• What does Bran see that makes him so afraid that he cries hot tears?
  
• I originally thought the curtain of light had to do with accounts of people who had died and been revived, who claim they have been called to the LIGHT.
  
• Now the crow sits on Bran’s shoulder to maintain a physical contact and to better guide him through words. But Bran sees beyond the light, and the crow reminds Bran of his Stark words and duties when he echoes Winter is coming.
  

***********************************

Bran looked at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow looked back. It had three eyes, and the third eye was full of a terrible knowledge. Bran looked down. There was nothing below him now but snow and cold and death, a frozen wasteland where jagged blue-white spires of ice waited to embrace him. They flew up at him like spears. He saw the bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon their points. He was desperately afraid.

"Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" he heard his own voice saying, small and far away.

And his father's voice replied to him. "That is the only time a man can be brave."

Now, Bran, the crow urged. Choose. Fly or die.

Death reached for him, screaming.

Bran spread his arms and flew.

• Bran looks at the three-eyed crow on his shoulder, and the third-eye was filled with a terrible knowledge. What terrible knowledge does Bran see in the third-eye of the crow?

• Perhaps Bran sees his own death if he does not fly?
  
• Below snow, cold, and death await in jagged blue-white spires of ice eager to impale him. The spires fly up at him like spears as though they wish to shoot him down from the sky.
  
• Bran is protected by the grey mist and the crow on his shoulder.
  
• Bran sees bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon the points, which makes him desperately afraid.
  
• At Bran’s greatest moment of need, he hears his father’s words reminding him that the only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid.
  
• The crow then orders Bran to fly now, and Bran obeys, fortuitously avoiding the deadly spires.
  
• Martin personifies “death” with screaming – as if the spires are screaming their disappointment at not claiming another dreamer in Bran.
  
• Bran passes a big test here learning to save himself by controlling his innermost fears.
  
• The spires are seemingly like rows of teeth in the mouth of the enemy. I imagine that what Bran sees in the heart of winter is the darkness that dwells in the hearts of all men- the reservoir of true evil in the world.
  
• Bran realizes that he is needed in some capacity to keep this dark force at bay.
  
• For alternate interpretations, see The Citadel Prophecies http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1791
  

***********************************

Wings unseen drank the wind and filled and pulled him upward. The terrible needles of ice receded below him. The sky opened up above. Bran soared. It was better than climbing. It was better than anything. The world grew small beneath him.

"I'm flying!" he cried out in delight.

I've noticed, said the three-eyed crow. It took to the air, flapping its wings in his face, slowing him, blinding him. He faltered in the air as its pinions beat against his cheeks. Its beak stabbed at him fiercely, and Bran felt a sudden blinding pain in the middle of his forehead, between his eyes.

"What are you doing?" he shrieked.

• Martin employs poetic imagery to describe Bran’s flight, as his wings drink the wind to pull him upward. The sky opens as if to greet him, and the world grows small beneath him.
  
• Just as Bran enjoys his Peter Pan moment, the three-eyed crow flaps his wings in his face, blinding him. The crow stabs Bran’s forehead with his beak.
  
• Now comes the order for Bran to open his third eye so that he can see even more and garner even more powers gifted to him by his Stark blood and the old gods.
  

***********************************

BRAN’S SAFE LANDING

The crow opened its beak and cawed at him, a shrill scream of fear, and the grey mists shuddered and swirled around him and ripped away like a veil, and he saw that the crow was really a woman, a serving woman with long black hair, and he knew her from somewhere, from Winterfell, yes, that was it, he remembered her now, and then he realized that he was in Winterfell, in a bed high in some chilly tower room, and the black-haired woman dropped a basin of water to shatter on the floor and ran down the steps, shouting, "He's awake, he's awake, he's awake."

• The “grey mists” are mentioned yet again, for the fifth and final time, this time shuddering, swirling, and ripping away like a VEIL, so Bran, via the protective veil, is returned safe and sound to his bed in Winterfell.

• As Bran regains consciousness, the three-eyed crow morphs into the face of a serving woman tending Bran.
  
• Bran seems alert and aware of the woman dropping the water basin and running to announce that Bran is indeed awake!
  

***********************************

Bran touched his forehead, between his eyes. The place where the crow had pecked him was still burning, but there was nothing there, no blood, no wound. He felt weak and dizzy. He tried to get out of bed, but nothing happened.

• Bran’s forehead smarts where the crow pecked at his third eye.
  
• Bran is weak and dizzy, symptoms of his long time unconscious as well as symptoms of a person who experienced a prophetic vision.
  
• When he stirs unsuccessfully in bed, he arouses his direwolf who joins him.
  

***********************************

And then there was movement beside the bed, and something landed lightly on his legs. He felt nothing. A pair of yellow eyes looked into his own, shining like the sun. The window was open and it was cold in the room, but the warmth that came off the wolf enfolded him like a hot bath. His pup, Bran realized . . . or was it? He was so big now. He reached out to pet him, his hand trembling like a leaf.

When his brother Robb burst into the room, breathless from his dash up the tower steps, the direwolf was licking Bran's face. Bran looked up calmly. "His name is Summer," he said.

• Through his direwolf jumping on his legs and Bran feeling nothing does he learn his legs are paralyzed.
  
• Bran is inspired to name his direwolf Summer as a result of several influences, the first being this description: A pair of yellow eyes looked into his own, shining like the sun.
  
• After enduring the journey where he sees the heart of winter, Summer is a season far from the deadly vision and cold and death he has observed, so Summer as a name offers hope for Bran and all the world he viewed.
  
• That Bran’s hand trembles like a leaf connects him to the warded cave and the CotF named Leaf.
  
• Catelyn’s hand and Ned’s hand also trembled in earlier POV’s.
  
• Robb’s love for Bran is evident in his race up the tower steps to find him awake, happy, even naming his direwolf Summer.
  
• Note that the window is also opened, a sign that Bran has been set free from his falling dream and indoctrinated into the mystical world of the three-eyed crow.
  

[redriver]

Awesome stuff as usual Evita.It will take me a day to absorb it all!

I made a rather cryptic comment that the description of the Other in the prologue would recur with reference to a Stark,early in the thread.

From the prologue;"Tall it was,and gaunt and hard as old bones,with flesh pale as milk."

From Bran/3ec;"......Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed,his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him."

Sleeping in a cold bed,we are told is what the Others do.Pale and hard is an echo of how the Other is described.

And surmising that the memory of all warmth has fled from someone is not something you can observe,even with eagle eyes.It's something you have to intuitively know.

My take on this is that it foreshadows Jon becoming ensorcelled or "taken" by the Others.

[kissdbyfire]

Awesome stuff as usual Evita.It will take me a day to absorb it all!

I made a rather cryptic comment that the description of the Other in the prologue would recur with reference to a Stark,early in the thread.

From the prologue;"Tall it was,and gaunt and hard as old bones,with flesh pale as milk."

From Bran/3ec;"......Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed,his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him."

Sleeping in a cold bed,we are told is what the Others do.Pale and hard is an echo of how the Other is described.

And surmising that the memory of all warmth has fled from someone is not something you can observe,even with eagle eyes.It's something you have to intuitively know.

My take on this is that it foreshadows Jon becoming ensorcelled or "taken" by the Others.

I think there are other possible interpretations for Bran’s dream/visions regarding Jon.

Jon had a very idealised notion of what being a black brother would be like, as well as having a completely different idea about life at Castle Black in general. I think Bran, in his vision, could simply be picking up on the reality of what was to become Jon’s life in the near-ish future.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AGoT, chapter 20 , Jon

Inside, Jon hung sword and scabbard from a hook in the stone wall, ignoring the others around him. Methodically, he began to strip off his mail, leather, and sweat-soaked woolens. Chunks of coal burned in iron braziers at either end of the long room, but Jon found himself shivering. The chill was always with him here. In a few years he would forget what it felt like to be warm.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above quote seems to be connected to Bran's thoughts about 'all warmth fleeing from Jon'.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AGoT, chapter 27 , Jon

“Do you ever find anyone in your dream?” Sam asked.

Jon shook his head. “No one. The castle is always empty.” He had never told anyone of the dream, and he did not understand why he was telling Sam now, yet somehow it felt good to talk of it. “Even the ravens are gone from the rookery, and the stables are full of bones. That always scares me. I start to run then, throwing open doors, climbing the tower three steps at a time, screaming for someone, for anyone. And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It’s black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don’t want to. I’m afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it’s not them I’m afraid of. I scream that I’m not a Stark, that this isn’t my place, but it’s no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream.” He stopped, frowning, embarrassed. “That’s when I always wake.” His skin cold and clammy, shivering, shivering in the darkness of his cell. Ghost would leap up beside him, his warmth as comforting as daybreak. He would go back to sleep with his face pressed into the direwolf’s shaggy white fur.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASoS, chapter 73, Jon

I should have stayed in that cave with Ygritte. If there was a life beyond this one, he hoped to tell her that. She will claw my face the way the eagle did, and curse me for a coward, but I’ll tell her all the same. He flexed his sword hand, as Maester Aemon had taught him. The habit had become part of him, and he would need his fingers to be limber to have even half a chance of murdering Mance Rayder.

They had pulled him out this morning, after four days in the ice, locked up in a cell five by five by five, too low for him to stand, too tight for him to stretch out on his back. The stewards had long ago discovered that food and meat kept longer in the icy storerooms carved from the base of the Wall . . . but prisoners did not. “You will die in here, Lord Snow,” Ser Alliser had said just before he closed the heavy wooden door, and Jon had believed it. But this morning they had come and pulled him out again, and marched him cramped and shivering back to the King’s Tower, to stand before jowly Janos Slynt once more.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[redriver]

I think there are other possible interpretations for Bran’s dream/visions regarding Jon.

Jon had a very idealised notion of what being a black brother would be like, as well as having a completely different idea about life at Castle Black in general. I think Bran, in his vision, could simply be picking up on the reality of what was to become Jon’s life in the near-ish future.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AGoT, chapter 20 , Jon

Inside, Jon hung sword and scabbard from a hook in the stone wall, ignoring the others around him. Methodically, he began to strip off his mail, leather, and sweat-soaked woolens. Chunks of coal burned in iron braziers at either end of the long room, but Jon found himself shivering. The chill was always with him here. In a few years he would forget what it felt like to be warm.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above quote seems to be connected to Bran's thoughts about 'all warmth fleeing from Jon'.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AGoT, chapter 27 , Jon

“Do you ever find anyone in your dream?” Sam asked.

Jon shook his head. “No one. The castle is always empty.” He had never told anyone of the dream, and he did not understand why he was telling Sam now, yet somehow it felt good to talk of it. “Even the ravens are gone from the rookery, and the stables are full of bones. That always scares me. I start to run then, throwing open doors, climbing the tower three steps at a time, screaming for someone, for anyone. And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It’s black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don’t want to. I’m afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it’s not them I’m afraid of. I scream that I’m not a Stark, that this isn’t my place, but it’s no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream.” He stopped, frowning, embarrassed. “That’s when I always wake.” His skin cold and clammy, shivering, shivering in the darkness of his cell. Ghost would leap up beside him, his warmth as comforting as daybreak. He would go back to sleep with his face pressed into the direwolf’s shaggy white fur.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASoS, chapter 73, Jon

I should have stayed in that cave with Ygritte. If there was a life beyond this one, he hoped to tell her that. She will claw my face the way the eagle did, and curse me for a coward, but I’ll tell her all the same. He flexed his sword hand, as Maester Aemon had taught him. The habit had become part of him, and he would need his fingers to be limber to have even half a chance of murdering Mance Rayder.

They had pulled him out this morning, after four days in the ice, locked up in a cell five by five by five, too low for him to stand, too tight for him to stretch out on his back. The stewards had long ago discovered that food and meat kept longer in the icy storerooms carved from the base of the Wall . . . but prisoners did not. “You will die in here, Lord Snow,” Ser Alliser had said just before he closed the heavy wooden door, and Jon had believed it. But this morning they had come and pulled him out again, and marched him cramped and shivering back to the King’s Tower, to stand before jowly Janos Slynt once more.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Agreed totally.There are other interpretations.

Though iirc,Sam has the same thought about forgetting what it's like to be warm.On his trek from the Fist maybe?

As I said,it's "my take".Your's and Evita's are just as valid.

[Little Wing]

Hm, interesting... all those instances and descriptions of Jon being/becoming cold could well be foreshadowing of him becoming or being taken by Others. The thing Benjen says to him in Tyrion's chapter: “There you are. Jon, damn it, don’t go off like that by yourself. I thought the Others had gotten you.” could be a foreshadowing of this happening as well... In his dream he's holding a flaming sword but he is also covered in black ice... Okay, now on to Evita's analysis :) be back later!

[kissdbyfire]

Regarding Jon's dream where he's holding a flaming sword and is armoured in 'black ice' - he could be armoured in obsidian, which would look like ice. A flaming sword being held by someone armoured in ice... well... either the sword will be put out or the armour will melt! :lmao:

[Little Wing]

Hah, well I don't think that's ordinary fire... ;) the balance, both fire and ice remaining untouched on him is a nice symbolism.

[Alia of the knife]

The Black Armour I've also taken to be a foreshadowing of Jons link to Rhaegar as well.

The thing that protects him physically is the Armour and the blood of the dragon. As the culmination of two powerful, metahphysical bloodlines, he is protected by both the tangible and intangible, supernatural elements of who and what he is.

[Little Wing]

<snipped for length>

Bran's fall/flight/vision chapter analysis

I was always under the impression that the 3EC visits Bran, but now I actually think it's Bran who enters the realm of the 3EC in his suspended consciousness state, between life and death. It's like Bran, while in his coma, is in this unsubstantial dimension/spirit world where he can communicate with the 3EC, this avatar of some higher consciousness, and see a collage of events in the actual present but also know things, as redriver pointed out - he can't see Jon's body losing all memory of warmth, just as he can't see secrets that Arya keeps, but he can sense these things, know them, so in a sense - he was already using his third eye, just didn't know it, kind of like when we learn how to ride a bike, and are not even aware of those first moments we ride on our own until our mom or dad yells: "Look, you're doing it!"... Anyway, the grey mists that are mentioned so often are, to me, indicative of Bran's vision and lesson, in a way, taking place in a dimension of mind/spirit or just pure consciousness, where the 3EC resides - the mist symbolic of the immaterial quality of this realm, and the grey mists disappearing after he regains consciousness and "falls" back into the physical world tells us these realities are maybe two different states of consciousness, and Bran just left the dream-like one, the grey mist is gone, the veil over "reality" has fallen... That Bran has visited another realm/dimension of consciousness and not just dreamed is also suggested in what the crow says to Bran's: "It's just a dream." The crow quoth (heh): "Is it?" (Sounding so much like GRRM in his "Oh, you think he's dead, do you?" answering questions with another question...) So, we can't really be so sure this was an actual dream. It was certainly dream-like, and dreams do take place in another state of consciousness, but I think the reader is set to sense something more at play here, something important... and maybe a bit scary, like the stories that Bran likes.

Evita has already noted Summer's eyes are described as yellow and shining like the sun, so hence the name - Summer, but Bran also notes how warm Summer is and is enveloped in his heat like in a hot bath, so there's that as well. He feels cold after regaining consciousness, and it's interesting how he also felt the immense cold of the heart of Always Winter - his face so cold that the warmth of his tears burned his face when he cried at whatever he saw there...

Also, just to add some other interpretations on the crow I encountered while reading up and discussing the crow on Heresy - it sitting on Bran's shoulder and giving advice is reminiscent of the Morrigan, that sits on Cu Chulainn's shoulder. As the Morrigan takes different forms so shall Bran take different forms, warging wolf, raven and man. Also, the etymology of Morrigan's name is interesting as the Mor, maer, mara roots mean terror or nightmare and rigan is queen - so, it is her realm Bran was falling through, I think. That she/it chose to teach him how to "fly" speaks how important Bran is/will be. Not to mention that Bran means raven (or crow?).

ETA: Forgot to mention how his falling is meant to remind us of Alice falling through the rabbit hole and what that implies... through the looking glass and all that jazz ;) Also, the relationship the crow and Bran have here, the little lesson, reminds me of Merlin and Arthur :wub:

[evita mgfs]

Oh, Evita, I've already covered Tyrion, as you can see up thread :)

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be here to post the Eddard chapter tomorrow, so I'll post today. Though, I can't really bring myself to analyze the chapter - I was like Ned and said - I'll do it myself, and now that I've read it I'm furious and sad all over again :(

Summary: Arya is found and brought to the king. A mini trial takes place where it is Arya's word against Joff's about what happened in their confrontation at the Trident. Sansa is in the position to resolve it but is also in the tough situation where she must choose between her family and her bethrothed and so she says she can't remember what happened. The trial ends in Robert ruling that both Ned and himself will discipline their children, but Cersei demands blood and that the direwolf that hurt Joff's hand be killed. Since Nymeria has escaped, Cersei asks Lady be killed instead and Ned decides to do it, to at least give her a quick death... The chapter ends with the Hound bringing Mycah's body, boasting how he rode him down because he ran, but not fast enough...

snip

saw, not a butcher's boy and a prince. Ranks are not something that influence her judgment and, unfortunately, she learned that bullies who are princes sometimes win...

And Ned... to have to kill your child's pet and the symbol of your own house... he is obedient and honorable and does this although it is hard for him (I know I wouldn't be able to go through with it and just head back home with the girls, leaving the office of the Hand to rot!) He is much like Sansa here, and Lady for that matter - still trusting and obedient and doing what is expected of him - being the Hand and obeying his king, much to his own downfall... :crying: :bawl: :crying:

:bowdown: :bowdown: LITTLE WING: AMAZING POSTS!

I apologize for the Eddard chapter, :crying: and you did a bang up job! I am just going to add that Robert “roars” again in this POV, as he is questioning Arya, which I think shows his alliance with the Lannisters as to the outcome of these events.

I also wish to emphasize that Robert proves the worst of Eddard’s fears when through the Hound Mycah is slain – “child killing!” I know Robert did not order the Hound to do this for Joffrey tells Sansa the Hound is Cersei’s creature set on guarding Joffrey, but nonetheless, Mycah’s death is not justified, in my opinion.

Kiss’dbyfire has a theory that the direwolves and the Stark children are of ONE MIND – sharing two bodies. I am not saying it as well as she does, but if this is true, by Eddard killing Lady, he does weaken her entire sense of being, which she does replace with her allegiance to the Lannisters.

I have to backtrack to Tryrion and Alia's posts, but I had to say something now about your brilliant and astute observations. What a joy to read! :cheers:

[evita mgfs]

I rather agree with you, Evita, on Robb definitely having his own connection to Grey Wind. The connection has changed him - he has physically grown and here we see he's mentally grown as well - he takes responsibility and has the right of it where Cat is concerned and her withering away in her vigils. He has matured and I think the connection to Grey Wind has also enhanced his intuitive side, as with the rest of the Stark kids (an aside: maybe Sansa has difficulty to see through the Lannisters, feel their malice intuitively because she lost Lady so soon?). I can imagine Grey Wind took over for Cat and gave him support, and we get to see a more mature, wise and in tune with the wolves (and therefore himself) Robb.

Also, I would like to add that this chapter is full of Red Wedding allusions.

"I would gladly butcher every horse in Winterfell with my own hands if it would open Bran's eyes..." says a desperate and hysterical Cat to Maester Luwin when he informs her of all the things that need her attention, one of them being choosing a new horse master. Her reaction and saying how she would butcher with her own hands and later wishing the direwolves dead reminds me of her Lady Stoneheart self.

Now, we see Cat goes mad with grief here. The assassin almost cuts her throat. He pulls her by the hair (her scalp gets injured where he tore a handful of her hair). Blood sprays her face as Summer makes the kill - also throat. All of this happens during the Red Wedding as well (minus a direwolf saving the day and Cat is the one doing the throat cutting as well as being killed in the same fashion) :crying: so, a foreshadowing chapter indeed.

The stuff about light in this chapter and the library burning is interesting. It symbolizes knowledge and after her four day sleep, we see Cat attaining knowledge after the assassin's attack and her close brush with death - she knows what she must do (go to KL) and she knows that the attempt on Bran's life means Bran knows something, and that is the reason he was pushed and attacked again. She also finally knows the importance of direwolves to her children....

As to the library - the books Tyrion chose to borrow are now the only ones that are left from the rich Stark library. I wonder where they ended up as Tyrion's journeys really take him places in AGoT... In the Vale mayhaps? Anyway, such a shame all those books burned.

ETA: Also, awesome job on the Sansa chapter! Don't have much to add except ask all of you guys, how much importance do you give to Sansa freaking out over Ilyn Payne?

It can be set aside as her just strongly disliking him, but Sansa is a proper lady, she's very much in control of her public self and won't freak out or make a scene just like that. This very trait is why she could use courtesy as armor later on - she can play the social skills game well. She does not make her emotions public, as it is uncouth and unladylike. So, for her to really lose it like that just on seeing Ilyn Payne's face has always nagged me... What is it? A premonition? We know he will be the one to behead Ned so she may be getting a vibe of some sorts that he will hurt those she loves, but I dunno... Is it just that? Will Payne have some other role to play in Sansa's arc that is yet to come to pass?

:bowdown: :bowdown: LITTLE WING: ANOTHER SUPERB POST!

GREAT CALL ON THE WED REDDING!

Also, I am happy you noticed Robb’s change as well. In a later POV, I will show you the place where I THINK Robb wants to share something important with Bran, but he holds back, and I speculate that Robb wants to tell Bran about the “wolf dreams”. :eek:

[evita mgfs]

I was always under the impression that the 3EC visits Bran, but now I actually think it's Bran who enters the realm of the 3EC in his suspended consciousness state, between life and death. It's like Bran, while in his coma, is in this unsubstantial dimension/spirit world where he can communicate with the 3EC, this avatar of some higher consciousness, and see a collage of events in the actual present but also know things, as redriver pointed out - he can't see Jon's body losing all memory of warmth, just as he can't see secrets that Arya keeps, but he can sense these things, know them, so in a sense - he was already using his third eye, just didn't know it, kind of like when we learn how to ride a bike, and are not even aware of those first moments we ride on our own until our mom or dad yells: "Look, you're doing it!"... Anyway, the grey mists that are mentioned so often are, to me, indicative of Bran's vision and lesson, in a way, taking place in a dimension of mind/spirit or just pure consciousness, where the 3EC resides - the mist symbolic of the immaterial quality of this realm, and the grey mists disappearing after he regains consciousness and "falls" back into the physical world tells us these realities are maybe two different states of consciousness, and Bran just left the dream-like one, the grey mist is gone, the veil over "reality" has fallen... That Bran has visited another realm/dimension of consciousness and not just dreamed is also suggested in what the crow says to Bran's: "It's just a dream." The crow quoth (heh): "Is it?" (Sounding so much like GRRM in his "Oh, you think he's dead, do you?" answering questions with another question...) So, we can't really be so sure this was an actual dream. It was certainly dream-like, and dreams do take place in another state of consciousness, but I think the reader is set to sense something more at play here, something important... and maybe a bit scary, like the stories that Bran likes.

Evita has already noted Summer's eyes are described as yellow and shining like the sun, so hence the name - Summer, but Bran also notes how warm Summer is and is enveloped in his heat like in a hot bath, so there's that as well. He feels cold after regaining consciousness, and it's interesting how he also felt the immense cold of the heart of Always Winter - his face so cold that the warmth of his tears burned his face when he cried at whatever he saw there...

Also, just to add some other interpretations on the crow I encountered while reading up and discussing the crow on Heresy - it sitting on Bran's shoulder and giving advice is reminiscent of the Morrigan, that sits on Cu Chulainn's shoulder. As the Morrigan takes different forms so shall Bran take different forms, warging wolf, raven and man. Also, the etymology of Morrigan's name is interesting as the Mor, maer, mara roots mean terror or nightmare and rigan is queen - so, it is her realm Bran was falling through, I think. That she/it chose to teach him how to "fly" speaks how important Bran is/will be. Not to mention that Bran means raven (or crow?).

ETA: Forgot to mention how his falling is meant to remind us of Alice falling through the rabbit hole and what that implies... through the looking glass and all that jazz ;) Also, the relationship the crow and Bran have here, the little lesson, reminds me of Merlin and Arthur :wub:

:bowdown: :bowdown: LITTLE WING: I love your analysis of Bran’s 3EC “dream” – maybe we should call it a VISION!

Anyways, I wanted to mention the allusion to the Odyssey regarding the “grey mists”. Athene, goddess of war and wisdom, is associated with the color grey, and she is oft called “grey-eyed Athene”. She provides Odysseus with protection throughout his journey home, or she arranges for ‘agents’ to do the job in her place.

For instance, after Odysseus’ boat is smashed to bits by Poseidon, Lukothea, a sea nymph in the form of a gannet, gifts Odysseus as “immortal veil” which he must wrap around himself but discard the minute he hits land.

The “grey mists” reminded me of the “veil” in that Martin later calls it a “veil” – not that I think it is a literal allusion to the Odyssey, just a HAPPY COINCIDENCE!

I also love your etmology - and I will add Septa MORdane!

[Little Wing]

Har! Awesome catch about septa Mordane!

Hm... the grey mist may have been the coma... it was also something protecting him, making him invisible to death?

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, Evita! :grouphug:

ETA: Just found a text about the Morrigan where she is said to usually appear as a "subtle mist" :eek: :eek: :eek:

[evita mgfs]

The auditory aspect of the chapter is a nice catch here - Robert doesn't want to be heard by anyone except Ned but then doesn't listen to him - it's pretty much my way or the highway with Robert... It's also interesting how he's willing to overlook both Jorah's and Jaime's committing treason because it works to his advantage (killing/spying on Targs) while Ned stands his ground when it comes to justice over their transgressions. There are opportunities to make friends out of enemies, and Robert has done that, but took it too far with the Lannisters. It seems Robert does not forgive, as it were, but overlooks transgressions, even the murder of children, if they bring him what he wants - revenge on the Targs. Their stance on Jaime particularly is interesting. Ned would behead Jaime then and there if it was up to him, but we know why Jaime did it... There would be no KL to save if Jaime didn't act... I wonder what Ned would think/do if he knew the whole story... he'd probably still think it was too much to go ahead and kill someone you swore to protect instead of just, I dunno, wounding him or punching him unconscious and tying him up? I guess knowing the whole story on Aerys/Jaime/wildfire would only make Ned send Jaime to the Wall instead of beheading him, lol. No matter how much I appreciate an authoritative figure that can forgive, Robert took it way too far and in turn became a part of the problem. Ned may be cold and stern in his justice, but he has the compassion needed and is only seen as unyielding to those who do not look beyond the surface.

Anyway, the animal imagery of Robert - we see him as a roaring lion and a bear. He supports both Jorah and Jaime here, so there's that, as Evita already pointed out. I'm not sure about this, but isn't a bear really tenacious if you in any way trouble him and it starts going after you/chasing you? If it is so, then it's pretty close to his clinging hate for the Targs (although he's part Targ himself... :dunno: ) The lion in Robert is, imo, besides the fact he's king, his furious nature, the way he's quick to lash out in rage but also quick to forget it, as we've seen him in this chapter. I think lions are kinda like that, but I could be wrong, lol :laugh:

:bowdown: :bowdown: LITTLE WING: This addresses a response way back on page 17, your reply to my auditory references in Ned’s POV. Thanks as well for the compliment. You are the one who deserves the compliments! Your responses are always spot on!

I will address a little thing that bothers me about Ned’s reasoning, aside from the fact that he doesn’t turn his horse around after his meet and discuss with King Robert after the man will not listen to one word of his advice – Ned never thanks Jaimie for killing Aerys after what Aerys did to his own father and brother! [i think Jaimie expected “something” from Ned, even a feigned sense of gratitude – on the side – but to hold onto his sense of honor even after Jaime slays the mad king who deserves to die for his many acts of cruelty seems a bit “stark” and hard-nosed on Ned’s part!]

I love Ned, with all his faults and blunders, because I do think he comes to realize what it meant when he killed Lady, Sansa’s wolf, after Cat tells him Bran’s direwolf saved her life and Bran’s. No one beats up on Ned more than he does himself! The dreams that haunt him tell us he is a man of conscience, and no matter how much we try to do good, sometimes our best intentions are not always seen in the light we intended. Just like Elphaba in Wicked, with “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!” I think I even rewrote the lyrics from Ned’s POV for the Bard thread a while back!

Now I am obsessed with Les Miserables, and my son bought me the soundtrack today! Oh, my! Wonderful! [Russell Crowe has a hard time with the demanding vocals – plus he is not tall enough, even with his Captain Crunch hat!] Also, Sacha Baron Coen doesn’t sound that great as Master of the House, Thenardier. He’s probably better in the movie. Hugh Jackman is amazing as Jean Valjean – the character reminds me of Ned. So as I write, I have delightful background music that is driving my husband bonkers!

[redriver]

I was always under the impression that the 3EC visits Bran, but now I actually think it's Bran who enters the realm of the 3EC in his suspended consciousness state, between life and death. It's like Bran, while in his coma, is in this unsubstantial dimension/spirit world where he can communicate with the 3EC, this avatar of some higher consciousness, and see a collage of events in the actual present but also know things, as redriver pointed out - he can't see Jon's body losing all memory of warmth, just as he can't see secrets that Arya keeps, but he can sense these things, know them, so in a sense - he was already using his third eye, just didn't know it, kind of like when we learn how to ride a bike, and are not even aware of those first moments we ride on our own until our mom or dad yells: "Look, you're doing it!"... Anyway, the grey mists that are mentioned so often are, to me, indicative of Bran's vision and lesson, in a way, taking place in a dimension of mind/spirit or just pure consciousness, where the 3EC resides - the mist symbolic of the immaterial quality of this realm, and the grey mists disappearing after he regains consciousness and "falls" back into the physical world tells us these realities are maybe two different states of consciousness, and Bran just left the dream-like one, the grey mist is gone, the veil over "reality" has fallen... That Bran has visited another realm/dimension of consciousness and not just dreamed is also suggested in what the crow says to Bran's: "It's just a dream." The crow quoth (heh): "Is it?" (Sounding so much like GRRM in his "Oh, you think he's dead, do you?" answering questions with another question...) So, we can't really be so sure this was an actual dream. It was certainly dream-like, and dreams do take place in another state of consciousness, but I think the reader is set to sense something more at play here, something important... and maybe a bit scary, like the stories that Bran likes.

Evita has already noted Summer's eyes are described as yellow and shining like the sun, so hence the name - Summer, but Bran also notes how warm Summer is and is enveloped in his heat like in a hot bath, so there's that as well. He feels cold after regaining consciousness, and it's interesting how he also felt the immense cold of the heart of Always Winter - his face so cold that the warmth of his tears burned his face when he cried at whatever he saw there...

Also, just to add some other interpretations on the crow I encountered while reading up and discussing the crow on Heresy - it sitting on Bran's shoulder and giving advice is reminiscent of the Morrigan, that sits on Cu Chulainn's shoulder. As the Morrigan takes different forms so shall Bran take different forms, warging wolf, raven and man. Also, the etymology of Morrigan's name is interesting as the Mor, maer, mara roots mean terror or nightmare and rigan is queen - so, it is her realm Bran was falling through, I think. That she/it chose to teach him how to "fly" speaks how important Bran is/will be. Not to mention that Bran means raven (or crow?).

ETA: Forgot to mention how his falling is meant to remind us of Alice falling through the rabbit hole and what that implies... through the looking glass and all that jazz ;) Also, the relationship the crow and Bran have here, the little lesson, reminds me of Merlin and Arthur :wub:

I'd like to think our fellow Heretics should share this,and was going to suggest you post it there.

But then I thought let them come here instead!!

[Little Wing]

Thanks Evita and redriver - I appreciate your opinion! :grouphug:

Re: Ned - eh..... Yeah, it's weird how he couldn't get past what Jaime did to Aerys with what he did to his family... I sort of think Ned had an iffy feeling about Jaime that he couldn't get over. He just didn't like the guy. He sensed something... off in him, let's say. I have no text evidence, just going off Ned's premonitions before heading south and making a guess at him being intuitive (for a man, heh) and guarded with people he feels are... well, bad, let's say. I'm like that. I just get, you know, vibes from people... So, mayhaps Ned got a bad vibe from Jaime and trusted it?

As for Heresy, I kind of mentioned Bran after Evita's post on doors and windows, and gave a short version of this post here, with the Morrigan and stuff... so I guess I did my duty as a Heretic! :laugh:

Evita, enjoy Les Mis, I love Hugh Jackman! I think he was perfectly cast...

[evita mgfs]

Okay, it seems we've skipped Tyrion's chapter, so here's a quick summery and analysis.

Tyrion II summary: On their way to the Wall, Benjen, Tyrion and Jon meet up with Yoren and his two future members of the Watch. Jon and Tyrion have a "bonding moment" and we get a significant history/dragons info dump.

The first sentence: I agree with Evita in giving some thought to first sentences, so here it is:

"The North went on forever."

Throughout the chapters in AGoT we get to "meet" the North. We have come to know it's ancient, cold and mysterious; we've seen Winterfell is not just a castle, that it almost breathes with its Stark family that must always be there... The Starks are deeply connected to the North and to Winterfell - it is known. In this sentence we witness the vastness and starkness (heh) of the North. I got the feeling that it also says - the North endures, people come and go, but the North goes on forever. Also, Tyrion notes how the maps and the lands are not the same - the North is more than it seems, it is not what the maps say it is (or the histories maybe?) No map or historic account can really flesh it out - it is harsh, cold and hard but at the same time an evanescent mystery.

The chapter:

Tyrion's chapters are always a treat as he is very perceptive, so we get to see the North, how the farther they go up the road the wilder their surroundings become, with the mountains looming ever higher to the west as they go and the winds rise and cut like knives. Tyrion also notes Jon's dismay at seeing Yoren's prisoners - rapers who are to be his brothers. The road to disillusion begins...

"No doubt the boy had made the mistake of thinking that the Night’s Watch was made up of men like his uncle. If so, Yoren and his companions were a rude awakening. Tyrion felt sorry for the boy. He had chosen a hard life … or perhaps he should say that a hard life had been chosen for him." This is Tyrion being more perceptive than he knows, Cat chose this for him but Jon also chose it.

Tyrion feels unnerved by Ghost:"There was something very unsettling about that animal, Tyrion thought" Is it because Ghost is silent?

Tyrion trundles off to read and we find out among other things the fate of those in the famed field of Fire, the properties of dragonbone (fireproof par excellence bows - who knew!) and Tyrion's morbid fascination with dragons. He feels the skulls watching him, just like Ned and later Arya. We've also seen Cat feeling watched by the heart tree... now, is this important? Is there something stirring in the black bones as in the white trunks (hard and white like bones) of weirwoods? The bones remember - can the remembrance stirring in both dragonbones/skulls and weirwoods be the latent magic in the world activated by the presence of direwolves+wargs and dragons+dragon riders? Just a thought...

Anyway, the most interesting part in this chapter is the interaction between Jon and Tyrion. Jon is intrigued by Tyrion and how much he reads. Tyrion is rather cynical throughout, but also bluntly honest about Jon's bane that is the Watch. The only time Tyrion takes it too far (he even feels as he himself says, "absurdly guilty") is when he takes Jon to feel the same hate for his family as Tyrion does for his, namely his father and sister:

“I used to start fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock and stare at the flames for hours, pretending they were dragonfire. Sometimes I’d imagine my father burning. At other times, my sister.”

The difference between the Starks and the Lannisters here is how much the Starks stick together, while the Lannisters are very much concerned to keep up appearances and so Tyrion is unloved and his family dysfunctional as he is seen as a stain on their reputation or whatever. The North and the Starks are not that into gossip and intrigue or keeping up with the Johnson's (though everyone seems to want to be like them, so maybe they are the Johnson's?) and they look to each other more than what people will say about them... so, Tyrion goes too far when thinking Jon hates his family like Tyrion does. Tyrion may have reason, but Jon is loved and loves his family, Cat and all.

After Ghost knocks some sense into Tyrion, literally, we see Jon and Tyrion bonding and Jon facing the truth about the Watch and Tyrion praising him for it. Tyrion being likened to a grumkin is interesting...

There's a bit of foreshadowing, in my opinion in these last lines:

“There you are. Jon, damn it, don’t go off like that by yourself. I thought the Others had gotten you.” (...) One by one the company drifted off to their shelters and to sleep, all but Jon Snow, who had drawn the night’s first watch. Tyrion was the last to retire, as always."

I'm thinking, if we take the night here as the coming long night, that Jon is foreshadowed here to be the first to face the Others, maybe by going to the Lands of Always Winter and that Tyrion may be the one to finish the Others arc (the last to retire) like Gollum, for example...

There's many a sentence to analyze (Jon calling him Tyrion Lannister not dwarf or imp, when asked what he sees when looking at Tyrion, Tyrion remarking on Jon's Stark looks, the historical info dump...) but I've got to run right now, so feel free to go over those. :)

Edit: I lost a part when copy/pasting stuff... I hope nothing else is missing :angry2: Ah, f**k! Passages missing everywhere... I dunno if I retrieved them all....

:bowdown: :bowdown: LITTLE WING: GREAT JOB ON TYRION! Here are a few comments on your post, which hit all kinds of important points:

• The NORTH – love it! It is a characterization as well, “mother earth” sort of umbrella that embraces not only its dangerous personality but also embraces those who people it, like the Starks. The bond is strong! [Could this be why Lyanna made Ned promise? The bond to the North and Winterfell?]
  
• After reading your post, I truly “see” Jon as becoming King of the North or the King of Winter because of his own deep-rooted bond with the North that is so much part of the Starks. Plus, that new app says Robb legitimized Jon:
  
• “Along the way, he concludes that he must make sure Winterfell has an heir should anything happen to him, and over Catelyn's objections legitimizes Jon Snow and names him his heir. He signs the decree before witnesses, then sends Galbart Glover and Maege Mormont to carry the word north. At the same time, Robb learns of Balon Greyjoy's death and discusses his plans for using the crannogmen to attack Moat Cailin from the swamp side” (quote from the APP).
  
• I suppose much depends on whether or not Jon is alive to assume the position!
  
• Regarding Ghost “unsettling” Tyrion: I think, just maybe, Tyrion perceives that Ghost is more than a pet direwolf. However, “unsettle” does mean to make “uneasy, bother, upset, confuse, etc”. So, Tyrion seemed to “spark” with Ghost earlier, and he even petted him. I certainly hope Martin somehow unites Jon and Tyrion and Ghost in the future for I really enjoyed the chemistry between Jon and him.
  
• I also would not be bored with a Ghost POV or more than one. I personally think that Martin can outdo “Jack London” who wrote from the perspective of a wolf/dog. As a matter of fact, as a teen I loved London’s books Call of the Wild and White Fang.
  
• The Lannisters and Starks as contrasting families is also spot on!
  
• I LOVE your foreshadowing point: “There you are. Jon, damn it, don’t go off like that by yourself. I thought the Others had gotten you.” If those lines are not providential, then I am daft! See, more proof that Jon must live! He has to unite with Tyrion – and confront the Others! And I really doubt the Others, or White Walkers, are the “evil incarnate” [i borrowed that phrase from Black Crow’s OP in the heretic thread] some believe, readers and characters alike. With people like Ramsay Bolton Aerys Targaryen, Tywin Lannister, Joffrey, and others, we have already met the true source of evil in the world: humankind!
  
• Ah, listening to Les Miz still – what a lovely Christmas present!
  
• Off I go to continue catching up . . .
  
• "Drink with Me" :cheers:
  

[Little Wing]

Ah, I love Jack London! The first books I picked up as a kid to read, by myself...

I'm glad you like the analysis - it was a bit rushed and I actually lost a couple of paragraphs copy/pasting the whole text and just inserted a few sentences instead as I had to go... :frown5:

Anyway, wanted to share this :cheers: