Ragnarok

[Damon_Tor]

Also, ( and this theory is my dear, dear baby) I think that Tyr (because of the hand thing) = Jamie = AA ,and Fenrir (because of Jojen's vision of a chained wolf) = Bran = the Night's King, and the story will end with them just as it started with them.

It was Tyr who chained Fenrir, wasn't it? Very interesting.

[Ludd]

I know I have posted elsewhere but this seems like the best thread for it

The Norse parallels are in m,y opinion

The seven (or 9) kingdoms represent each of the fairly structured "romanised " Norse gods/goddesses

As I see it

1. Storms End = Thor a storm and battle God who caries a war hammer (aka Robert). He also dresses in women's clothing (aka Renly). seen as the "father or main god hence also on the iron throne (Roman equivalent is Jupiter and his day is of course Thursday.

2. The Lannisters = Tyr or Tue or Tiwaz, the god of battle AND order and justice. Tywin and Tyrion and of course Jaime who lost his hand as did Tyr , clearly draw on this God - the names alone give us a pretty good clue. he was a swordsman too I think. Roman equivalent is Ares (not a very good one) and his day is Tuesday

3.4 The sun and moon were not well personified in Norse mythology but in the Roman "structure" they are Apollo and Diana and I think we can assume that Dorne and The eyrie are the equivalent of these two. Monday was the first day of the week and Arryn was the first to join the Targs. Sunday was the last day of the week and Dorne was the LAST to join the Targs. Our days Sunday and Monday are these two

5. Now Odin (Woden) is so clearly like Blood raven that one has to assume that the Riverlands represents Odin. A weird and tricky god he is both a god of war and poetry and magic. He is symbolized by the oak and the the raven. he lost an eye. he hangs about in trees and is considered all seeing. Now remember that the Riverlands has no historical King to join the iron throne, so it is reasonable that a displaced character such as BR can play the role. There is no clear Roman parallels although Mercury is closest. Odin was a god of the underworld in part and hung around in caves. Our day is Wednesday.

6. The reach probably represents F Friga which is the fertility god/godess of plenty. It is of course open to question given the existence of the fertile Freys, but my stomach turns at the thought of any godlike Frey qualities so I am going with the Reach.

7. This leaves us with the ill fated seventh God/day ie Saturn/Saturday. There are two possibilities ie the iron Islands OR the Starks. It seems to me that this day represents things rather nasty so Loki seems the likely Norse equivalent. I go with Theon the trickster as representing this element and his iron islanders seem to have many of the characteristics of Loki. Like Loki, Theon is torn between the gods and baddies and I expect this to reoccur. the roles of Victorion and Euron are certainly like the evil Loki once he joins forces against the Gods.

OK so after reviewing the 7 god/days we seem to have fairly clear parallels for 4 of the thirteen named Gods of Aesir and one of the Godesses (although the Reach could be also Freyr and Freya), with two or lesser Gods representing the Sun and Moon.

However what of the other 9 or 8 Gods.

Two sons of Odin are as clear as day - Balder and Hodr are Bran and Hodor (also known as W(B)alder. They are set to return after Ragnarok although die first. The exact relationship between these two is unclear but clearly these two brother gods are represented by name and deed and character by Bran r (who was married to Nanna) and Hodor

Two sons of Thor play a minor role but we can more or less pick Edrik Storm and Gendry for these two

Two more Gods (Njord and Freyr) were vanir and NOT Aesir, so perhaps they need no Kingdom equivalent. I rather think it possible that Ned, Lord Robb and Lady Sansa could be these three Vanir, each was held hostage by the South. Robb like Freyr was destroyed by his fateful love, so there are parallels.

Of the three remaining male named Asgard gods, two seem rather minor (Idun and Bragi I think)

One however is of great importance ie Heimdall. Jon seems to me to be Heimdall for so many, many reasons. He is the watcher on the wall guardian of the realm against the giants etc. Son of nine un-named maidens etc. he is known as the Whitest of the gods - hence his name Snow.

[Pero the first of His name]

Valar Morghulis.

[Aetta]

Bran is the best guess for the 'Baldr' figure, with his direwolf called Summer (Baldr being the god of summer), accompanied by Hodor (or Hodhr, in Norse mythology) and Nan(-na)

As for the rest, various parallels to the story have been noted. For examples, Tyr, the god of trial by combat, corresponds to the entire Lannister family in a number of ways.

As for the Odin figure of ASoIaF: Bloodraven is a skinchanger (or shapeshifter, he's also able to glamour), one-eyed, nailed to a tree...

Good thought. Although I wonder if Bran wouldn't be Loki, considering he is getting in Hodor's head and can direct him to do, blindly, just about anything. Then there is the notion that Dany is Baldr (Rhaegar) reincarnated, as the Norse believed that spirits are reincarnated moreso than the actual body...so Bran would have Hodor kill Dany. Okay, that doesn't make sense...But it doesn't negate the idea that GRRM didn't give his own spin to the general elements of Ragnarok.

I always thought of Brynden as Níðhöggr, the wyrm of Yggdrasil, rather than Odin. His flat in the wierwood is like the space under Yggdrasil, almost identically.

[Aetta]

ditto post

[Atroksia]

Interesting. I've thought about it as well. The offspring of the blood of the first men (Northmen) seem to have some parallels to the old vikings from Earth; also the resemblance to Ragnarok seems to be more or less obvious.

Ragnarok, the end of the world, is just the end of the cycle of life, like everything on Earth (life, seasons, and whatnot). After Ragnarok, the end, a new earth/life cycle will be "(re)born". The next book, The Winds Of Winter, seems to resemble Ragnarok. The book afterwards, A Dream Of Spring, seems to resemble the dawn of a new life/earth. I mean, just by title, hypothetically.

I always thought of Brynden as Níðhöggr, the wyrm of Yggdrasil, rather than Odin. His flat in the wierwood is like the space under Yggdrasil, almost identically.

Hm, I wouldn't say that Brynden (Bloodraven) resembles Níðhöggr, for Níðhöggr is some sort of "bad" creature, offspring of Loki, gnawing at the roots of the life tree, Yggdrasil, torturing the dead. He indeed, to me at least, seems to resemble Odin more, the wise Godfather, seeing everything with the help of his raven, Munin and Hugin. Bloodraven has "a thousand eyes and one" and uses raven for skinchanging, seeing everything which happens and has happend, through the eyes of his raven and the heart trees, and beyond.