Commonly Believed Myths

[mankytoes]

Dany's prophecy from the margi, which says when the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the sea goes dry and the mountains crumble AND Dany gives birth to a fertile child THEN Drogo will come back to life.

A lot of people have said the first three have happened, so Dany is fertile. She was talking about Drogo recovering, not Dany becoming fertile. So if this has indeed all happened, Drogo should be reborn.

[King of Winters]

Here's another one that people get confused about:

Myth: All skinchangers are wargs.

Truth: All wargs are skinchangers, but not all skinchangers are wargs.

Wargs describe a special relationship to wolves only.

Bran is a skinchanger and a warg. So was Varamyr Sixskins. So is Jon, even though he only changes skins with Ghost.

However, Borroq with his boar is not a warg, neither is Grisella the Goat woman, or Orell with his eagle.

Edit: people may get confused because we are all guilty (myself included) of using the verb "warging" when describing all sorts of skinchanging. I.E. Arya "warging" the orange tabby.

Wargs usually only have one bond with an animal, usually a wolf. With the warg there is a part of the wolf in the human and part of the human in the wolf.

Skinchangers can go into different animals, more than wargs, but don't have a bond like the wargs do.

[Moon-Pale Maiden]

This is correct. To clarify, though, I will use warg as a catch-all because it's easier and less clunky of a verb, and I'm sure others do the same. But yes, properly speaking, it's wolves only.

I agree. I edited my post right afterward because I also recognize that this is the case - I use it all the time myself, but it's probably why most people don't understand the original intended definition. It's much easier to say 'warging' than 'skin-changes'.

[Tyrion Always Nose]

Faceless men can't kill people they know

[King of Winters]

The white walkers are the ultimate enemy and hell bent on destroying mankind and that dragons are the only weapons that can destroy them.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Dany's prophecy from the margi, which says when the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the sea goes dry and the mountains crumble AND Dany gives birth to a fertile child THEN Drogo will come back to life.

A lot of people have said the first three have happened, so Dany is fertile. She was talking about Drogo recovering, not Dany becoming fertile. So if this has indeed all happened, Drogo should be reborn.

Just a couple of notes.

1. I don't think MMD meant for this to be a prophecy; it just became one.

2. I don't think Dany was ever actually infertile; she got pregnant again when she became sexually active and might have carried it to term had she not gotten sick.

3. The wording, if I remember it, isn't about Drogo recovering so much as "coming back," which can be interpreted in different ways.

Faceless men can't kill people they know

They can't.

[RumHam]

Another one, though I'm less certain of this one. To quote the concordance:

• Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, breaks tradition and wears gold-plated armor with a helm shaped like a lion's head and blazons his shield with the emblem of his house (I: 97, 262)
  

He does have gold armor and the lion's head helm, but also a set of white armor. I don't find any evidence in the books that he wears the golden armor while on Kingsguard duty. In fact twice he mentions how he puts thought into which one to wear depending on what he's doing. He's mentioned as wearing the gold when he killed Aerys, during the Hand's tournament, and when he confronts Eddard and kills Jory, and while fighting in the Riverlands. None of those things were official kingsguard business.

Jaime had slipped in through the king’s door, clad in his golden armor, sword in hand. The golden armor, not the white, but no one ever remembers that. Would that I had taken off that damned cloak as well.

Jaime had thought long and hard about whether to wear his gold armor or his white to this meeting; in the end, he’d chosen a leather jack and a crimson cloak.

So it seems likely to me that he does wear the traditional white armor while guarding the king.

[Moon-Pale Maiden]

Here's one...

Myth: The 7 kingdoms = 7 current areas of land.

Truth: There are currently nine distinct areas of land. The term seven kingdoms refers to the 7 kingdoms that existed prior to Aegon's landing. Aegon actually only conquered six of them. He did not initially conquer Dorne. Dorne was later folded into the larger "kingdom" through marriage.

The current nine distinct areas of land under the crown are:

The North, The Iron Isles, The Westerlands, The Crownlands, The Stormlands, The Reach, The Riverlands, The Vale and Dorne.

The borders and lands have changed many times during the history of Westeros, but the way they stood right before Aegon's landing was as seven kingdoms:

The Kingdom of the North, the Kingdom of Mountain and Vale, the Kingdom of Isles and Rivers, the Kingdom of the Rock, The Kingdom of the Reach, the Kingdom of the Stormlands, and Dorne.

[Moon-Pale Maiden]

Another one, though I'm less certain of this one. To quote the concordance:

• Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, breaks tradition and wears gold-plated armor with a helm shaped like a lion's head and blazons his shield with the emblem of his house (I: 97, 262)
  

He does have gold armor and the lion's head helm, but also a set of white armor. I don't find any evidence in the books that he wears the golden armor while on Kingsguard duty. In fact twice he mentions how he puts thought into which one to wear depending on what he's doing. He's mentioned as wearing the gold when he killed Aerys, during the Hand's tournament, and when he confronts Eddard and kills Jory, and while fighting in the Riverlands. None of those things were official kingsguard business.

So it seems likely to me that he does wear the traditional white armor while guarding the king.

I believe you are correct, and the concordance is wrong. If we all agree on this, the concordance probably should be changed.

[Moon-Pale Maiden]

I've also noticed that some people are confused by the term "heart tree".

A heart tree is not always a weirwood, and not all weirwood trees are heart trees.

A heart tree is a tree in the middle of a godswood which usually (but not always) has a face carved into it.

Heart trees have been other types of trees in places where weirwoods do not grow, or have been cut down.

Arya bit her lip. “What will Bran do when he’s of age?”

Ned knelt beside her. “He has years to find that answer, Arya. For now, it is enough to know that he will live.” The night the bird had come from Winterfell, Eddard Stark had taken the girls to the castle godswood, an acre of elm and alder and black cottonwood overlooking the river. The heart tree there was a great oak, its ancient limbs overgrown with smokeberry vines; they knelt before it to offer their thanksgiving, as if it had been a weirwood.

-A Game of Thrones, Chapter 25: Eddard

[Consigliere]

That there are no weirwood heart trees south of The Neck. We only know of one non-wierwood heart tree versus five confirmed wierwood heart trees in the south. (Storms End, Casterly Rock, Harrenhal, Riverrun, and Raventree Hall.)

IIRC there is a Godswood and Heart Tree in KL as well.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

IIRC there is a Godswood and Heart Tree in KL as well.

Heart tree is King's Landing isn't a weirwood though.

[King of Winters]

IIRC there is a Godswood and Heart Tree in KL as well.

There is a Godswood in the Red Keep, but as Moon-Pale Maiden points out, not all Heart Trees are Weirwoods.

[The Silver Otter]

Oh, another one: The idea that the Kingsguard would honor a vow made to a dead guy when the living king was miles away and unprotected. Basically a complete misconception of what the Kingsguard oath actually entails.

Apple,could you elaborate? Are you referring to the ToJ, Battle of the Trident, or something else?

[Consigliere]

Sansa being responsible for Lady's death because she did not tell the truth.

[King of Winters]

Apple,could you elaborate? Are you referring to the ToJ, Battle of the Trident, or something else?

I think to the Tower of Joy.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Apple,could you elaborate? Are you referring to the ToJ, Battle of the Trident, or something else?

Tower of Joy. The idea that the three Kingsguard would sit tight there because of Rhaegar's orders while Viserys, if he's the king, is sitting unprotected on Dragonstone is completely ridiculous and yet I see it dragged out all the time.

[Okaythen]

Tower of Joy. The idea that the three Kingsguard would sit tight there because of Rhaegar's orders while Viserys, if he's the king, is sitting unprotected on Dragonstone is completely ridiculous and yet I see it dragged out all the time.

It's not a myth is it? Not like the Heart Tree/ Targ fire stuff.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

It's not a myth is it? Not like the Heart Tree/ Targ fire stuff.

I thought the thread had steered toward myths and misconceptions so I included it.

[Okaythen]

I thought the thread had steered toward myths and misconceptions so I included it.

Well it's not a misconception either. It's unknown at the moment.