The Three-Headed Trios, Er, Dragon

[Mithras]

Bloodraven has thousand eyes and one. Compare it to a dragon having three heads.

[Mithras]

Bump.

It is interesting that nobody mentioned the inspiration for Trios. Mythology is full of triple deities and especially Trimurti looks like the source.

The “Trimūrti” (“three forms”) is a concept in Hinduism “in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer or transformer.”

Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don't know what the middle head's supposed to do.

However, this symmetry of Trimurti seems to be broken by the George. He placed Ice (Vishnu the preserver) and Fire (Shiva the destroyer) to both sides. So, that leaves creation (Brahma the creator) as the middle head.

[Daendrew]

Brilliant thread Apple.

[IceIceBaby]

Bump.

 

It is interesting that nobody mentioned the inspiration for Trios. Mythology is full of triple deities and especially Trimurti looks like the source.

 

 

 

However, this symmetry of Trimurti seems to be broken by the George. He placed Ice (Vishnu the preserver) and Fire (Shiva the destroyer) to both sides. So, that leaves creation (Brahma the creator) as the middle head. 

 

 

Bhramha is also said to be the father of the first man (Manu). Was about to say the exact thing that you said. 

[Blazfemur]

considering the symbolism, this discovery makes a lot of sense. considering the tiring Jon ancestry (i hate ho wbeaten to death it's become), jon becoming the "middle" hybrid head becomes more apparent.

 

then you have fire, and ice left over.

 

theyre mentioned in, what was it, arya's, and davos' povs if i recall the op correctly?

 

who would be the intended fire head, and ice head, then? Davos/Arya, since it was their pov's that hinted at it?

 

but i do love the fire head, ice head, and fire/ice hybrid *middle* head concept

[Mithras]

Bhramha is also said to be the father of the first man (Manu). Was about to say the exact thing that you said. 

 

Warrior destroys. Smith creates. In the middle, Father sits in judgment.

[Blazfemur]

 

Warrior destroys. Smith creates. In the middle, Father sits in judgment.

 

that would hint jon (middle, father) and gendry (smith, fire?), the warrior (ice?)?

[LmL]

I generally identify this statue with one of the most common depictions of Mithras - he holds a sword in one hand, which symbolizes death, and a torch in the other, symbolizing life. Mithras symbolizes the cycle of rebirth, as he stands in between death and rebirth. What is in between death and rebirth? The bardo. The netherworld. The black cosmic ocean of space, the primordial womb. This is actually the concept of Kali, or more specifically Mahakali ("great Kali"). Kali is both creator and destroyer, because Kali (whose name means "black one" or "one who is beyond time") represents the void, the cosmic ocean of space, the primordial womb which gave birth to everything. Kali is literally the Shakti, the animating force behind all the gods. Kali is the spirit which animates matter. Kali existed before anything else - her blackness represents the blackness in between the stars.

When George talks bout the shadows dancing, whether in Patchface's song or in the Mirri Maz Duur's tent of dancing shadows, he's talking about Kali, who's shadow dance brings life to matter but also threatens to destroy the universe at times. Kali IS the shadow, and she dances in triumph on the bodies of her slain enemies.

One version of Kali bears the name "Shyla," which means "daughter of the mountain." Interesting that Davos prays to the Mother (Kali is the original mother of everything) and then finds will to live only in a mission of revenge given to him by the Mother - that fits Kali's destroyer role - and who should appear to rescue Davos but a boat named "Shayala's Dance." Shayala / Shyla, the shadows come to dance my lord, dance my lord. Kali is the vengeful mother who's dance is terrifying, but also animates matter. The ultimate result of Mirri Maz Dur's shadow dancing magic will be doing exactly that, animating dead matter - waking fiery dragons from cold, dead stone. The very art of shadowbinding is intimately tied to the concept of Kali.

Quaithe, a shadowbinders and mother / mentor figure to Dany, speaks through a mask of starlight, as if her face was the nighttime sky. That's the Kali mother right there, the voice of the void, bringing starry wisdom.

I've just been doing a bunch of research on George's various death and night associated deities, and it seems George has used a lot of Kali ideas and symbols... like, A LOT. The Lion of Night, the Stranger, the Great Other, him of many faces... they are all the same idea. A shadow with stars for eyes. The void. Space itself. My next essay is going to go into this in detail, so I thought it was cool to see the Trios thread get a bump, because I believe this statue is part of the broader message George is screaming from the rooftops: death is a part of life.

It's a part of the cycle, just as winter is. Darkness and light, yin and yang, fire and ice - the virtue is to be found in balance and maintaining the cycle. It's people who violate this cycle by violating death - the others, the undying, the wights and shadowbinders, maybe some naughty greenseers - who violate the natural law and create abominations. Broadly speaking, I think that's the point of George using so many mythologies which emphasize the cycles of the seasons and of the sun - Garth the Green, the ancient Pentoshi myths about their prince and the maiden of the fields and seas, the maiden of light / lion of night solar duality (day sun / night sun), the temple of Aquan the red bull where a white calf is killed every 13 days, etc etc. This is basically the concept expressed in the title, "A Song of Ice and Fire." Balance of opposites, harmony, a song.

By the way the sword / torch duality is also expressed in the Lightbringer myth - Lightbringer is both a sword AND a torch. It's an instrument of death, but also some kind of regeneration. The Lightbringer myth itself contains two interpretations: one of life and procreation (the forging of Lightbringer being a metaphor for sex and inpregantion); and one of death and murder (a husband killing a wife, and to work dark sorcery no less). Both meanings are important to understand when unraveling Lightbringer, and both the mythology of Mithras and Kali are heavy influencers on the Lightbriger story.

ETA: the cosmic womb represents the infinite, and the infinite is always mysteriously dark, unfathomable, unknowable. I think that's why the Sailor's Wife doesn't know what the middle head is supposed to do, because the middle head represents the void, the cosmic womb, etc, and it is always dark and unknown.

Think about it like this: the night swallows up the day, but then gives birth to a new day. The "night" is death and rebirth. Winter swallows up the end of each year, bringing cold and death, but then gives birth to spring. Round and round we go.