Dark Sister - Whereabouts and Future

[Fire Eater]

i like this theory but why would Mel be in the COTF cave?

She travels North with Jon and he has them rest at the cave where he gave the lord's kiss to Ygritte, which is a backdoor to the CotF cave.

[Arthur Dayne's Honor]

She travels North with Jon and he has them rest at the cave where he gave the lord's kiss to Ygritte, which is the backdoor to the CotF cave.

cool thanx

[DireMaker]

In this theory, Dark Sisister stayed within the Targ family to eventually be used by Rhaegar. He gifted it with Lyanna as a recognition of her bravery/skill/plot-required awesomness, and it is buried with her in the Witerfell crypts (which just so happen to haunt Jon's dreams).

While Eddard is normally the sort to give families back their swords (Dawn), there weren't any Targs left in Westeros by the time he got to Lyanna. It could have been the only thing he felt was right to do with it.

WOW really? OK, lemme get this straight, Rhaegar and Lyanna fell in love.. fairly believable, then they get married, in the weirwood circle on the IoF, not quite believable but it'll do, by septon meribald? ok had to make it so Rhaegar wasn't dissing his gods, but getting farfetch'd here....(not to mention "legitimize" jon for all his fanboys/girls) oh and BTW he also gave his families ONLY VALYRIAN sword to her, come on guys this is getting rediculous.... wow this R+L=J thing is just getting unbelievable with all the fanfic

[Bright Blue Eyes]

WOW really? OK, lemme get this straight, Rhaegar and Lyanna fell in love.. fairly believable, then they get married, in the weirwood circle on the IoF, not quite believable but it'll do, by septon meribald? ok had to make it so Rhaegar wasn't dissing his gods, but getting farfetch'd here....(not to mention "legitimize" jon for all his fanboys/girls) oh and BTW he also gave his families ONLY VALYRIAN sword to her, come on guys this is getting rediculous.... wow this R+L=J thing is just getting unbelievable with all the fanfic

Hey, it isn't life if the sword left the family there - unlike the theory where Bloodraven took it with him to the Wall and beyond.

[Rickeen Baratheon]

Darkstar has Dark Sister. It is known.

[Blackfyre demon]

What we know for certain

- The last owner of DS was lord Bloodraven

- Lord Bloodraven was imprisoned in the black cells

Speculation

Either his sword was relieved from him, which means it would have ended up in the possesion of Maekar I. And through him it would have gone on to Aegon V, then to Jahaerys II to Aerys II and finally to Rhaegar. Keep in mind that swords are considered to be regalia (symbols which represent a king/lord's power) (cfr. Blackfyre rebellion it was said that the sword 'Blackfyre' was considered to be the symbol of the king). By following this reasoning the sword should have been mentioned throughout the books especially the chapters which reflect upon Rhaegar at the time of the rebellion. If I had such an awesome sword I would carry it in to battle against Robert. Giving Lyanna the sword seems just foolish to me.

For those reasons the above theory to me seems less believable. What I consider a possibility is the following theory:

Note that Bloodraven and Varys seem to have a trait in common, their common trait is that they both seem to know an awful lot about what's going on in the realm and the red keep.

Bloodraven was described as having a thousand eyes and one, indicating a network of spies. Varys continously talks about his little birds, his own network.

Both have clear experience with cloak and dagger work, therefore it seems plausible that, as Varys, Bloodraven had knowledge concerning the red keep's secret corridors and rooms.

Most likely Bloodraven hid the sword somewhere in (one of) the secret room(s) of the red keep. As an insurance so they wouldn't kill him. But he never said it to anyone (except for his mistress perhaps). Over time Varys may have found it and is planning to present it to Dany or (f)Aegon as a token of fealty.

[Free Northman]

The Show made an awful big deal about Dark Sister and Arya. If I recall they had Arya tell a story about it and proclaim its name in a very meaningful and dramatic manner.

Now, knowing that the show tends to be pretty blunt in conveying hints that are far more subtle in the books, this makes me believe that there is some future connection between Arya and the sword known as Dark Sister.

[TheCrannogDweller]

In this theory, Dark Sisister stayed within the Targ family to eventually be used by Rhaegar. He gifted it with Lyanna as a recognition of her bravery/skill/plot-required awesomness, and it is buried with her in the Witerfell crypts (which just so happen to haunt Jon's dreams).

Why would Rhaegar risk giving the last ancestral sword of the Targaryens to his second son, bastard-born or otherwise? And while his other children are still alive? That's basically a recipe for a Blackfyre situation.

i like this theory but why would Mel be in the COTF cave?

I think the more important question is how? We know that there is magic guarding that cave - which is why the Others and their wights can't go in. More interestingly, neither can Coldhands. So, the cave will definitely be off-limits for Mel if she is un-dead as some people think, and more than likely will be off limits due to her practice of hostile to the Old Gods rituals (burning of weirwoods and such).

<snip>

I see two problems with that theory.

Why would Bloodraven steal the sword? Especially considering that his weapon of choice was a weirwood bow? Why would he need a Valyrian Steel blade at the Wall?

Why would Aegon give the sword to BR? It's basically part of the Targaryen regalia. Why bestow the last ancestral sword to a bastard uncle, even one with so many years of faithful service? And, one that wasn't noted as a particularly skilled swordsman at that.

I think Aegon kept the sword. From there, it's a matter of guessing. If he carried it with himself (or gave it to Dunk), then it was most likely buried in the ruins of Summerhall. Maybe Rhaegar found it there?

Or was it just passed down to Aerys? Maybe the fact that he still had his VS blade was one of the reasons Tywin was so eager to buy one for the Lannisters?

[complexphoenix]

Now what really bugs me is why don't we hear about Rhaenys sword? surely if Visenya had Dark Sister, and Aegon had Blackfyre, Rhaenys must have had her own sword.

I wanna know what it was/is called and what happened to it, did it get lost, destroyed is it kicking about the red keep. I'd love to see Arya get Dark Sister and would quite like to see Sansa with her own Kick Ass VS sword too...perhaps with which to slay a certain man who's house sigil is a the Titan...a Giant.

I do think its thoroughly weird that the three Targ conquerors didn't seemingly have a sword a piece.

Sansa wielding a sword? Of any sort? Seriously? This would be so out of character for her I don't even know what to do but laugh. If Sansa decides to kill she'll use poison, because good girls don't use swords and Sansa has no clue how to wield a sword anyway. I like cool swords too, but giving one to Sansa would be ridiculous.

[Frey family reunion]

It's amazing how many theories there are on the appearance of a sword that has never even been mentioned in the main novels. My guess is that none of the "magic" swords that have been mentioned by GRRM (including Dawn) will ever be a major plot device in the series. I think instead GRRM is using the swords as clues to future plot developments. For example, I think Dark Sister is more significant as a link to the persons that have held it in the past (a theory developed by another poster whose name I can't remember). The sword imagery has also been heavily used with Arya perhaps she will be Jon's "sword" as the series progresses.

[Arthur Dayne's Honor]

I think The Crown of Winter(Kings of the North OG crown) is buried with Lyanna and is what Rhaegar gave her.

[Drexyon7]

Most likely in the cave and it's future is hopefully in Bran or Meera's hands.

[sertravisredbeard]

Wherever it is, Bloodraven put it there. I don't think Maekar had enough animosity towards Bloodraven to throw him in the Black Cells legitimately. It was probably a PR move. Bloodraven had been blamed by the smallfolk for plagues and other things; he was a former Master of Whisperers and Hand of the King, so he knew how to secretly move around the castle without being detected. We're told by Varys and Rennifer Longwaters that there are ways to move around the castle secretly that no one knows about. I think Bloodraven volunteered to be "imprisoned" to start Maekar's reign off on the right foot.

By the Maynard Plumm method, we know Bloodraven had disguises. For some reason he chose to go to the Wall, and after that to Children's cave. Aemon might have known some of this, but Dark Sister is either with Bloodraven or he knows where it is. He'll tell Bran about it and enable Bran to get it to either Jon or Arya when the War for the Dawn starts up again.

[Jory Cassel]

Wherever it is, Bloodraven put it there. I don't think Maekar had enough animosity towards Bloodraven to throw him in the Black Cells legitimately. It was probably a PR move. Bloodraven had been blamed by the smallfolk for plagues and other things; he was a former Master of Whisperers and Hand of the King, so he knew how to secretly move around the castle without being detected. We're told by Varys and Rennifer Longwaters that there are ways to move around the castle secretly that no one knows about. I think Bloodraven volunteered to be "imprisoned" to start Maekar's reign off on the right foot.

By the Maynard Plumm method, we know Bloodraven had disguises. For some reason he chose to go to the Wall, and after that to Children's cave. Aemon might have known some of this, but Dark Sister is either with Bloodraven or he knows where it is. He'll tell Bran about it and enable Bran to get it to either Jon or Arya when the War for the Dawn starts up again.

I doubt that DS really had a great significance to BR back in the days, his preferred weapon was a bow made of weirwood anyway.

Why would he go through great length to stash the sword away?

eta:

It's amazing how many theories there are on the appearance of a sword that has never even been mentioned in the main novels. My guess is that none of the "magic" swords that have been mentioned by GRRM (including Dawn) will ever be a major plot device in the series. I think instead GRRM is using the swords as clues to future plot developments. For example, I think Dark Sister is more significant as a link to the persons that have held it in the past (a theory developed by another poster whose name I can't remember). The sword imagery has also been heavily used with Arya perhaps she will be Jon's "sword" as the series progresses.

linked it upthread, but no repercussions.

[Mark Antony]

Isn't there a theory about Meera Reed wielding Dark Sister? Because that would be awesome

Gods Let this happen