#meera reed meta

[hollowwhisperings]

The Kids Are Alright: What's In "Blood Stew"?

In preparation for my efforts on crafting some Meera Reed meta & in support of my "Jojen Is Fine, Actually" post, I will be Preemptively Addressing the subject of "Blood Stew" in the Bran POV chapters in ADWD.

CW: spoilers for ASOIF & D&E, reference to cannibalism, hunting of animals (& probable extinction), logistics of meat production, harm to children, suicidal ideation (Jojen), arson (including to religious sites, i.e. Old Gods), possible xenocide, body horror (Brynden), cult behaviour & indoctrination, drugging & grooming of minors (Bran, by the Singers), blasphemy (consistent usage of religious terminology for an in-setting cult of faith).

Team "Cave Kids": Setting the Scene

Going into WoW, Team Bran (Bran, Summer, Walder, Meera & Jojen) will have lived as guests of the Cave Singers for near up to a year: their lodgings lay within a vast & labyrinthine underground cave system, crawling with weirwood tree roots from the Haunted Forest above, and home to More Skeletons Than A Natural History Museum. All the humans (& Summer) share sleeping quarters. Summer pops out to Hunt and Do Wolf Leader Things (GRRM has subscribed his direwolves to Ye Olde Alpha Wolfe society); Jojen Worries Meera and sometimes goes Exploring; Meera and Walder are more cautious in their movements, when Bran isn't Bodysnatching Walder for his own explorations; Bran himself is carried by Singers to & from the shared sleeping chamber to Brynden's Vertigo Cave for "Flying" Lessons.

This entire region is named by the ASOIAF Wiki as "the cave of the three-eyed crow": as I always do, I Take Issue With That Name (I got sidetracked enough to move my thoughts to a separate draft).

Instead, [Team Bran] are guests of the Singers living in "the Caves [Beneath the Haunted Forest]". The Cave Singers are Singers, not Children of the Forest, though I do use Bran & Meera's nicknames for individual Singers.

Brynden is just "Brynden": he was, once, "Lord Commander"; a "Lord Hand" twice-over; and a "Master of Whispers" both before & after his ever receiving the position "officially". More hilariously, Brynden is very definitely the Distant Cousin (mayhaps even a many-times great Uncle) of every living Stark in the series. All courtesy of one Lady Melantha Blackwood of Winterfell (and GRRM's continued Indifference to the maternal sides of family trees, To Be Doylist About It).

Bed & Breakfast

My Grievances with Non-Existent Titles, Leaf's Suspect Math & Unspecified Maternal Lineage aside, let us return to "blood stew".

"And almost every day they ate blood stew, thickened with barley and onions and chunks of meat. Jojen thought it might be squirrel meat, and Meera said that it was rat. Bran did not care. It was meat and it was good. The stewing made it tender." (Bran III, ADWD)

Jojen and Meera are probably both right, sometimes at the same time: Bran is aware of Summer's freely exit the caves to Hunt & Summer likely donates the odd "squirrel" (or pieces thereof) to the Cave Kitchens, when he can. The Supernaturally Colder climate induced by the Others does make Summer's hunting an unreliable food source, in the long run: what little game still remains in the Haunted Forest is unlikely to have any offspring to replace the current population. The ever diminishing returns of Summer's hunts are a major factor in his Direwolf Mother travelling South for her pregnancy in the first place. That she, a Giant Direwolf, somehow got as far South as Winterfell's Wolfswood? Brynden is in the neighbourhood and Invested in House Stark, if only in Bran & Jon: his "Divine Intervention" is the most plausible explanation. Directing a local direwolf to Stark lands is well within his canonically established capabilities (whether this was easier than Rigging Jon's Election is a Fun Thought Experiment).

Local vermin and Summer's potluck contributions alone could not sustain the Singers, let alone their (fragile!) human guests: it is a different sort of meat that makes up most of their Blood Stews, one Greatly Speculated upon and one of Shocking Audacity... so what is the primary ingredient of Blood Stew?

Cave Goat. :D

The Kids Are Alright

The Singers canonically keep Goats for milk, used for cheesemaking. The Singers themselves are Omnivorous (they eat mushrooms & fish) so they probably eat their goats too. Given that the Cave Settlement has existed for 1 million years (Leaf's Math, GRRM's lacking a sense of Scale), the Singers have had a long time to familiarize themselves with lactose tolerance & the butchering of goats for meat. These goats have likely lived alongside the Singers for a very long time: they're never mentioned leaving the Caves to (not) graze, meaning they too live entirely in darkness. Brynden might be called upon, now & then, to skinchange into wild Flock Queens from Above (googling "do goats have leaders" has informed me that goats are Matriarchal) & thus bring "Fresh Blood" to existing herds.

Speaking of Blood, the "blood" in Blood Stew is probably goat blood preserved after slaughter in That Most Ancient Form Of Sausage... black pudding. Blood spoils too quickly otherwise, even if the Singers have "freezers" in the form of cold caves. While GRRM never says as much, the Singers certainly have the means to "farm" salt to aid in meat preservation. There is at least one underground river in the Caves (the black one with blind fish) that is never specified as "salty" or "fresh". Assuming the Singers weren't just "mining" rock salt (solar evaporation would be Rather Difficult, what with the Complete Absence of Sunlight), the Caves almost certainly boast several brine springs.

The access to salt and [cold caves] enable the Singers to "stretch" each goat slaughtered, making them the most reliable source of meat. Given that the Singers personally tend to their goat herds, the "hygiene" of their goat meat makes the goats a much safer offering for their even the most fragile of their human guests (Bran & Jojen). Goats are safer for the Singers too: Leaf gives a population count of "three-score" for her people, and there any implications that they are an "aging population". Singers are small in size, limited in number and their mobility is likely decreasing. The "strength" of any individual Singer is never really expanded upon, beyond their ability to carry Bran around (which... doesn't really say much, given that he's a malnourished nine-year old) and historic difficulties facing humans head-on (bronze weapons & fire, yes, but larger sizes too). Slaughtering domesticated goats would be within the physical capabilities of the Singers we see moving around, hunting bigger (or more aggreesive) game would be Difficult unless Skinchanging was involved (keeping an animal docile enough to restrain and drug with shrooms, the skinchanger leaving before the actual slaughter).

So, shockingly, the "blood" in Blood Stew is just goat sausages (blood, intestines, grain & salt). The "hunks of meat" are Also Goat, for the most part, with Summer's hunts and local vermin (rats, bats, probably not ravens, any safe-for-humans bugs).

Supplementary Protein

Fish are another source of "meat": the Caves have at least one river, home to blind white fish eaten by both Singers & their human guests (differentiating "fish" from game meat would be difficult, given the primary goatiness & the "Stone Soup" vibe of any communal stew).

As Meera speculated, any vermin capable of surviving the supernatural cold, are likely additional ingredients for "Blood Stew". Vermin would be an issue in the Caves, drawn to the Singers having grain stores (oats and barleycorn): these are cold climate crops, making them farmable even This Far North (barley doesn't freeze to death 'til -8° C) though how the Singers could grow these crops in their Caves can only be Handwaved By Magic (For Safety Reasons, skylights or aboveground gardens are Unlikely). That or the Singers used ravens to facilitate Trade with freefolk, when they still lived in the area (the lands of the Thenns are North-West of the Haunted Forest). Magic ravens migjt even be foraging wild grain on the behalf of the Singers: they are fey folk, even without their keeping (stealing) the odd human to act as their personal Eldritch God-Tree Wizard.

The ravens themselves can probably be ruled out as ingredients in Blood Stew: these ravens are Sapient and Divine Envoys besides. There's also the IRL precedent of corvids Holding Grudges: incurring the Wrath of the local avian hivemind would be Enormously Stupid of the Singers. The Murders vastly outnumber the Singers, making peaceful relations Rather Important. Ravens that die prematurely or of injuries (not of sickness: fragile humans are fragile, after all) might be "Fair Game" but, knowing GRRM, the Cave Ravens are probably cannibalistic carrions.

The Cave Ravens would be much more relaxed by Singers harvesting their eggs, outside Mating Season at least. All birds eat their own eggs, making them less "taboo" than one might think. Eggs function as "external food storage" for birds, adults eating unfertilized eggs they lay & babies eating their way out from the egg they hatch from. I could not speculate on how Singers prefer their eggs: in Blood Stew, I could only guess that raven egg yolk would help in "tendering" the goat blood sausages after cold storage.

For all the food sources available to the Singers, the Blood Stews being served "almost everyday" does indicate that Rationing is at play: a Long Night looms and exhausting any food source means losing that food source permanently. Goats, fish, Summer's donations, raven eggs (&/or ravens), vermin and bugs make up the actual "meat" in Blood Stew. The general confusion of the humans as to what their meat is may be further muddled by some "hunks" actually being mushrooms or cheese.

But Humanitarianism!

While zombies are an Awkwardly Plausible Convenience (Coldhands has killed Night's Watch deserters in the vicinity of the Caves & wights were Hidden in the snow surrounding one of its entrances)... consider the state of these wights. The vast majority are rotting, even in the supernaturally cold temperatures and, since Freefolk traditionally burn their dead, the wights that are reanimated likely died in Unsavoury Manners. Even "fresh" or "preserved" corpses are quickly riddled with Unappetizing bacteria and insects. The frozen wights are old, the murdered or forgotten, and all of them Decidedly Unhygienic. Human wights might be safe enough for carrion birds or even the Singers themselves... but they are not safe for their human guests.

Consider the Efforts, the Sacrifices, that enabled Bran's getting to the Singers at all: even with Brynden's "Divine Intervention" (getting the Starklings bodyguards in the form of direwolves, prompting their awakenings as Wargs; encouraging Jojen & thus Meera to meet Bran at Winterfell; bidding Coldhands to save Sam & Gilly, enabling easier passage North via Creepy Eldritch Door, on time to give the kids a "Lift" on his Great Elk), the likelihood of Bran dying was always higher than his surviving. Readers know Bran has Plot Armour but, in-universe, his continued survival has been costly. Getting Bran safely to the Singers was an expensive undertaking, one requiring a great many moving pieces (some of them arguably "moved" before Bran was even born: each Starkling held Potential, some moreso than others, and none of their parents were originally intended for each other).

It is almost certain that Bran was not the first child Brynden Lured North: popular fanon names Euron Greyjoy as an "abandoned" attempt, whilst Jojen was canonically [granted audience? scouted?] only to be "ruled out" (being "only" a greendreamer, Jojen was instead used to Better Bran's Odds of Survival).

While greendreamers and skinchangers are Statistical Anomalies, with persons who are Both being even rarer, Westeros is large enough that having a handful of potential greenseers within generations of each other is a Fair Estimate. No, the issue is the Rarity of Potential Greenseers AND the deadly nature of any "pilgrimage". That only Brynden and Bran are ever named seems to indicate that their managing both trials makes them "worthy" of Reverance, even before "earning" the title of "greenseer". That Bran survived was miraculous and, indeed, Brynden certainly worked "Overtime" in his Acts of Divine Intervention. Even then, Bran (& Jojen's) survival was very much dependent on Summer and Meera's presence in the group: the Singers owe every single member of Team Bran a debt, all of them serving vital roles in getting them a Shiny New God-Tree for their collectiom.

What does Divine Intervention and Debts of Hospitality have to do with Blood Stew, with an "Exciting" Opportunity for Hypothetical "Humanitarianism"?

Simple: Bran is too important to the Singers for them to Risk his health by their serving "Bad Meat". Imagine going to such great lengths to find a Fresh Godling, the relief that This Godling survived to meet his destiny... only for their Godling to get killed by food poisoning.

"And They Were Roommates"

The only meal noted as being Separately Prepared for any of the humans is Bran's Weirwood Paste: what one of them eats, all of them eat. That means that one of the humans getting sick (Jojen being the most susceptible), risks all of them catching ill. While each of the humans does "disappear" now and then, exploring or generally doing their own thing, the extreme cold of their environment (their extended time traumabonding with each other) means that they all share the same sleeping chamber. They share furs, body heat, breath.

While the Singers could very easily isolate the humans from each other (if only for quarrantine purposes), keeping them together is "safer": the humans would recognise sickness or distress in each othed before the Singers could and the humans already know how to take care of each other. The Singers being Good Hosts is in their best interests, not only in currying favour with their new god-in-training but also to ensure said godling survives to do any "Ascending".

Children Are Fragile: Why "Bad Meat" Isn't An Option

Grand Futures of Kingship & God-Treehood aside, at this point in time, Bran Stark is nine-years old. Human children, even Super Magical Starklings, are still children. And children are fragile.

Bran is still recovering from Attempted Murder, with his injuries limiting his independent mobility in ways his society cannot truly accomodate (not as a Prince of Winterfell & definitely not as a half-frozen cave kid). An inability to walk isn't the greatest danger of Bran's disabilities: thermoregulation of half his body is. Bran's friends are better able to recognise Bran's symptoms of physical distress than Bran is, than the Singers could. The humans also have greater strength and mobility: the Singers only seem to have three fingers on each hand and, while Bran is unlikely to grow much bigger given his environment, he will be getting some growth spurts soon. It's unknown how long Bran is expected to need "training" from Brynden, how long he will be carried to & from the communal sleepchamber and his weirwood throne. The Singers might just Graft Bran to his Throne once he's too big for them to safely carry but, again, there is no timeline given for Bran's progress. Better to keep "Hodor" about, thinketh the much tinier Singers.

Jaime's Murder Attempt also put Bran into a prolonged coma, one he was Fortunate to awaken from. That Bran has not exhibited any of the more "inconvient" (or dangerous) consequences of a longterm coma is almost certainly Brynden's "Divine Intervention" at work. Surprising lack of cognitive issues (temporary or longlasting) aside, Bran's coma & his subsequent state of "perpetual bedrest" has left his body much weaker the average child. He's already malnourished, traumatised and struggling to stay warm: Bran getting sick, even a "minor" sickness like a cold or bout of mild food poisoning? That could kill him.

Even if Bran doesn't die from an illness, recovery would be Difficult in such as a Hostile Environment: it is cold, it is dark (no sunlight whatsoever), and [Food Insecurity] is an ongoing reality. If a person is already physically weakened, minor illnesses can very easily escalate into more serious ones. There are no Maesters, no Medicine Women for Bran. The Singers have magic bit they are fey while Bran is (at present) terrifyingly mortal. Keeping Bran alive means keeping him healthy and doing that requires keeping the Other Humans 'healthy" too: serving the "spares" Questionably Sourced Meat is against the Best Interests of the Singers, their Investment in Keeping Bran Alive.

(For now, at least.)

The Jojen Problem

The terrifying fragility of their Future God-King aside, a more "immediate" danger to the continued existence of the Cave Singers is Jojen Reed: that is, Jojen's consistent lack of good health.

Bran was a healthy child who became very vulnerable very suddenly: Jojen, meanwhile, has been "sickly" for Years. Not only is Jojen "small" for his age (14-ish), he is often described as "shaking". IRL, people get tremours for any number of reasons, and comorbid conditions are not unusual. There is valid reason to view Jojen's "shakes" as symptoms of an ongoing, chronic health condition. Jojen might have a chronic illness, lasting side effects from the fever that nearly killed him, and he's had ample opportunity to acquire some [head trauma] over the series. Jojen's "shaking fits" may also be his physiology "teaming up" with psychological trauma: muscular twitches from the stress of hypervigilance, shakiness borne of anxiety & stress, atypically expressed panic attacks (that can resemble seizures in their physicality).

While Jojen's Ambiguous Disorders are decidedly non-contagious (going by IRL counterparts), Jojen's predisposition to "sickliness" makes him just as vulnerable to Death By Minor Illness as Bran, if not moreso given Jojen's Current Psychological State.

The Terrifying Fragility of Jojen Reed

Jojen, for Very Justified Reasons, is Very Depressed. Depression, in fiction & IRL, makes people more susceptible to catching illnesses and makes recovery more difficult. That is true even when a person is not deliberately enabling (or passively "allowing") an illness to harm them.

Jojen "this is not the day I die" Reed is exhibiting every sign of suicidal ideation that Bran, his friend & fellow fragile tiny human, can pick up on. Meera, the Designated Adult of Team Bran at the wise old age of 17 & Jojen's big sister, has become genuinely concerned that Jojen's (passive) Death Wish has become an Active one.

Jojen has long believed that he is Functionally Immortal outside of Greywater Watch: his very first Greendream was, after all, a vision of his own Death. It's not unreasonable to suspect that said Death Dream is a recurring one, that Present Circumstances (Brynden's Body Horror, the complete lack of sunlight) have Exacerbated the frequency of Jojen's Dreaming of Death. Fans of The Song greatly enjoy speculating on Jojen's Inevitable Demise, many assuming he is Already Dead. This is based on his last "appearance" being Bran noting Jojen's Absence: fans fail to extend this state of Already Dead to the Also Absent Meera.

(My tinfoil has One of The Reeds Finding Something while Exploring, grabbing their sibling so as to Convene Privately Elsewhere, & that together they have begun to Conspire An Escape)

If Jojen were to Die Prematurely, far from his Destined Death at Greywater Watch... there goes Meera Reed's Entire Motivation for Being Here, in this Far Away Frozen Helscape.

Meera, obligatory loyalty to House Stark aside, has stated that her primary incentive to follow Bran, to Go North and remain there while Bran [gets made into a tree-wizard]... was to save Jojen from his Death Wish.

Reasons to Fear Meera Reed

Meera is the "healthiest" of all the humans in Team Bran: she's able-bodied, physically mature (short, yes, but strong), lethal with a net & spear... and the primary caregiver of everyone in their group.

Summer (2 y/o) helps, with scouting and hunting and bodyguarding. Walder (17 or older) helps, kind and physically powerful. Jojen (14 y/o) helped, with Uncanny Wisdom and foresight and faith in Bran. Bran (9 y/o) is, of course, the Designated Hero of his chapters (this is Greatly Limited by his being only nine-years old).

Meera (17-ish) did all that and more. Meera hunted, guarded, scouted, foraged, killed, climbed... and did so as a non-magical human, relying on her experience as a crannogmen and her Father's Daughter.

Meera keeps up morale and tells [Very Helpful] Stories, leads where Walder and the children cannot, posseses Common Sense & life experience, mediates when the children are fighting (scolds them for taking their frustrations out on each other), senses Social Danger that Summer might miss, skins prey & butchers it (ensuring none of it goes to waste). Meera is a survivalist, one canny of the Old Ways, a "Modern" example of why the First Men so successfully survived in Westeros.

And the Singers of the Cave are Old. They Know the capabilities of Humans, the single greatest threat the Singers have ever known. The Singers Remember: the Pact, the 4000 years of war before it; the First Men, their axes; the Andals, their iron & blasphemy. The Singers know Human as Invaders and Desecrators and (sometimes) Allies. The Singers also "know" the Consequences of a Human who FeelsToo Much.

Humans, historically, have Little Issue with Seeings Things Burn. Humans, it seems, will respond to Any Strong Emotion with Bronze or Iron or Fire.

Cold? A Human will find a Tree and set it on fire.

Hungry? A human will Kill Something and heat it... over fire.

Dead? Other humans gather, collect the deceased, set the body on fire.

Grieving? A human will find iron, demand answers, find you. And should your "Answers" prove unsatisfactory? Humans will set fire to YOU, your settlement, your Gods.

Meera is very, very "human". She is the most human of her group: Bran is, of course, a God-Tree sapling; Jojen is Greensighted, not long for his human flesh and soon to join You in the Trees; the one called "Hodor" reminds You of the Giants, long ago foes and more recent allies but all but a few Gone to the Earth.

(Summer is a Direwolf.)

Meera is the Single Greatest Threat to the Cave Singers, who believe themselves the "last" of their people. Meera is a Consiserable Threat to the Last Greenseer, whom she has grown to Suspect and Resent. Meera does not, at least, carry on her person any axe (she wields spear and net and shield).

Meera can definitely start a fire. Meera would willingly start a Fire, a pyre for her brother built from the Last Greenseer himself. Meera would gladly burn out the Last of the Singers, for Vengeance and as Sacrifices to stay the suit of wights (of Others) as she Flees South and homeward (taking your Prince, your Shiny New God-Tree, the Last Hope of your People with her for spite alone).

That's All, Folks!

So, no: "Blood Stew" is not made from people. It is not made of Jojen or Meera, it is Goat and Vermin and Bugs. It is occasionally made with Squirrels. The "blood" is black pudding, goat's blood and intestines salted to ensure no goat goes to waste: their hides and furs warm the children, their blood and flesh sustains them, their cheese enables their exercising in philosophy. Wights are just too dangerous, to hunt or serve for supper: Bran (& Jojen) cannot be risked for the sake of morbid convenience. Live humans are right out, too much bigger and stronger than the Singers, or too dearly missed by The Scariest Being North of The Wall.

The Kids are Alright (the human ones, anyway).

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf theories #jojenpaste #blood stew #the last greenseer #i can't believe it's not cannibalism! #why are song fans so obsessed with oblivious humanitarianism #i googled things i never wanted to google in factchecking this #i am not a medical professional nor involved in the food industry #jojen reed meta #meera reed meta #bryndenpaste #to get in the mindset of writing this required me to think like a fey folk #cw cannibalism #cw food #cw suicidal ideation #cw body horror #brynden rivers is his own warning #i am weirdly more sympathetic to brynden after spending so much time in Leaf POV #singers of the earth #cotf meta #three-eyed crow is not a title #life beyond the wall #walder is hodor's actual name #just like brynden is the three-eyed crow's actual name and bran is the winged wolf's #sci-fi writers have no sense of scale #i have cut enough meta while drafting this post to make two more posts #but mostly i just want to never have to discuss “humanitarianism” ever again #guest right #crud i forgot to consider whether guest right would be as strongly respected by singers as by first men

[duchess-of-oldtown]

Meera: Gods, I sure hope Jojen is ok

Bran: *eye deep in mysterious paste that lowkey sort of tastes of blood*

#Bran: *chews faster* #Like how did they cook him? #Did they cook him? #Or was he Al dente? #a dance with dragons #a storm of swords #bran stark #meera reed #jojen reed #House stark #House reed #Bloodraven #Beyond the wall #The north #Weirwood #Jojen paste #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf meta #house of the dragon #valyrianscrolls #stannis baratheon #hotd #valyrian scrolls

[thewingedwolf]

wish i had a single friend who was as into asoiaf theories as i was so i wasn’t just going insane here on my own aksjdjjd germ is2g stop typing chapters letter by letter with your fucking toes while giggling dammit!!!!!!! i need new meta and theories before people start coming up with more secret targ theories weirder than the meera reed one!!

[thequeenofsastiel]

Watched the scene where Meera leaves Bran, who is more or less emotionless towards her, and he tells her he's not really Bran anymore, because he remembers so much more than being Bran and I'm just like, so you remember everything except compassion?

#game of thrones #game of thrones meta #brandon stark #meera reed #three eyed raven

[liesandarbor]

Meera is going to wield Dark Sister *at least once,* and become the vehicle to move it to Arya.

Six years ago in King's Landing, Dunk had seen him with his own two eyes, as he rode a pale horse up the Street of Steel with fifty Raven's Teeth behind him. That was before King Aerys had ascended to the Iron Throne and made him the Hand, but even so he cut a striking figure, garbed in smoke and scarlet with Dark Sister on his hip. His pallid skin and bone-white hair made him look a living corpse. The Sworn Sword

Last night, @buskerlenny​ had an opportunity to ask GRRM a question at Worldcon, and boy, did she deliver for us: George confirmed that Bloodraven took the Valyrian longsword Dark Sister with him to the wall.  

There was no ‘keep reading’, no ‘you never know’, but a simple yes.  Those three letters opened up a whirlwind of ideas and questions.  Is it now in the cave?  Who will wield it? Why did he take it North?   

Dark Sister possibly showing up in the Winds of Winter means more than the eye thinks - it supports the idea that Valyrian steel is coming even more to the forefront as Winter Comes in TWOW (see: Euron’s Armor).

So yes, it makes logical sense that one of the very few things that can defeat Others - Dragon Steel - happens to be in a cave North of the wall, where one of our heroes is currently wearing tree bondage and pretty much surrounded by snow zombies.

But I’m not here to worry about Brandon Stark.  Bran’s Last Hero journey is, for the moment, surrounded by three protectors - and as Bran more than likely loses two of those protectors in TWOW (Hodor, Jojen), we can expect to see Dark Sister wielded by the end of the book.

I might also add that Visenya is the most likely of the two to garb herself as a warrior, and when so garbed, she would wield the Valyrian longsword Dark Sister, whose slender blade is designed for a woman's hand. GRRM

The many speculations about who’s hands Dark Sister will be equipped in generally circle in on one person, which is Arya Stark.  And of course, Arya is a perfect candidate for Dark Sister.  Visenya Targaryen, the warrior sister-wife-Queen of Aegon I Targaryen (not to be confused with her poetry, art-loving sister-wife-Queen, Rhaenys), serves as a great indicator for Arya’s ownership of  (yes, we get it, it’s a Jon/Sansa/Arya parallel).  It’s definitely an upgrade from Needle, Arya’s “childhood” sword, and a real-deal-Valyrian-sword; the perfect transition for Arya into “womanhood”.

This is all fine and dandy, but Dark Sister is currently sitting in a cave that will be overcome with ice creatures at some point, and for Arya to own Dark Sister, it’s going to have to come South.  And who else could possibly be the perfect vehicle for that sword than the exhausted, ferociously loyal young girl helping to drag the Last Hero around, watching her brother slowly die North of the wall?

"He wants to go home," Meera told Bran. "He will not even try and fight his fate. He says the greendreams do not lie."

"He's being brave," said Bran. The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid, his father had told him once, long ago, on the day they found the direwolf pups in the summer snows. He still remembered.

"He's being stupid," Meera said. "I'd hoped that when we found your three-eyed crow … now I wonder why we ever came.”

For me, Bran thought. "His greendreams," he said. "His greendreams." Meera's voice was bitter.  "Hodor," said Hodor. Meera began to cry.

Bran hated being crippled then. "Don't cry," he said. [...] The floor was rough and uneven, and it would be slow going, full of scrapes and bumps. I could put on Hodor' s skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels. He heard her steps recede until there was nothing but the voices of the singers.  Bran III, ADWD

With Meera’s emotional state - and brother’s life - on the decline, we should see her fulfilling the Dark Sister role for a while indeed.   Not only emotionally, but physically, too.  Meera Reed is already known for her skill with a slender, long frog spear.

Meera moved in a wary circle, her net dangling loose in her left hand, the slender three-pronged frog spear poised in her right. Summer followed her with his golden eyes, turning, his tail held stiff and tall. Watching, watching . . ."Yai!" the girl shouted, the spear darting out. Bran IV, ACOK

But with Mikken slain and the ironmen guarding the armory, good steel had been hard to resist, even if it meant grave-robbing. Meera had claimed Lord Rickard's blade, though she complained that it was too heavy. Bran VII, ACOK 

Meera notably finds carrying the heavy sword that had been Lord Rickard Stark’s, made for a grown adult male, difficult, but Dark Sister may be the perfect answer for her to fend off Wights as they travel South.  And Meera more than has the ferocity to wield it.

 "I dreamed of the man who came today, the one they call Reek. You and your brother lay dead at his feet, and he was skinning off your faces with a long red blade."Meera rose to her feet. "If I went to the dungeon, I could drive a spear right through his heart. How could he murder Bran if he was dead?"  Bran V, ACOK

Bran backed away, bleeding, and Meera Reed was there, driving her frog spear deep into the wight's back. "Hodor," Bran roared again, waving her uphill. "Hodor, hodor." Jojen was twisting feebly where she'd laid him down. Bran went to him, dropped the longsword, gathered the boy into Hodor's arm, and lurched back to his feet. "HODOR!" he bellowed. Meera led the way back up the hill, jabbing at the wights when they came near. Bran II, ADWD

Transporting the Last Hero home is a hard job - and while some believe Bran, an incredibly important POV in ASOIAF, will be stuck in a cave forever sitting in this said cave having visions, eating blood sacrifices, maybe skinchanging a dragon once and that’s the end of his story, I know this sounds ridiculous to me too, please let’s get real, he’s going to leave the cave if his arc is going to continue  , I tend to err that this is one thing that show may have gotten right.  The ingredients are there - a cave surrounded by nothing but snow zombies and mythical, fantastical and dying out creatures in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t exactly scream forever a safe haven.  That cave exists because it is going to get fucked the hell up, my friends.  Especially when you consider Bran’s role as a hero... if his companions die, his dog dies, and their other swords break in the cold.

So, what a perfect moment that will be.  Ice zombies trickling up and down the halls, Meera’s frogspear breaks, Hodor sacrifices himself, maybe Summer even falls to Winter... and just when all is about to be lost, out emerges Dark Sister, and Meera’s hands grip the pommel of that skinny, gleaming blade, slashing it down Wights, and protecting Brandon Stark. 

Jojen was so solemn that Old Nan called him "little grandfather," but Meera reminded Bran of his sister Arya. She wasn't scared to get dirty, and she could run and fight and throw as good as a boy. She was older than Arya, though; almost sixteen, a woman grown. They were both older than Bran, even though his ninth name day had finally come and gone, but they never treated him like a child.  Bran IV, ACOK

Bran sees Arya in Meera on more than one occasion, and for good reason.  Both are empathetic, and skilled with their choice of weapon.  The likened traits he sees in the girls are a product of a little boy’s yearning to be reunited with his family, but also deliberate.  Arya and Meera definitely have a lot in common.  This makes the passage of Dark Sister from Meera’s hand to Arya’s smooth.  

While Meera is strong and skilled, Dark Sister won’t be forever hers. Why? She just won’t want it. In fact, it won’t surprise me if she won’t want this lifestyle in any capacity any longer. She’ll return Bran South of the Wall, and eventually return home (possibly with her brother’s bones), tired, defeated, and ready to mourn.  And her family probably won’t hold it against her - protecting Stark children is a hard job, and sometimes it’s near impossible; just ask Howland Reed.

BONUS, SHINY TINFOIL (that will never happen, and I’ve made my peace with this):

While Meera may not hang on to Dark Sister for more than a moon’s turn, wouldn’t it be neat if her basically-canonical-parentage-according-to-me, Ashara Dayne and Howland Reed, granted her more than Dark Sister, and wielding the Valyrian sword only lended her to embrace her proto-Valyrian bloodline, and she emerged the god damn Sword of the Morning, brandishing Dawn through delicately spun White Walker bones? OKAY, COOL, GLAD WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE, MEERA REED IS NOW THE SWORD OF THE MORNING.

#meera reed #worldcon 2018 #dark sister #asoiaf meta #meera meta #bran stark

[moonlitgleek]

You write all the best ASOIAF meta so I have to ask, any thoughts on the Reeds? They are inexplicably my favorite and I wonder what you think of them.

You’re too kind, anon. Thank you! I quite like the Reeds. I find their place in the narrative really fascinating in a way that transcend their character arcs. I mean, individually they rock, but the way the text handles their introduction and the place they occupy in the Starks’ overall story is extremely compelling to me.

Look at how GRRM handled their introduction. We’ve been hearing about Howland Reed since AGoT as the only other survivor of the Tower of Joy and someone whose relationship with Ned sounded was deep and strong. It was not just that Howland was present for one of the most traumatic events in Ned’s life, one that haunts Ned throughout the book till his very end, but there is also a pointed intimacy in the description of the event that frames the relationship Howland enjoyed with the Stark siblings and the care he displayed for both Lyanna and Ned. Howland was there to take care of Ned as Ned shut down in his grief over Lyanna’s death, he was the one who eased Lyanna’s hand from Ned’s grasp, and I have no doubt that he took on the bulk of the effort of preparing Lyanna’s body for transport and any other needed task, something that must have been excruciating for him in light of his own personal friendship with Lyanna. That profound care Howland showed to the Starks as friends and not merely liege lords is compounded by being a holder of the secret of Jon’s real parentage, something that forms a certain bond between him and Ned as the two people who loved Lyanna fiercely enough to essentially commit treason to save her child’s life. I think Howland’s obscurity and the hardship of trying to find Greywater Watch makes people forget that had the truth about Jon’s parentage come to light, Howland’s life would have been in danger alongside Ned’s. The man was not just holding a secret for a friend, he was endangering himself by doing it.

But Howland is not the Reed GRRM chooses to shape our view of the house though, instead it’s Meera and Jojen that we meet first. The first interesting about this is how Meera and Jojen’s relationship with Bran doesn’t only reflect Howland’s relationship with Ned and Lyanna, but House Reed’s historical relationship with House Stark in general as well. The loyalty of House Reed to the Starks has been made a point even in TWOIAF, and as we see, Meera and Jojen really embody that loyalty. I’d be remiss if I did not speak about the historical weight that Meera and Jojen’s oath of fealty has which truly communicates the enormity of House Reed’s loyalty to the Starks in an oath that is hands-down the best oath of fealty I’ve ever heard. This is our first introduction to any member of House Reed in current time, and their oath is not only one that sets them apart from other loyal Stark vassals, but it also holds the weight of history and thousands of years of loyalty and trust between House Stark and House Reed, while also acknowledging the true spirit of feudal vassalage oaths and their reciprocal nature and how the Starks historically upheld it. Look at how meaningful it is.

“To Winterfell we pledge the faith of Greywater,” they said together. “Hearth and heart and harvest we yield up to you, my lord. Our swords and spears and arrows are yours to command. Grant mercy to our weak, help to our helpless, and justice to all, and we shall never fail you.”“I swear it by earth and water,” said the boy in green.“I swear it by bronze and iron,” his sister said.“We swear it by ice and fire,” they finished together.

Allow me to go on a little tangent here because I just love that oath. This is an oath that is steeped in history, both personal and political. Note that Meera and Jojen’s first appearance is during the harvest feast, which is pretty symbolicconsidering that they were pledging everything to Winterfell, hearth and heart and harvest, trusting that Winterfell will reciprocate with protection and generosity and justice and friendship because that’s what Winterfell has done for thousands of years. It takes profound trust to say “here, we’re prepared to yield everything up to you. We only ask for mercy, help and justice” and knowing that trust will be rewarded. There is an acknowledgement here to thousands of years of good faith and the personal responsibility Winterfell took to look after their vassals through the worst winters. This is House Reed displaying the fierce loyalty that marks its members’ actions, while reflecting the reason the Starks garner such deep loyalty from their vassals. It is, first and foremost, a show of conviction and gratitude, because the Starks are not only known for upholding their solemn duties of protection as feudal lords, but also sharing Winterfell’s beneficial higher technology to ease the suffering of their people in winter in what can only be described as sheer generosity and kindness. They gave residence in the winter town as a right to their people so they could personally care and provide for them. They gave them justice and safety so trusted that the Liddle keeps talking about how different things were when there was a Stark in Winterfell, and the return of the Starks is treated as a symbolic restoration of order in the North. It will be alright when the wolves comes again.

I can spend a lot talking about that oath tbh but I don’t want to derail the conversation too much. I’ll just say that, unnoticed by many, we got our first inkling of ADWD’s Northern storyline and the first reminder that the North Remembers even before we actually heard that specific phrase. Link Meera and Jojen’s oath with Wylla Manderly’s passionate speech about how the wolves “nourished us and protected us” to the Liddle’s conviction that “when there was a Stark in Winterfell, a maiden girl could walk the kingsroad in her name-day gown and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast.” The groundwork for the story about Northern loyalty and Ned’s legacy, the explanation of the reason behind it is all laid in Bran’s chapters in book two and three. The Starks earned that indispensable place they hold in Northern history; they cared for their people, so their people cared for them back. The oaths of loyalty are personal to the Northmen because the Starks’ oaths of protection are also personal.

Those riveting declarations of devotion and faithfulness to the Starks that mark ADWD go back to ACok, it starts with Meera and Jojen Reed. We shall never fail you, they declare and then go on to be a steady source of guidance, support and protection for Bran. It’s Jojen Reed that assures us in no uncertain terms that “the wolves will come again” and that’s huge in what it tells the audience. Hang on. Don’t lose faith. That decency and morality and honor the Starks displayed will be rewarded. No, this is not a story about how honor gets you killed. The Starks honored their oaths, and their bannemen will honor them back.

That same sentiment is reflected in Howland’s actions with Lyanna and Ned which was built on a relationship formed when the Starks stood up for him at Harrenhal, Lyanna by charging into the foray to defend him and later riding in the tourney in his name, Ben by offering to help him find armor, and Ned for offering him a place with them, pretty much inviting him to their pack. I tend to see the Reeds as almost kin to the Starks if I’m being frank, which relates to how I also see them as the guardians of the Starks’ magical side, whether directly or symbolically. Their safeguarding of the Starks’ magic ranges from Jojen’s tutelage of Bran and his encouragement for him to seek the three-eyed crow, to Meera taking on the task of his protector through the journey so she could ensure that he does make it to where he is supposed to go, to both Reed siblings coming to Winterfell with the specific mission of saving Bran and setting him free of the chains from Jojen’s dream, to Howland assisting in protecting Jon who has his own magical destiny. The Reeds are protectors - protectors of secrets, protectors of magic (House Reed has its strong mystical connections, including Jojen’s green dreams and whatever magical knowledge Howland gleamed during his stay on the Isle of Faces so it’s a fitting role), protectors of magically-inclined individuals, protectors of Starks. Howland saved Ned’s life during the rebellion and helped conceal Jon Snow, while his daughter provided for Bran and Jojen and offered physical protection and emotional support during the journey to beyond the Wall, and his son displayed staggering strength and courage in his persistence to get Bran to the three-eyes crown, even knowing that his end would be in that cave and subsequently struggling with consuming depression. It is more than appropriate, then, that the Reeds’ geographical location and dominion over the Neck makes them the protectors of the entire North from enemies from the south.

#asoiaf meta #howland reed #meera reed #jojen reed #ned stark #lyanna stark #bran stark #jon snow #the north remembers #house reed #asoiaf #house stark #Anon asks #ask box

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Bran Stark Week: Day 3: Friendship with the Reeds

The Reed siblings first appeared on A Clash of Kings, when they came to Winterfell to pledge the loyalty of House Reed to King Robb Stark. Both of them got instantly well with Bran and they have remain his companions and closest friends up to date.

If it wasn’t for Jojen’s greensight, Bran would never go to search for the three eyed crow. It was thanks to Jojen’s prophetic dream that the Reed siblings were allowed to go Winterfell and that dream was also what motivated the three friends to travel beyond the Wall in search for the three eyed crow.

 But dreaming about Bran’s future and then helping him achieve it, isn’t the only thing that Jojen did for Bran. He was also the one who gave him information about warging and also the one who prompted him to open his third eye. Despite their close age , Jojen’s experience makes him a sort of a mentor to Bran. He’s the one who introduces Bran to the magical elements and armors him with useful knowledge that will help him adapt easier once he’s under the three eyed crow’s tutorship.

Furthermore, Jojen is the one that keeps warning Bran not to lose himself while warging inside Summer. Bran is so young and has to deal with many difficulties; one of them is becoming disabled. So, it makes sense for that little boy to be tempted to spend more and more time inside his wolf as that gives him back what life took from him, his ability to walk. But of course that comes with a price: the danger of becoming one with Summer and totally losing himself. He would eventually do so if it wasn’t for Jojen’s stern warnings.

If I had to summarize Meera’s role in a word that would be : the protector. From her introduction, she seems to look out for her brother and soon she does the same for Bran. She might not have green dreams or anything magic related to taught Bran but if it wasn’t for her none of them would have survived. Meera is the one who finds them a place to sleep, she’s the one who provides them food by hunting and if someone threatened them she would be the one to fight them off. 

Meera’s admirable traits aren’t only psychical ones. She also provides emotional support to Bran when he needs it.  She was the one who comforted Bran after all the people he knew and loved died at Winterfell. And she tried to lift his spirits up  when they were inside the cave of the children of the forest. Despite being only a few years older than him, Meera acts sort of motherly towards him. She constantly takes care of him and worries about his emotional well being.

Bran is extremely lucky to have two loyal subjects and friends such as Meera and Jojen are. If the Reed siblings survive to the end of the series I’m sure that they will find a seat in the council of King/Lord Bran Stark of Winterfell.

#bran stark #branpositivityweek #meera reed #jojen reed #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #got meta #bran meta #meera meta #jojen meta #mymeta

[fedonciadale]

I LOVE your meta on asoiaf ladies (Sansa, Catelyn, Arya, Dany, Cersei), and I wanted to know what is your opinion on Lyanna Stark and Ellia Martell. I read so many opinions on them and I'd like to hear yours.

Hi there!

Thanks! 🥰

Well, first of all: we don't really know much about either woman. And Lyann@ is a really difficult topic.

The dudebro part of the fandom only sees her "not like other girls" characteristics and thinks she must have been incredibly badass.

You could probably feel volumes with all the meta that wants to prove that Lyann@ has parallels to Ary@ and to Ary@ alone - when she is moved by music and definitely had a soft spot for romance.

I must admit that I am a bit torn about her: On the one hand we see her through Ned's eyes and Ned obviously loved her (which does not mean that he knew her well, but Ned thought he knew her better than Robert (you did not see the Iron underneath)).

We know from what Jojen and Meera tell Bran about the tourney at Harrenhal that she had a strong sense of loyalty to her father's bannermen, and we know that she probably even fought at the tourney as the Knight of the Laughing Tree. That at least lets me suspect that Lyann@ actually did learn the sword. Interestingly Ned does not know this. He never thinks about the tourney at Harrenhal, so he might have been unaware about Lyann@ being the KotLT. If Rickard Stark let Lyann@ learn some basic fighting skill, Ned did not know about it. He might have been in the Vale then.

We can extrapolate from what we know that Lyann@ was not thrilled about the prospect of marrying Robert and that she felt very strongly for the Stark family and that this probably made her act on behalf of Howland Reed.

So, from that alone, I think Lyann@ could have my sympathy.

It is very interesting that we do not know a) how she felt about the fact that the crown prince crowned her as the Queen of Love and Beauty and b) how she felt about the (alleged?) abduction and c) if she was a prisoner at the Tower of Joy or if she was at least a prisoner at the end of the war.

So, it could well be, that Lyann@ was complicit in her 'abduction'. If that was the case, she was incredibly stupid and irresponsible. If she was duped by the prince (maybe he promised her just that she could flee her unwanted marriage), she was a bit gullible.

Either way, I would cut her some slack because she was a teenager after all, and although she should know that her actions could have terrible consequences she would not be the first teenager to do something stupid. I think we can easily say that she certainly did not want her father and brother to be killed. We know she wanted to be buried at Winterfell, we know she begged Ned to care for her son. So, whatever happened between Harrenhal and the Tower of Joy, in the and she wanted her home for herself and her son.

If Robert's tale is true, and she was abducted and raped, I really pity her.

I think that "beautiful and wilful" points rather towards the fact that Lyann@ either was complicit or was duped, or that at the very least Ned thought that. Because if she had just been abducted, 'wilful' is not the description that comes to mind.

So, she should have known better, but certainly Rhaeg@r is the person who is mostly to blame.

As for Elia: From what we know of her, she seems like a nice woman. She was a lady and did her duty, her brothers loved her (mirroring the Stark brothers I think). She also had it really hard, when she married the crown prince. Her father-in-law was awful and despised her for her Dornish descent, making comments about her children and lording the Targ exceptionalism over her. Considering that she must have been alone with Aerys from time to time and that Queen Rhaella had not much influence, she must have hated that.

But even with Rhaeg@r present it could not be easy for her. He "was fond of her" as Barristan Selmy says, but obviously not fond enough that he did not try to impregnate her despite her ill health. And not fond enough not to humiliate her in front of the whole realm at Harrenhal. We don't know how Lyann@ reacted but we know that Elia was shaken and hurt.

I think we can assume that she loved her children. That she let her daughter have a kitten has a nice ring to it and it might well be that she did her best to bring Aegon to safety (there is the theory that she and Ashara Dayne and Varys orchestrated Aegon's escape, since they thought Rhaenys as a girl would be safe). I like that very much because it means that she did not just suffer through her whole ordeal but tried to act for her children's interest.

She was done dirty by her husband, not only at Harrenhal, but afterwards as well. The prince left three kingsguards with Lyann@ and Elia did not have a protector and had to stay with her awful father-in-law. The last days after the news of the Battle of the Trident arrived at King's Landing must have been hell for Elia. And then she had an even more hellish death. Yikes.

And then some people in-universe had the audacity to blame her for the whole mess. Visery obviously told D that all would have been well, if Rhaegr had had a fitting wife (meaning a 'pure' Targ sister). Cersei thinks so as well. If she had married Rhaegr he would not have looked at the Stark girl. There is victim blaming for you and it makes me very angry. It was not Elia's fault that Rhaegr behaved lovestruck and/or prophecy obsessed and irresponsible. As much as this angers me, I think GRRM did it on purpose. Who are the people who say it was Elia's fault? Viserys, Cersei and Barristan to an extent. That shows their blind side where Rhaegr is concerned and I think it is supposed to make us think.

Both Lyann@ and Elia are victims, Elia even more than Lyann@, victims of the Targ dynasty and their idea that they are just better than everyone else (and are therefore allowed to do things like provoking civil war in Westeros) and both are victims of the patriarchy of their society.

Actually they should have banded together and killed that man.

Thanks for the ask!

#anon ask #Elia Martell #Lyann@ #I have no patience for the discourse on who resembles her the most #That's why I censured her name

[agaes]

I want to think the reason Meera left so early is because we will see an alive Howland Reed soon

#My opinion #GOT #Game of Thrones #Meera Reed #Howland Reed #My meta #GOT Meta #GOT Speculation

[cafeleningrad]

Hmm... maybe someone I don't usually ask about... Bran and the Reed siblings? :3

alright, thank you for your patience, real life called in but now I'm all for your great entries in my ask box ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ

Bran Stark

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life alignment: goth I prep | nerd I jock (the goth is because of the three eyed Raven and some rather wild stuff happening during his warging phases) best quality: observing, open-minded/not-judgemental when meeting some the first time, thoughtful, good memory, sympathetic even during his own hardship worst quality: Stubborn, reclusive - although a lot of complicated of his thought process and striving for easier solutions stem from the fact of him still being a child (he's only 10 years old in ADWD) which I not only will let slide, but compliment Martin to characterize a child (no matter how intelligent and mature for his age) with the behavior and thought process of a child. ship them with: no one (well, unless some one gives me a convincing meta on the "love of his life", LOL) brotp them with: The Reed siblings :D, Hodor, Osha, the Starklings including Jon, Summer, Maester Luwin needs to stay away from: uhhh, Ramsay Bolton?, Roose Bolton?, spying on Lannisters

misc. thoughts: Personally it took me a while to warm up to Bra and his chapters as they first seem like an excuse for Martin to talk about world building; In fact they still are. However, even if the S08 of the show that surely doesn't exist story monologue is absolute poppycock, I do appreciate Bran's chapters exactly for their beauty of stories no matter how abstract or old they are to still contain important meaning into every age.

Meera Reed

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life alignment: goth I prep | nerd I jock best quality: optimistic, persistent, resourceful, cheery worst quality: How can perfection be flawed?? ship them with: no one brotp them with: Jojen Reed, Hodor, Bran Stark, Summer, Osha needs to stay away from: White Walkers (well, obviously), the Freys misc. thoughts: Excuse me, without this girl the entire "bring Bran to the three eyed Raven" would've crashed and burned long time ago. During which she actively witnesses her little brother slowly yet certainly dying and still she's so patient and taking care of everyone of her group. She *sobs* is too good for Westeros...

Jojen Reed

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life alignment: goth I prep | nerd I jock best quality: mature worst quality: moody, reclusive, taking his command for granted, remaining secretive. Still, some I would remark are due to his mixed role as prophetic voice whereas also being a child knowingly walking towards his end. ship them with: no one brotp them with: Bran Stark, Meera Reed (boy, make some friends!) needs to stay away from: The Freys >:( misc. thoughts: Jojen to me is more a prophetic entity more than an actual fleshed out character (although even acting in understandable human ways), I neither partcularly like or dislike him.

send me a character and I’ll tell you....

#Lewis' ask box management

[hollowwhisperings]

Jojen is Fine, Actually: "Weirwood Paste" is Weirwood Paste.

CW: humanitarian diets, body horror, general blasphemy, mention of grooming (in the context of creepy tree wizards).

Okay so my being a HUGE Jojen (& House Reed in general) fan gives me an Obvious Bias against the idea of Jojen Dying Offscreen.

My being a huge literary nerd & lore geek, however, informs my Metaphor Senses that Jojen is Fine*, Actually.

The "Weirwood Paste" is Weirwood Paste: made of weirwood seeds, locally sourced. Said "Local Weirwood Tree" being. Y'know. Brynden Rivers.

It's Brynden Paste.

(*Fine: chronically ill, majorly depressed, freezing cold, surrounded by creepy tree people, stuck in a zombie wasteland, if he ever goes home he Dies, repeatedly dreaming of his own death... but, at least, Not Dead nor Being Eaten by the Prince of his Dreams? He's "Fine".)

First and foremost: storytelling conventions, even in a series as "deliberately unconventional" as ASOIAF, tend to tell audiences that NO ONE is genuinely "dead" until you see a body. And personally check its pulse. And test for rigor mortis. And maybe stab them in a lethal place, jusr to be Sure. And then burn the body, scatter its ashes, send couriers off in different directions to hide what remains in Remote Places never to be known of by the other couriers. Maybe Silence the couriers if they come back.

Er, you get the picture.

Most subscribers to "Jojenpaste" are in it for the lolz or assume The Worst due to Jojen's non-presence in the latest Bran chapters (aaand Jojen's being Very Permanently Dead in That Dragon Show). It's also an "easy" assumption that Since GRRM Is GRRM, any & all opportunities for Humanitarianism will be fully utilized.

Except... the weirwood paste is ALREADY "made of people" just because it's Weirwood (specifically, weirwood seeds) and the series has consistently described weirwood trees as "[human]".

Weirwood have "bone white" bark; they have Faces carved into them; they "Watch" and "Listen" and "Witness": this is consistent across POV characters, even before Jojen casually brings up "oh they're what Greenseers Become" or any meetings with a Literal Tree Man.

Weirwoods are described in human terms, doing human things, and at least 1 major character has been directly equivicated with Weirwoods for Plot Purposes: Ghost the Direwolf (and wolves, of course, are consistently used to mean "someone of House Stark" and the Starklings especially).

Then there is The Creepy Tree Man in the room: Brynden Rivers, called "Three-Eyed Raven" by Bran and Jojen (for that was how their Dreams interpreted him) or "The Last Greenseer" by the Singers (...despite BRAN very pointedly Being There To Prove Otherwise).

Brynden is also, as mentioned, a Tree Now.

A Weirwood Tree.

Y'know. Like the ones whose seeds make the Paste Bran's been eating.

So, unless the Singers have been sneaking about in Others' Territory to collect seeds from a different weirwood tree... that Paste is made of BRYNDEN.

Bran being fed "Brynden Paste' while Brynden Indoctrinates Teaches Bran to be a Tree Wizard makes far more sense, logistically & thematically, than Jojen getting shanked offscreen to belatedly be revealed to be "part of Bran all along".

For one thing, Meera would gladly set the Cave & everyone in it on fire if anyone so much as looks at her baby brother suspiciously. For another, Brynden is Right There for the eating & is filled with all sorts of Prophecy Juice: he's a Blackwood, he's a Targaryen, he's a Royal Bastard, he was an Infamous Spymaster with "A thousand eyes and one", he's done weird sacrifice BS before, he's a Greenseer (Jojen "only" has Greensight), he's a Living God (as per Singer & First Men Lore), the Cave Cult is trying to turn Bran INTO him...

There is a lot more "logic" to Bran's Magic Lessons featuring his knowingly (subconsciously, at least) eating Brynden than his secretly eating his friend. Human sacrifice tends to require Knowledge of the cost being paid & being Willing to do it anyway: Bran might be too tripped up on Paste to consciously connect the "Weirwood Paste" he eats with "that Human Weirwood Tree i'm sitting next to" but the Singers explicitly tell Bran the Paste is made from Weirwood Seeds. Bran "knows".

Godeating (metaphoric & literal) is a trope that is most commonly found in JRPGs, nowadays, but it has Precedent throughout western mythology: the Titan Kronus ate each of his children as they were born, Zeus alone escaping, in an effort to Dodge Prophecy; Zeus inherited Said Prophecy and, being his Father's Son, ate his first wife. The details of the Titanomachy (the War against the Titans by their reasonably upset kids) are Lost but Zeus, at least, gained all his Wife's Wisdom (& her pregnancy too) after eating her: Athena may or may not have Taken It Back upon breaking out from her Eaten Mother & Dear Old Dad.

Consuming something in order to "become" what is eaten is Fairly Common, if not with that specific phrasing: vampires seldom explain their reproduction as "eat me to become me", whilst the adorable Nintendo character Kirby & his method of Powering Up via Playing Vacuum, is Rephrased out of Sheer Self-Preservation (no one, not even I, likes to admit that The Cute Pink Blob is an Eldritch Abomination). Many JRPGs & works in eastern media use similar themes of "monster eats monster" and "let's eat god" for the purposes of High Stakes Action. Japan & East Asia has a lot less "baggage" when it comes to utilizing themes from Abrahamic verse, meaning that western works using themes of [consuming the divine] and [apotheosis] use Vampire Methodology. Such is the case in the Dragon Age series & its Order of Grey Wardens (who are, From A Certain POV, dragon god vampires).

Within the ASOIAF series itself, Dany's eating a horse heart (raw) has Humanitarian Themes in service of Prophecy and [Divinity]: the horse heart to the Dothraki, a society of horselords, could be what weirwood seeds are to First Men (especially given Jojen's whole "btw, the trees are gods are former greenseers").

Brynden & the Cave's Singers (whom I dearly hope are some long-exiled Cult & not reflective of Singers as a whole) are not particularly subtle in their Intentions for Bran: he is to be their New "Last" Greenseer. Bran is to Become Brynden or Brynden is to Become Bran: either and possibly both are plausible, though how compliant with the Singers' goals Brynden may be has yet to be revealed.

(the Brynden of F&B and D&E strikes me as someone who would gladly bodysnatch some poor kid for his own Agenda: the Singers seem unlikely to support fire-breathing foreigners, not without a Contingency Plan; somewhat likely to want Bran for the purposes of installing a Tree Hivemind Police State; and maybe, possibly... "just" wanting a Second God for their Cult in Bran, who probably Smells Better).

SUMMARY

Weirwoods are Personified in almost every appearance. Weirwood Trees are considered Gods. Jojen (& some Singers) have stated that the Next Evolutionary Phase of a Greenseer is "Weirwood Tree". Brynden "the Last Greenseer" is part of a Weirwood Tree.

Brynden & the Singers are Turning Bran Into A Weirwood Tree.

Bran's current diet is Tree Paste. His magic teacher, Brynden, is Part-Tree. The Nearest Tree to make Paste from is Brynden. The Paste is made of Brynden.

(Let's NOT think too hard on which parts of Brynden: I've only gotten this far in this Meta by using "Hunanitarian" as a pun.)

Eating Gods to Become A God is an existing Trope. Brynden is a God, by Singer & First Men definitions. Bran is being Groomed to Become Brynden, a God. To Become Brynden, Bran must Eat Brynden.

TL;DR

The Weirwood Paste is Weirwood Paste and Brynden is the Weirwood: the Paste is not "Jojen", it's BRYNDEN.

Jojen is Not Paste: Jojen is Alive but Not Well & Very Depressed.

#bran stark meta #valyrianscrolls #jojen reed #brynden rivers #the last greenseer #asoiaf theories #cw cannibalism #methodology of apotheosis #suspiciously remote tree people cultists are suspicious #i think i forgot to add back my theory that meera is overdue for some arson and jaywalking #the title is the last greenseer not three-eyed crow #three-eyed crow is just his default avatar in the minds of telepathic children #jojen doesnt go around calling bran winged wolf and expecting others to know what that means in his dreams #jojen goes around calling bran his prince #because bran could become the literal man of his dreams #i imagine jojen was disappointed to discover his prophetic dreams were emphasis prophetic

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Why did Howland Reed allow both Meera and Jojen to go off to find Bran? Judging from Jojen's visions they knew it would be dangerous, so why would Howland risk losing both his children.

It wasn’t dangerous for Meera and Jojen to go find Bran? He was at Winterfell, the walled heart of the north, surrounded by all the House Stark servants and guards, and at the harvest feast with dozens of other lords of the north and all their men.

Maester Luwin crouched beside Bran’s seat to whisper counsel in his ear. “You must greet these ones warmly. I had not thought to see them here, but… you know who they are?”Bran nodded. “Crannogmen. From the Neck.”“Howland Reed was a great friend to your father,” Ser Rodrik told him. “These two are his, it would seem.”[…] They went to one knee before the dais.“My lords of Stark,” the girl said. “The years have passed in their hundreds and their thousands since my folk first swore their fealty to the King in the North. My lord father has sent us here to say the words again, for all our people.”She is looking at me, Bran realized. He had to make some answer. “My brother Robb is fighting in the south,” he said, “but you can say your words to me, if you like.”“To Winterfell we pledge the faith of Greywater,” they said together. “Hearth and heart and harvest we yield up to you, my lord. Our swords and spears and arrows are yours to command. Grant mercy to our weak, help to our helpless, and justice to all, and we shall never fail you.”“I swear it by earth and water,” said the boy in green.“I swear it by bronze and iron,” his sister said.“We swear it by ice and fire,” they finished together.

–ACOK, Bran III

Now, besides swearing fealty to House Stark once again, Meera and Jojen did have a secret purpose. Jojen had been dreaming of a winged wolf bound in chains, dreams the three-eyed crow had sent him.

“You are the winged wolf, Bran,” said Jojen. “I wasn’t sure when we first came, but now I am. The crow sent us here to break your chains.”“Is the crow at Greywater?”“No. The crow is in the north.”“At the Wall?” Bran had always wanted to see the Wall. His bastard brother Jon was there now, a man of the Night’s Watch.“Beyond the Wall.” Meera Reed hung the net from her belt. “When Jojen told our lord father what he’d dreamed, he sent us to Winterfell.”

–ACOK, Bran IV

However, what was dangerous was for Meera and Jojen to remain in Winterfell. For Jojen had also dreamed…

Sitting cross-legged under the weirwood, Jojen Reed regarded him solemnly. “It would be good if you left Winterfell, Bran.”“It would?”“Yes. And sooner rather than later.”

–ACOK, Bran IV

“Tell me the bad thing you dreamed,” Bran said. “The bad thing that is coming to Winterfell.”“Does my lord prince believe me now? Will he trust my words, no matter how queer they sound in his ears?”Bran nodded.“It is the sea that comes. […] I saw black waves crashing against the gates and towers, and then the salt water came flowing over the walls and filled the castle. Drowned men were floating in the yard.”[…]“Did you see me in a green dream?” he asked Jojen nervously. “Was I drowned?”“Not drowned.” Jojen spoke as if every word pained him. “I dreamed of the man who came today, the one they call Reek. You and your brother lay dead at his feet, and he was skinning off your faces with a long red blade.”

–ACOK, Bran V

So, Jojen told his father that something terrible was coming to Winterfell (and note he saw no danger to himself or his sister in that dream), and that the Stark boys would be murdered… and what he needed to do to save them was to free the winged wolf, the new greenseer, and take him to the three-eyed crow. And Howland Reed heard these dreams related by his son, and he sent his children to Winterfell, no question. “We pledge the faith of Greywater… we shall never fail you.” That is the promise, that is the devotion House Reed owes House Stark.

Some things are more important than anything else… and if anyone knows the importance of a greenseer when winter is coming, it’s the crannogmen, it’s Howland Reed, who visited the Isle of Faces and met with the green men, who stayed there learning from them for a whole winter. It’s Howland Reed, who owed gratitude to the she-wolf who saved him from humiliation, to the weirwood knight who fought for his honor. It’s Howland Reed, who saved Ned Stark’s life at the Tower of Joy, who found him later holding Lyanna’s body and took her hand from his. It’s Howland Reed, with a need to protect his dearest friend’s family even after Ned was dead. “We swear it by ice and fire.”

#deliciouslyteenagetale #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #howland reed #jojen reed #meera reed #bran stark #house reed #i'm going to assume show-infection here because sigh #also y'know if jojen knows when he will die it's probable he told his dad already :(

[poorquentyn]

What do you predict happens to Meera? In particular to her relationship with Bran.

Ok so this has me worried:

Meera led the way back up the hill, jabbing at the wights when they came near. The things could not be hurt, but they were slow and clumsy. “Hodor,” Hodor said with every step. “Hodor, hodor.” He wondered what Meera would think if he should suddenly tell her that he loved her.

Meera began to cry.

Bran hated being crippled then. “Don’t cry,” he said. He wanted to put his arms around her, hold her tight the way his mother used to hold him back at Winterfell when he’d hurt himself. She was right there, only a few feet from him, but so far out of reach it might have been a hundred leagues. To touch her he would need to pull himself along the ground with his hands, dragging his legs behind him. The floor was rough and uneven, and it would be slow going, full of scrapes and bumps. I could put on Hodor’s skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels.

Not that there’s anything wrong with Bran loving Meera, and my heart breaks for him RE “so far out of reach it might have been a hundred leagues,” but that he’s inching closer and closer to hugging Meera as Hodor is very disturbing to contemplate. That’s especially so given how likely it is that Jojen dies in TWOW, and so Meera will be more distraught than ever, which I could see pushing Bran over this line. I hope (gods, I really hope) Bran quickly pulls back, or Meera realizes what’s going on and gets away, or Bloodraven steps in, or the Others interrupt.

As for Meera long-term, I think she makes it home and becomes Lady of the Neck. 

#bran stark #meera reed #hodor #asoiaf meta

[nightqueendany]

An In-Depth Look at Houses, Territories, and Loyalties

...That *May* Come into Play in Season 8

*Now, do I really think any of this relevant? No. But a certain ship in the fandom like to write long metas about how their fave girl is the key to every part of the Seven Kingdoms, how Westeros won’t be able to function unless she marries Jon and becomes queen. So these posts really serve no other purpose but to refute that.

My actual prediction for S8 is that the political drama with the North will last all of one scene and then everyone will get back to business. The show will gloss over the rest of the Seven Kingdoms in favor of long exciting fight scenes and by the end we’ll likely get a time jump and won’t even see how the politics of the South play out. But anyway, for argument’s sake, here you go...

This is coming to you guys in parts because otherwise it would be SUPER long.

So, here goes Part 1: THE NORTH

**Where do the loyalties lie after RLJ is revealed?**

The North (aside from House Stark):

Bolton: EXTINCT

Cerwyn: did not fight in BoB; kneels to Jon in 6x10

Glover: did not fight in BoB; kneels to Jon in 6x10

Hornwood: Fought in the Battle of the Bastards for House Stark

Mazin: show only; fought in the Battle of the Bastards for House Stark

Karstark: fought against Starks in BoB; Alys Karstark kneels to Jon in 7x01

Manderly: did not fight in BoB; kneels to Jon in 6x10

Mormont: Fought in the Battle of the Bastards for Starks

Reed: Lord’s whereabouts unknown though safe to assume still loyal to House Stark

Umber: fought against Starks in BoB; Ned Umber kneels to Jon in 7x01

Now, before I get into individual houses, let me start by saying this: For anyone wanting to dredge up the whole it’s not about *liking* their lords, it’s about the house they were sworn to, they swore to House Stark, Sansa is the new Head of House Stark after RLJ… Yes. That is perfectly true. After RLJ, Sansa is the new Head of House Stark because Jon is not a Stark, not even a Stark bastard. He’s a Targaryen. HOWEVER that’s the only thing that changes technically. Head of House Stark passes from Jon to Sansa in light of RLJ. But Jon’s being Warden of the North doesn’t need to change unless the Northern Lords call for it. Why? Because: 

**Jon was NEVER a Stark to begin with. He was elected King. No, there wasn’t a vote with tallies and such like the Night’s Watch. But his people named him King regardless of his name. So really, Jon’s position as Warden of the North is not dependent on his being a Stark. It never was.**

But the whole basis of Jon being “in danger” or Sansa being the new Queen in the North is obviously based on the assumption that the Northern Lords will want to cast Jon aside in light of RLJ. This is *possible*. Jon may even agree with them and say it’s not his place to be Warden of the North because he’s not a Stark or a Snow and that Sansa should be Wardeness. But even in such a scenario, there is absolutely no necessity for Sansa to be made a Queen. Under such a scenario a Stark will still rule the North as Warden. The idea of Sansa being named Queen is dependent on the Northern Lords and whether they crave their independence badly enough to go up against Dany...and whether they are loyal enough to Sansa to make such a bold move in the first place. Keep in mind, if the Northern Lords did do this, it would be seen as rebellion. Jon was their king. Their king bent the knee. They are honor bound to follow the man they named their king. RLJ doesn’t change that. So, who would be bold enough to want to call for such a rebellion? Let’s take a look at the individual Houses of the North:

Of the houses we know fairly well and have been mentioned in the show/lords we’ve seen on screen: Cerwin, Glover, Karstark, Manderly, Mormont, Reed, and Umber, only *Lord Glover* has voiced his possible regret in naming Jon King in the North instead of Sansa as his Queen. So it would make sense that Glover may not want Jon as his Warden after the RLJ reveal. Of course he’ll be upset Jon bent the knee to Dany. He may be upset Jon is actually a Targaryen. And he may suggest they spit on the pledge Jon made to Daenerys and instead name Sansa Queen. All of that is within the realm of possibility. So, the current score of House loyalties is Sansa 1 Jon 0.

Next we have Karstark and Umber. In 7x01, Lord Royce called for Karhold and Last Hearth to be torn down “with not a stone left standing.” Sansa, being the sensible one, correctly argued the North needed every castle they had for the war to come. However, she also argued that the castles should be given to new families, casting the Karstarks and Umbers from their ancestral homes. Jon, being the forgiving kind, decided against that. Ned Umber and Alys Karstark bent the knee to Jon and got to keep their homes. Now, in such a scenario where Lord Glover would call for the Northern Houses to rebel against Jon and Dany and name Sansa Queen, Ned and Alys have no reason to trust Sansa and no reason to want to name her their Queen. Their loyalties in such a scenario would undoubtedly lie with the man they bent the knee to regardless of his heritage: Jon. So current score is Sansa 1 Jon 2.

Cerwin and Manderly we haven’t heard from in S7. But they did kneel to Jon in 6x10 and they haven’t voiced opposition to him in S7. In light of RLJ, it’s unclear where they would stand. Manderly was fairly enthusiastic when he named Jon King, saying Jon avenged the Red Wedding, called him The White Wolf. It’s not a stretch to guess Manderly would be opposed to rebelling against Jon and Dany. Cerwin, we just don’t know. He did want to go back to his castle after the Battle of the Bastards, saying the war was won and Jon corrected him, mentioning the Night King. So to be generous, let’s say Cerwin would throw in with Glover and want to name Sansa Queen. Current score: Sansa 2 Jon 3.

Now, House Reed. This is gonna get interesting. No one knows where Howland Reed is at this point. Many theorists I’ve watched/read believe he’s on the Isle of Faces with the Order of the Green Men. Whether that’s true or not, doesn’t really matter. But remember, Howland Reed is the only living person aside from Bran and now Sam who knows Jon’s true heritage and has kept it a secret these twenty odd years. The other important person of House Reed is Meera...Bran’s traveling companion for the last several years. Meera has seen the army of the dead up close. She’s fought them. She knows what the true threat is. Meera won’t want to waste time with petty squabbles over whether the North remains independent or not. She won’t care that Jon is a Targaryen. She was loyal to Bran for years and knows how much Bran cares about Jon (or cared past tense as current Bran is an emotionless zombie). And Howland was loyal to Ned for years, keeping Jon’s secret. Neither Meera nor Howland have any ties to Sansa or have voiced their approval of her. So House Reed’s loyalties would likely be with JON even after RLJ. Score: Sansa 2 Jon 4

And last but not least, House Mormont. As stated in another post, Lyanna Mormont isn’t a fan of Sansa’s. In their first meeting in S6, she brings up Sansa’s past marriages...she also brings up Jon’s bastard status...but in 6x10 she says she doesn’t care that Jon is a bastard. She never says she doesn’t care that Sansa was married to Ramsay and Tyrion. So that may still be a sticking point with Lyanna. And of course, she names JON king instead of Sansa as Queen - the trueborn daughter of Ned Stark. Lyanna’s exact words are “I don’t care if [Jon’s] a bastard. Ned Stark’s blood runs through his veins.” Ned says something similar to Jon when they depart Winterfell back in S1. “You may not have my name, but you have my blood.” When RLJ is revealed, this is still true. Jon doesn’t automatically sprout blonde hair and purple eyes. He’s still Jon. He’s still the boy who was raised as Ned Stark’s bastard. The North may have an aversion to Targaryens, but Jon was not raised as one. And, out of all the Northern Houses, Lyanna as head of House Mormont has been the most consistent and most loyal to House Stark and to Jon. Hell, she’s even named after Jon’s MOTHER for goodness sake. If it came down to a divided North after RLJ, Lyanna would undoubtedly side with JON. She said, “he’s my king from this day, until his last day” and with her track record, she would likely stick to that. Lyanna may even be the one to suggest a marriage alliance between Jon and Daenerys so that he remains her king instead of simply Warden. Current score: Sansa 2 Jon 5

BUT WAIT. I’m forgetting some people aren’t I? There are more Northerners than just the Noble Houses of the North, aren’t there? That’s right. The Free Folk. If Glover called for rebelling against Jon and Dany in light of RLJ and Jon bending the knee and wanted to name Sansa Queen, though Jon has said he’s not the king of the Free Folk, they have stood by his side since S5. They defended his body when Jon was murdered by Alliser Thorne and co. They fought with Jon in the Battle of the Bastards. And they went to defend the Wall when Jon asked. Not to mention Daenerys swooping in and carrying Tormund to safety on the back of Drogon. If it came down to it, Tormund and the rest of the free folk wouldn’t stand for the Northerners casting Jon out simply because of his heritage. Like the Reeds, they know the threat everyone is facing. They’ve seen it. They’ve faced it, unlike the rest of the Northern Lords. They certainly don’t care about Sansa being a Queen and they definitely don’t care about Northern Independence when they still don’t even consider themselves part of the Seven Kingdoms. In a divided North, the Free Folk would support Jon. Final Score: Sansa 2 Jon 6.

So when it comes down to there being a “Key to the North”, Sansa Stark certainly is not it even in light of RLJ. The only Northern Lords she would have backing her claim and supporting her above Jon are few. AND if threatened or faced with a difficult situation like the dead climbing over the walls of Winterfell, fickle Lords like Glover would likely side with whoever could protect them. Nearly every other Northern House enthusiastically would still support JON and wish him to stay on as Warden...or again, call for a marriage alliance between Jon and Daenerys and settle for Sansa as Warden.

AND ALSO...If a few Lords of the North wanted to name Sansa their Queen and exile Jon or whatever...Sansa isn’t obligated to follow along. She could just as easily say, “Hey you *few* Northern Lords, you’re being idiots. Jon’s a Northman through and through regardless of who his trueborn father was. Daenerys came here to help us. We don’t have the armies to fight her for independence anyway. Shut up or go back to your castles alone and pray the dead don’t find you.”  But regardless, key lesson here is:

JON SNOW is the “Key to the North.”

#jon snow #the north #alys karstark #ned umber #house cerwin #house manderly #house reed #howland reed #meera reed #house glover #the free folk #tormund #lyanna mormont #house mormont #king in the north #queen in the north myth #key to the north myth #RLJ #RLJ reveal #got s8 speculation #game of thrones

[trinuviel]

Crowned with Fire – True and False Lights in A Song of Ice and Fire (part 1)

I have previous written about the notion of “false light” in ASoIaF in relation to the prophecy of The Prince that was Promised/Azor Ahai.

…we all deceive ourselves, when we want to believe. Melisandre most of all, I think. The sword is wrong, she has to know that … light without heat … an empty glamor … the sword is wrong, and the false light can only lead us deeper into darkness, Sam.” – Maester Aemon to Sam, (AFfC, Samwell IV) 

The inspiration for this meta comes from both from the quote above but also from this one from the novella The Princess and the Queen:

Atop the Hill of Rhaenys, the Dragonpit wore a crown of yellow fire, burning so bright it seemed as if the sun was rising. (The Princess and the Queen) 

There are two things I want to point out in relation to this quote:

There’s a fire burning so bright that it could be mistaken for the sunrise. This is a false light.

Then there’s the image of the crown of fire.

The crown of fire or the burning crown is a piece of imagery that repeated recurs in the text, both in a positive and a negative manner. In this post, I will examine the image of the crown of fire in relation to the notion of a true light.

THE LIGHTHOUSE

The image of the Dragonpit crowned with fire is a striking one – and it made recall another instance where GRRM uses the image of a building crowned with fire, only this time it is a tower:

The challengers trotted back to the south end of the lists to await their foes: Ser Abelar in silver and smoke colors, a stone watchtower on his shield, crowned with fire. (The Hedge Knight)

Ser Abelar belongs to House Hightower. Their sigil is a white tower with a flaming beacon at the top. Their words are We Light the Way. This is an incredibly important detail and it will inform much of my examination of false and true lights in relation to the imagery of burning crowns in the text.

The sigil of House Hightower refers to their ancestral seat in Oldtown: a tower so vast and impressive that it is commonly knowns as The Hightower – and the family is called House Hightower of the Hightower. The family is among the most ancient of Westeros and they are commonly believed to descend from the First Men. During the Age of Heroes, King Uther of the High Tower is said to have commissioned Brandon the Builder, the legendary founder of House Stark, or his son Brandon to build The Hightower.

(Hightower in Oldtown. Art by Ted Nasmith)

And beyond, where the Honeywine widened into Whispering Sound, rose the Hightower, its beacon fires bright against the dawn. From where it stood atop the bluffs of Battle Island, its shadow cut the city like a sword. Those born and raised in Oldtown could tell the time of day by where that shadow fell. Some claimed a man could see all the way to the Wall from the top. (AFfC, Prologue)

This description points pot that The Hightower isn’t just a holdfast of an ancient and powerful House, it is also a lighthouse! The fire that crowns the tower is a beacon that lights the dark until the break of dawn and it guides ships into safe harbor. Compared to image of the Dragonpit crowned by fire, the Hightower crowned with fire is a positive image. Whereas the burning Dragonpit is a uncontrolled, destructive and deceptive fire that only looks like the dawn, the burning beacon of the Hightower is fire harnessed for a constructive purpose: to provide light and safety in the dark. It is the difference between a false light and a true light!

Light is often associated with Truth and it is a symbolic connection that is millennia old in Western thought. Within the universe of GRRM’s world, this symbolic connection is also in play. In the cult of R’hllor, the high priest of the Red Temple in Volantis in not called the Flame of Truth and the Light of Wisdom but I’ve argued elsewhere that the priesthood of R’hllor are blinded by a false light. For them any fire contains the light of truth, whether it is a fire used for visions or a fire used to burn men and women so their purified souls can ascend into the light of R’hllor. The problem with this cult is that they are fanatics and fanatics always stares so hard into the light of a perceived “Truth” that they become blind to everything else.

Too much light blinds the eye and a fire unchecked devours.

However, let’s return to The Hightower and Old Town because the words We Light the Way refers not only to the lighthouse function of House Hightower’s holdfast but also to their role as patrons of learning. King Uthor of the High Tower’s sons King Urrigon and Prince Perrimore the Twisted were integral to the founding of the Citadel and House Hightower has remained patrons of this institution of learning ever since the founding.

Thus, on the symbolic level we have another distinction between a false and a true fire. There’s the false light of prophecy and the fanaticism of the priesthood of R’hllor versus the true light of learning. GRRM has explicitly stated that in his text, prophecy is rarely useful. Instead the meanings are often murky and misleading. That can be incredibly dangerous because if those murky meanings are being mistaken for an absolute truth then it is easy to be lead astray. Melisandre is a good example – her visions are ambigious and hard to read but she places an absolute faith in the prophecy of Azor Ahai reborn, even when she acknowledges that she can read a prophecy wrongly:

“If sometimes I have mistaken a warning for a prophecy or a prophecy for a warning, the fault lies in the reader, not the book.” - Melisandre (ASoS, Davos V)

Likewise, not all scholars are wise and not all of their work leads to the truth of things. However, there’s room for debate and dissent within a scholarly community. A scholar has to be prepared for having his theories and findings contested and he has to provide evidence for his argument. In contrast, there’s not much room for debate or dissent within the cult of R’hllor. That’s the trouble with fanatics: their truth is the only truth.

“I AM THE FIRE THAT BURNS AGAINST THE COLD, THE LIGHT THAT BRINGS THE DAWN”

The imagery of a lighthouse as a beacon against the dark, a guiding light until the break of dawn makes me think of the wows of the Night’s Watch:

"Hear my words, and bear witness to my vow,” they recited, their voices filling the twilit grove. “Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.” (AGoT, Jon VI)

Furthermore, the text itself connects The Hightower in the far South with the Wall in the far North:

Some claimed a man could see all the way to the Wall from the top. (AFfC, Prologue)

This is, of course, not the literal truth but the mention of the Wall within a description of the Hightower servers to connect the two edifices in the reader’s mind. Then there’s the legend that the Hightower was built by Brandon the Builder, the same man who is credited with the building of the Wall.

A TOWER CROWNED WITH GOLD

The Hightower is not the only crowned tower in the text. In A Storm of Swords both Bran and Jon comes across a small holdfast called Queenscrown:

“The holdfast has a golden crown, see? He pointed across the lake. You could see patches of gold paint up around the crenellations. “Queen Alysanne slept there, so they painted the merlons gold in her honor.” – Bran Stark to Jojen Reed, (ASoS, Bran III)

This relates the Queenscrown tower indirectly to the Night’s Watch. The journey Queen Alysanne made North was to visit the Night’s Watch and she was so impressed by them that she had more land allotted to the Watch. This is called the New Gift. Queen Alysanne was called the Good Queen and the smallfolk painted the merlons so it would look like the golden crown she wore.

(Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen trying to make their way to the holdfast Queenscrown. Art by Michael Komarck)

“It is only a towerhouse. Some little lordling lived there once, with his family and a few sworn men. When raiders came he would light a beacon from the roof. Winterfell has towers three times the size of that.” […] “Men can build a lot higher than this. In Oldtown there’s a tower taller than the Wall.” – Jon Snow to Ygritte (ASoS, Jon V)

Here the Queencrown tower is directly compared to the Hightower in Oldtown. The tower crowned by fire is a beacon that guides or, in this case, warns. However, the connection with the crowned tower as a positive image (a true light) and kingship (golden crown) is an interesting one.

There are plenty of golden crowns in the text – mostly in relation to actual people wearing golden crowns, whether they be kings or pretenders, as well as heraldic sigils with golden crowns. However, there are a few examples where “a golden crown” is used metaphorically. In one of Sansa’s chapters in A Game of Thrones, Joffrey’s blonde hair is described as shining in the sun like a golden crown. Then there’s the “golden crown” that Viserys gets from Khal Drogo:

It had grown so silent in the hall that she could hear the bells in Khal Drogo's hair, chiming softly with each step he took. His bloodriders followed him, like three copper shadows. Daenerys had gone cold all over. "He says you shall have a splendid golden crown that men shall tremble to behold."

When the gold was half-melted and starting to run, Drogo reached into the flames, snatched out the pot. "Crown!" he roared. "Here. A crown for Cart King!" And upended the pot over the head of the man who had been her brother.(AGoT, Daenerys V)

Viserys’ golden crown turned out to be a false crown, one that killed him – and Joffrey’s crown of golden curls is also a deceptive image. It appears in the text right before he reveals his true nature in the confrontation with Arya and Mycah. Furthermore, Joffrey is a false king since he has no claim to the crown of Westeros. Then there’s also the fact that they both men are vicious and abusive men. Joffrey was a terrible king as would Viserys have been.

I am not entirely ready to make a definite conclusion about what the imagery of a tower crowned in gold may signify but I do find the connection an interesting one, especially since Queencrown is also compared to The Hightower, directly in terms of size and indirectly in terms of their function as a beacon of light. So you could argue that the tower crowned in gold in relation to the tower crowned by fire could signify a true king/queen. In that sense, it is interesting that this particular tower makes an appearance in one of Jon’s chapters, considering his hidden heritage. There’s an interesting passage in one of Jon’s chapters:

… a huge bolt of lightning stabbed down from the sky and touched the surface of the lake. For half a heartbeat the world was noonday bright. The clap of thunder was so loud that Ygritte gasped and covered her ears. “Did you look?” Jon asked, as the sound rolled away and the night turned black again. “Did you see?” "Yellow," she said. "Is that what you meant? Some o' them standing stones on top were yellow." "We call them merlons. They were painted gold a long time ago. This is Queenscrown."Across the lake, the tower was black again, a dim shape dimly seen. "A queen lived there?" asked Ygritte.

"A queen stayed there for a night." Old Nan had told him the story, but Maester Luwin had confirmed most of it. "Alysanne, the wife of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator. He's called the Old King because he reigned so long, but he was young when he first came to the Iron Throne. In those days, it was his wont to travel all over the realm. When he came to Winterfell, he brought his queen, six dragons, and half his court. The king had matters to discuss with his Warden of the North, and Alysanne grew bored, so she mounted her dragon Silverwing and flew north to see the Wall. This village was one of the places where she stopped. Afterward the smallfolk painted the top of their holdfast to look like the golden crown she'd worn when she spent the night among them.” (ASoS, Jon V)

The dark of the night is briefly illuminated by lightning, and in that brief flash of light Jon and Ygritte sees the golden crown on the tower, i.e. the merlons painted gold. Jon correctly identifies the tower as Queencrown and tells Ygritte the story of how it came to wear a crown. The story relates to his own ancestors, one of the rare good kings from the Targaryen dynasty: Jaeherys I “the Conciliator” and his sister-wife Good Queen Alysanne. She cared for the smallfolk and he gave the realm its first unified set of laws, among other things. In this sense, the story of Queenscrown links this particular imagery of a golden crown with a positive view of kingship – as opposed to the imagery of the golden crown in relation to Joffrey and Viserys.

THE BURNED TOWER

There is another tower that the text relates to the Lighthouse in Oldtown. However, it is done very subtly through the imagery of a specific passage in A Clash of Kings:

Behind him the broken tower stood, its summit as jagged as a crown where fire had collapsed the upper stories long ago. As the sun moved, the shadow of the tower moved as well, gradually lengthening, a black arm reaching out for Theon Greyjoy. By the time the sun touched the wall, he was in its grasp. (ACoK, Theon VI)

The tower in question is the Broken Tower of Winterfell, also called the Burned Tower. Along with the Godswood and the Crypts, the Broken Tower is one of the most distinct landmarks of Winterfell. It was once the tallest watchtower in Winterfell but it was struck by lightning and the resultant fire cause the top to cave in.

What is so interesting above is not just the image of the tower’s ragged summit resembling a crown but also the image of the tower as a giant sundial, its shadow an arm reaching out for Theon. If we compare this image with the description of the Hightower from A Feast of Crows, you can recognize the striking imagery: 

And beyond, where the Honeywine widened into Whispering Sound, rose the Hightower, its beacon fires bright against the dawn. From where it stood atop the bluffs of Battle Island, its shadow cut the city like a sword. Those born and raised in Oldtown could tell the time of day by where that shadow fell. Some claimed a man could see all the way to the Wall from the top. (AFfC, Prologue)

Here we have the image of the tower as a sundial again but whereas the shadow of the Broken Tower is likened to an arm, the shadow of the Hightower is like a sword.

What does the Broken Tower of Winterfell have to do with this theme of beacons, true lights and golden crowns. The Broken Tower is associated with secrets, lies and truths. It is here that Bran witnesses Cersei and Jaime Lannister having sex. Jaime pushes Bran in order to keep this secret, to maintain the lie that Cersei’s children are Robert Baratheon’s children and not born of incest.

How does this relate to image of the tower as a sundial, which is the associative point between the Hightower and the Broken Tower? The quote from Theon’s chapter comes from a passage where he is trying to bluff himself out of a looming fight with Rodrik Cassel by threatening to hang his daughter Beth. This whole passage is saturated with anxiety on Theon’s part because he feels that he cannot win. The shadow of the tower thus becomes the shadow of the sundial, counting down the time to the moment of truth. Thus, on the basis on such an associative logic, the Broken Tower becomes a symbolic locus for secrets, lies and the countdown to the moment of truth.

This is where this post crosses into the territory of tinfoil. Daenerys Targaryen has several visions in the House of the Undying in Quarth. One of them goes like this: 

Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies…  (ACoK, Daenerys IV) 

The imagery of this passage indicates that Dany will uncover three lies (I think that in this context “slayers of lies” doesn’t signify a literal killing). What are the lies that Dany has to uncover? 

The first one most likely relates to Stannis Baratheon – the blue-eyed king with a glowing red-sword. I have previously written about how Melisandre is wrong when she identifies Stannis as Azor Ahai come again and I have also explored the idea that his glowing sword is wrong as well. Here the sword is linked with the sunset rather than the dawn. Stannis’ “Lightbringer” is a false light that leads into the night and not into the dawn. Stannis as AA reborn is the first lie that Dany has to slay. 

The second lie probably relates to fAegon, the young man that Varys claims to be Rhaegar Targaryen’s son and that he has had brought up as the perfect hidden prince. Many readers suspect that fAegon is not who Varys says he is, and Dany’s vision of the cloth dragons, a mummer’s dragon as she calls it, seems to support this theory. 

Then there’s the third (and final) lie: The stone beast that takes wing from a smoking tower, breathing dark flame. I think that this lie represents Jon Snow’s parentage – the stone beast represents his Targaryen heritage and the smoking tower represents the Broken Tower, also called the Burned Tower. Though the Broken Tower mainly features in Bran’s and Theon’s chapters, you could argue that Jon is indirectly present through the symbolism of the crows that live in the tower – and Jon is continually called Crow during his time with the Wildlings. Whether the Broken Tower will play a literal part in the disclosure of Jon’s true parentage remains to be seen – but it’s metaphorical connection with secrets and lies (as well as its burned status) makes it a good candidate for the smoking tower in Dany’s vision. 

In the next installment I’ll taker a closer look at the imagery of the burning crown in relation to the notion of the false light.

#asoaif #meta #crowned with fire #hightower #queenscrown #the broken tower #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire