The year of False Spring, and other season related issues
Jul 7, 2016 6:38:45 GMT
markg171, voice, and 4 more like this
Post by shizett on Jul 7, 2016 6:38:45 GMT
arrysfleas made a brilliant observation on heresy threads on W, about the possible triggers for the rise of magic recently (you can read the original and the following discussions here):
The discussion there went a different direction, but I thought maybe we could discuss it if you guys are interested.
This is a brilliant observation, giving us a framework to look at some of the political events of the past, from a magical perspective.
The false Spring can be explained in two ways:
- It was supposed to be winter, someone used magic to bring summer, but winter prevailed.
- The seasons were changing, it was supposed to be a spring leading to summer, but winter prevailed.
I am leaning more towards the first option. I think there are couple of things in favor of that interpretation:
- The KotLT had a laughing weirwood as its sigil. The story is offered to us in a way that highlights the Starks and undermines Arrys. But what if Arrys is not as crazy as he seems? He was clearly threatened, it could have been by the sigil as well as the actions.
This also led to Rheagar marking Lyanna as the QoL&B which clearly was not a romantic or positive act. (Read more about it in SlyWren's article here). His actions have been discussed in terms of their political undertones a lot. What about their magical undertones? Could they have been a message to team winter?
- Rheagar and Ellia conceive Aegon in (a false) Spring and when he is born, Rheagar names him the PtWP. Then it turns out that he was not born in Spring, it was a false Spring. And apparently Aegon was not the PtwP!
- Rheagar started his journey to Riverlands (where the tourney had been held before) right after the return of winter.
So Tourney at Harrenhal is usually held as a coming together type of event. What if it was not? What if it was Rheagar boasting about him bringing the Summer (that would never end)?
It has long been noted that apparently Rickard was not there. If it was supposed to be the union between Ice and Fire, where is Ice?
Also, note that Arrys is also there. We are again led to believe that Arrys was there against his son's wishes, but Rheagar could have manipulated the events so that his father would be there. So, we have a very heavy representation of fire and a very week representation of Ice.
I have some other remarks about the other events in the history of westeros that might be directly related to seasons:
- The tragedy at SummerHall and the freezing in WinterFell: Regardless of what happened in SH, it was burned to the ground. It is fire that destroyed the seat of fire in westeros.
WF is freezing at the end of our story after Ramsay's wedding. It is no longer warm, even the godswood is covered with snow. There is so much snow that it finally resembles Sansa's "snow" castle. Now, WF seems to still be standing, but will it stand for long?
The tragedy at summerhall happened in 259. The year of false spring happened at 281. The freezing of WF happened at 300. Almost symmetrical!
- If Rheagar abducted Lyanna at the beginning of winter, Jon was conceived and maybe born in Winter. The seasons seems to be measured in unit of years, even the false spring spanned for about a year.
- Westeros is divided geographically between ice and fire in 50/50 ratio.
One of the most striking feature of the world created by the author are the uneven seasons.
This discussion about what may have happened when, reminds me that the Year of the False Spring (281 AC) sticks out as a unique event in the annals of the story. There has not been one before (nor since) and we have tales going back 8,000 years.
At least two important events took place during that false spring:
- the Harrenhal tourney where Rhaegar crowned Lyanna Stark as queen of love and beauty: an obvious intended alliance between Ice and Fire
- the appearance of The Knight of the Laughing Tree, whose shield bore the image of "a white weirwood with a laughing red face": again white and red; also such an unusual story that involved the Starks and that for some weird reason, neither Eddard nor Old Nan ever mentioned to their children, to the amazement of Meera.
I could not find any book text to show that both events are directly related nor if the disappearance of Lyanna can be traced to this particular year.
The WIF tells us that the year ended such ' On the last day of the year, snow began to fall upon King's Landing, and a crust of ice formed atop the Blackwater Rush' and that Rhaegar 'with the coming of the new year' journeyed towards the Riverlands; on his way he came upon Lyanna near Harrenhal.
It strikes me that the seasons, mad as they are, would have such a unique hiccup and i suggest we should look that way for a trigger.
This discussion about what may have happened when, reminds me that the Year of the False Spring (281 AC) sticks out as a unique event in the annals of the story. There has not been one before (nor since) and we have tales going back 8,000 years.
At least two important events took place during that false spring:
- the Harrenhal tourney where Rhaegar crowned Lyanna Stark as queen of love and beauty: an obvious intended alliance between Ice and Fire
- the appearance of The Knight of the Laughing Tree, whose shield bore the image of "a white weirwood with a laughing red face": again white and red; also such an unusual story that involved the Starks and that for some weird reason, neither Eddard nor Old Nan ever mentioned to their children, to the amazement of Meera.
I could not find any book text to show that both events are directly related nor if the disappearance of Lyanna can be traced to this particular year.
The WIF tells us that the year ended such ' On the last day of the year, snow began to fall upon King's Landing, and a crust of ice formed atop the Blackwater Rush' and that Rhaegar 'with the coming of the new year' journeyed towards the Riverlands; on his way he came upon Lyanna near Harrenhal.
It strikes me that the seasons, mad as they are, would have such a unique hiccup and i suggest we should look that way for a trigger.
This is a brilliant observation, giving us a framework to look at some of the political events of the past, from a magical perspective.
The false Spring can be explained in two ways:
- It was supposed to be winter, someone used magic to bring summer, but winter prevailed.
- The seasons were changing, it was supposed to be a spring leading to summer, but winter prevailed.
I am leaning more towards the first option. I think there are couple of things in favor of that interpretation:
- The KotLT had a laughing weirwood as its sigil. The story is offered to us in a way that highlights the Starks and undermines Arrys. But what if Arrys is not as crazy as he seems? He was clearly threatened, it could have been by the sigil as well as the actions.
This also led to Rheagar marking Lyanna as the QoL&B which clearly was not a romantic or positive act. (Read more about it in SlyWren's article here). His actions have been discussed in terms of their political undertones a lot. What about their magical undertones? Could they have been a message to team winter?
- Rheagar and Ellia conceive Aegon in (a false) Spring and when he is born, Rheagar names him the PtWP. Then it turns out that he was not born in Spring, it was a false Spring. And apparently Aegon was not the PtwP!
- Rheagar started his journey to Riverlands (where the tourney had been held before) right after the return of winter.
So Tourney at Harrenhal is usually held as a coming together type of event. What if it was not? What if it was Rheagar boasting about him bringing the Summer (that would never end)?
It has long been noted that apparently Rickard was not there. If it was supposed to be the union between Ice and Fire, where is Ice?
Also, note that Arrys is also there. We are again led to believe that Arrys was there against his son's wishes, but Rheagar could have manipulated the events so that his father would be there. So, we have a very heavy representation of fire and a very week representation of Ice.
I have some other remarks about the other events in the history of westeros that might be directly related to seasons:
- The tragedy at SummerHall and the freezing in WinterFell: Regardless of what happened in SH, it was burned to the ground. It is fire that destroyed the seat of fire in westeros.
WF is freezing at the end of our story after Ramsay's wedding. It is no longer warm, even the godswood is covered with snow. There is so much snow that it finally resembles Sansa's "snow" castle. Now, WF seems to still be standing, but will it stand for long?
The tragedy at summerhall happened in 259. The year of false spring happened at 281. The freezing of WF happened at 300. Almost symmetrical!
- If Rheagar abducted Lyanna at the beginning of winter, Jon was conceived and maybe born in Winter. The seasons seems to be measured in unit of years, even the false spring spanned for about a year.
- Westeros is divided geographically between ice and fire in 50/50 ratio.