Mance Rayder's Cloak

Interesting notion but I doubt it. I am pretty sure the quote refers to the constant hounding that the Others have been doing to the Wildlings for years. Also Mance doesn't really like Mel, one would think he'd be slightly more friendly if a Red Priest or Priestess had saved his life.

My current admittedly crackpot theory is that he is a descendant of Bloodraven and some wildling women. At least I don't think he is Rhaegar.

She did. Still trying to figure out what it means...

Not to derail this thread or anything, but I have doubts that Dalla and Val actually are truly sisters, especially in light of Sam saying that Aemon is Craster's grandson. They're more sisters in the same sense that Jon and Sam are brothers, i.e through an organization.

• Val is described in plenty of detail. Dalla never is. So we have no idea if they even look alike. It's kinda a weird omission to tell us Val's hair, eyes, boobs, etc., but never once describe Dalla to us. We just assume they look alike on the basis that they're said to be sisters, but we never actually get any indication that they do, and certainly no one ever once says they actually look alike. And no one ever calls Dalla the beauty that they all call Val.

• Mance says that he met Dalla when he returned from Winterfell when he spied on Robert. He says he crossed the Wall at Long Barrow when he went to Winterfell, so if we assume he once again crossed at Long Barrow on his return, then he basically has to pass by Craster's to head back to his camp. So the opportunity is certainly there to meet Dalla at Craster's. On the other hand, Val and Jarl are a couple. We know that Jarl is a wildling chieftain, and therefore would've had his own village. We're never told where Jarl's is, but Jarl is very familiar with where Stonedoor and Greyguard are located on the Wall. Seems reasonable that he does most of his raiding over the Wall near those two castles then, and therefore has his base of operations near there, or at least did before he abandoned them to join Mance's camp. Stonedoor and Greyguard are on opposite sides of the Wall from Long Barrow though. If Mance met Dalla on his return from Long Barrow, then both she and Val, if they're truly sisters, should've been picked up there too. Yet Jarl operates out of the other end of the Wall. Which is then odd. Val would've either had to have met Jarl at Mance's camp, which seems unlikely given that there were 100,000 wildlings and Jarl is only a very lesser chieftain (only has 20 men), so kinda weird that she'd ever specifically meet him or pick him out when he's not noteworthy. Or she's from the same area that Jarl is, which is the opposite end of the Wall from where Mance found Dalla. Which is then again really weird.

• When Val leaves to go find Tormund, she returns in completely different garb. She claims all the garb was given to her by Dalla. It's all white clothes with a brooch depicting a weirwood. When she returns her eyes have also changed colour, having gone from grey when she left, to blue when she returned. GRRM has commented that this change in eye colour is not a mistake, it's intentional. So Val leaves, changes her outfit into something Dalla gave her, and her eyes change. Seems like Val did something magical, and many fans have interpreted her garb to be almost a priestly garb. Dalla herself talked about magic quite a bit, so Dalla also at least knows about magic. They both know magic, and if they were both priestesses of some kind, then you'd say that they were sisters to one another, no?

I mean yes, it's possible they're both just actually sisters, and that Mance stole both of them from Craster's. Or that Jarl also stole one of Craster's daughters. Or that Val escaped herself (as Mance seems to indicate it's Val who stole Jarl, not the other way around). But I don't truly believe they're genetic sisters. They're never described as looking alike, they seemingly come from opposite ends of the Wall, and they're both knowledgeable about magic and might've been old god priestesses of some kind, thereby making them "sisters". I'd be surprised if they're actually truly sisters and not just sisters in name, similar to how Jon and Sam are brothers.

But then again, all this does still rest on the point that we're assuming that GRRM just didn't make a mistake in AFFC, and that either Dalla or Mance has to be Craster's child to explain how Aemon Steelsong, their son, can be Craster's grandson.