Post by danl on Jan 28, 2021 15:40:35 GMT
Faith is defined as "complete trust or confidence in someone or something" or "strong belief" or "trust" in something, either a religious or spiritual ideation, a pledge, a person, etc. but how does that work with Ned and signs, which could be translated to superstitions. Ned doesn't seem superstitious, so maybe some of this "faith in signs" hints at him not being superstitious?
"Superstituous" is a difficult word in a world where there are gods inhabiting trees and where dreams really can interpret the future. I think you are right that 'putting faith in signs' probably indicates that someone believes in them enough to change behavior based on signs. But Ned probably believes in some types of magic but not others, or maybe disbelieves in magic but defines it differently than we would. In our world, warging is magic; but maybe it isn't in Ned's, although it might be in Luwin's. In the same world, people inhabit different imaginative worlds, which greatly affects their perception of events
It's when he hears that Summer saved Bran that he begins to think on the lines of the pups being gifts from the gods. He must not have thought that initially, even though he decreed that the pups must only be trained and taken care of by their individual children. It's almost like he hoped a bond could develop, but didn't really know if it worked that way.
Maybe that bond isn't a creation of the old gods. Maybe it is something else, something almost natural.
Well, he is a Bryndan, but it's very close to Brandon.
At the moment, I really was thinking he was Brandon, but you're right, but I'll still say there is likely a connection if Brandon means something, it is very likely that Brynden is a different form of the same name.
I think both the Byzantian and World War I or II analogies work well. And might apply to this is well. Except perhaps everyone has forgotten the real enemy and the reason for helping maintain the wall. If we forget our history, we are doomed to either fail or repeat our errors. And I agree that Qhorin is most definitely talking about something more mystical and ancient than the wildlings marching on the wall.
A few ppl seem to remember the ancient enemy. Maybe they learned anew from their contact with the land north of the Wall. Or maybe some really do remember from lore passed down over the millenia.
I don't know that they are very interested in the wall in general, and Bloodraven might not have been either. But I bet that changed once he got up there. I doubt he asked to go to the wall, but perhaps I am wrong about that.
I certainly don't have any basis for it, other than the fact that BR might be interested in finding the CotF, if only to learn of their ways.
Well, I know this sounds crazy, but part of me wonders if some part of Rickard Stark could have lived on in an animal or other person after his death. Ilyn Payne is one who comes to mind.
I actually like this idea. And there is a lot of speculation about body swaps in the current story, but not so much about the backstory. If it is happening now, surely there is some earlier precedent for it
But sometimes, those odd moments with Ilyn and Jaime seem to shout out Eddard Stark is in the room, at least to me.
I think Ilyn is a bit of a Rorschach test. A great deal can be read into his expressions, or lack of them.
Nice connection to Mance's tent (his crown, in a way) and to the Green Men.
I searched for 'elk'. And that reference surprised me. I had no memory of it. But it seems significant, and yes, it does seem like a crown of sorts.
Is Cold Hands on some way a "Green Man"? Who else is linked to the Green Men? Howland Reed... who is MIA... perhaps Coldhands isn't hiding his face from Bran, but hiding his face from Meera and Jojen?
In the south the last weirwoods had been cut down or burned out a thousand years ago, except on the Isle of Faces where the green men kept their silent watch. Up here it was different. Here every castle had its godswood, and every godswood had its heart tree, and every heart tree its face.
There aren't many references to the Green Men in the story, but there are there very early, and the Isle of Faces is there in the middle of everything. So it has to mean something.
I like the thought that the face is hidden specifically from Meera and Jojen, just because it seems like a misdirection. But has he allowed anyone to see his face? Sam?
I think it has something to do with strength. Either in gaining strength, or once you have strength, it's in holding that strength. You reach out to gain power but eventually you shut down to contain or keep your power. I marry my daughter to another tribe to gain that tribes strength, but if I feel I have all the strength I need, then perhaps I marry my daughter to her brother, to hold all the strength together, as opposed to giving some of my strength to my daughter's husband and eventual children. I really think that is how Egyptian royalty felt.
If you want to keep power concentrated, the problem with an inheribance system like ours is that the wealth is dissipated. If a billionaire has eight children and each of them has eight children, in just a few generations, the family wealth doesn't look so impressive. In our system, that is a positive, but to preserve that recognizable store of wealth, it is necessary to marry within the family to keep it together or to marry into a similarly wealthy family to preserve the level of wealth.
Several people know the truth, but the truth ultimately lies with her. Because anyone can declare she really isn't Arya Stark, but until she agree's to that fact, the fiction can remain alive. She should be afraid from several directions, because if she dies before the truth is known, then the lie remains alive forever.
She needs to bear a child and the child needs to survive. Ramsay holds by conquest, but his only legitimacy will come as father of a Stark heir.
As to what Dany knows or doesn't know, I think this could go so many directions, I get lost before I even get started.
I've started a deep dive into the Dany backstory a few times, but it went in too many directions too fast and I quickly abandoned the project.
I agree inheritance is complicated, and I don't know which way it all could fall out. Female line or bastard male line? Which is more important? Catelyn certainly feared Jon Snow, even above Ned's trueborn sons, but I don't know how she felt about his claim over the girls.
In the end, it falls in different directions for different people. If there is a concensus, then there is some legitimacy. But if there is none, then some groups will always question the rule of the winner and champion some loser.
Maybe this is what the "she wolves of Winterfell" is about?
Apparently some big spoiler is woven into that story. I wonder if there is some insight into why there must always be a Stark in Winterfell
I think I enjoy the juxtaposition of Sansa north of the wall, making the best of a situation that she isn't probably suited for. She is also "kissed by fire", which could make her very symbolically powerful as a wildling queen.
She is proving to be an apt student and a capable survivor. She might thrive north of the Wall. And yes, the Winter Queen and kissed by fire imagery are nice
Arya, as she is now, would be better suited to life north of the wall, but she is currently learning how to fit into any lifestyle, to adapt and make the best of things. Both girls are actually learning to be different than who they were at the start of the story. And hopefully both with benefit and survive and thrive with that new knowledge and training.
Arya, I fear, is becoming a monster, who can adapt, but maybe not in a sense that can rightly be said to make the best of things.