Yes, it seems quite probable that knowledge of raven speech was of some exclusivity, even back in the Age of Heroes. I'd be willing to venture a guess that Houses Stark, Blackwood, Reed, and Hightower are among those who learned raven speech.
Two of these houses, Stark and Reed, were/are wargs not sure about the other two
Pretty sure Blackwood has it because Bloodraven was a warg.
Also Dany has a combination of Targaryen, Blackwood and Dayne blood. Since Aegon V was half Dayne half Targ, then he married a Blackwood. Then all the Targ marriages until Dany were brother to sister it means that those bloodlines would still be important.
Maybe Aegon did have a chance at birthing dragons at Summerhall until the Maesters fucked it up.
Not sure where Dornish Neck Tie, got the idea about House Hightower. I always figured that they and Dayne were some kind of early exiles from Valyria or even the Empire of the Dawn but that is a bit off topic.
Darkstar will be the next Vulture King.
Craster has 19 daughters and there are 19 castles on the Wall, coincidence I think not!
In a conflict of any kind, a fast secure communication line is a must. usually in code (true tongue). A faction trying to dominate would want to either break the code or disrupt the line. Grrm lives in New Mexico; a well known if not famous part of the war in the Pacific was the southwester Indian "wind talkers".
Yes I guess I pulled it off topic, yet so many elements are involved in any aspect of the story ; it's hard to discuss without going off topic.
No worries, feel free to fire away with any ideas that come to mind! The communication networks in question have major effects on literally every aspect of the story, so anything is fair game here.
"No true knight would condone such wanton butchery." "True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench," said Jaime. "And do worse, yes." Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. "I'll leave no innocents to be food for crows." "A heartless wench. Crows need to eat as well. Stay to the river and leave the dead alone, woman."
Post by Dornish Neck Tie on Aug 13, 2016 4:37:18 GMT
With regards to skinchanging, I'm of a mind with Black Crow. The gift is given to those whom the collective chooses to contact, rather than it being a matter of genetics. The same can likely be said of raven speech; the humans who learned their speech were able to do so only because the ravens allowed exchanges of information to occur at their own discretion.
"No true knight would condone such wanton butchery." "True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench," said Jaime. "And do worse, yes." Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. "I'll leave no innocents to be food for crows." "A heartless wench. Crows need to eat as well. Stay to the river and leave the dead alone, woman."
Two of these houses, Stark and Reed, were/are wargs not sure about the other two
Pretty sure Blackwood has it because Bloodraven was a warg.
Also Dany has a combination of Targaryen, Blackwood and Dayne blood. Since Aegon V was half Dayne half Targ, then he married a Blackwood. Then all the Targ marriages until Dany were brother to sister it means that those bloodlines would still be important.
Maybe Aegon did have a chance at birthing dragons at Summerhall until the Maesters fucked it up.
Not sure where Dornish Neck Tie , got the idea about House Hightower. I always figured that they and Dayne were some kind of early exiles from Valyria or even the Empire of the Dawn but that is a bit off topic.
I think that idea was mostly due to the close historical relationship between House Hightower and the maesters. It basically came from an observation that the interests of the Hightowers/Citadel/Oldtown are often spoken of almost interchangeably, as if to speak of one is to speak of the other. (This is also how I see the Iron Bank and Faceless Men, but that's another story.) Anyway, I figured that House Hightower is likely to have some level of special access to the Citadel, going back to the days when some folks there could speak Raven.
Personally, I'm not all that interested in which bloodlines may be responsible for introducing skinchanging traits to story characters, since everyone in Westeros is almost certainly distantly related at this point. It would be impossible for a genetic trait to exist for thousands of years and remain confined to a handful of direct bloodlines, no matter how infrequently it might float to the surface in a population as a whole.
"No true knight would condone such wanton butchery." "True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench," said Jaime. "And do worse, yes." Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. "I'll leave no innocents to be food for crows." "A heartless wench. Crows need to eat as well. Stay to the river and leave the dead alone, woman."
The problem with how old the Maesters are is tied to the Hightowers claim of first man origin. The Citadel/Maesters lie when ever it suits their purpose. First man runic accounts are said to be only as accurate as the translation. Hightower = first man = first hand knowledge of runic writing. Couple that with Marwyns hint at the new world order and I believe it shows that the maesters did not originate with the Hightowers. But that is no help with how old the order actuall is or where it came from
The gift is given to those whom the collective chooses to contact, rather than it being a matter of genetics.
an interesting angle. But why would anyone give this gift to the likes of Varamyr?
"Arya did not dare take a bath, even though she smelled as bad as Yoren by now, all sour and stinky. Some of the creatures living in her clothes had come all the way from Flea Bottom with her; it didn’t seem right to drown them."
The gift is given to those whom the collective chooses to contact, rather than it being a matter of genetics.
an interesting angle. But why would anyone give this gift to the likes of Varamyr?
The judgment of the collective isn't exactly infallible, especially if we believe they created the White Walkers, as well as the theories about Euron being a failed apprentice of the collective.
"No true knight would condone such wanton butchery." "True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench," said Jaime. "And do worse, yes." Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. "I'll leave no innocents to be food for crows." "A heartless wench. Crows need to eat as well. Stay to the river and leave the dead alone, woman."
The problem with how old the Maesters are is tied to the Hightowers claim of first man origin. The Citadel/Maesters lie when ever it suits their purpose. First man runic accounts are said to be only as accurate as the translation. Hightower = first man = first hand knowledge of runic writing. Couple that with Marwyns hint at the new world order and I believe it shows that the maesters did not originate with the Hightowers. But that is no help with how old the order actuall is or where it came from
I'm not sure if this is what you're getting at, but I'm very skeptical of the notion that the First Men were actually a single ethnic group. It's more likely a catch-all term for everyone who lived in Westeros before the Andal historians arrived, especially since different groups supposedly had the time to interbreed extensively before the Andal invasions.
"No true knight would condone such wanton butchery." "True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench," said Jaime. "And do worse, yes." Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. "I'll leave no innocents to be food for crows." "A heartless wench. Crows need to eat as well. Stay to the river and leave the dead alone, woman."
I'm very skeptical of the notion that the First Men were actually a single ethnic group
"Arya did not dare take a bath, even though she smelled as bad as Yoren by now, all sour and stinky. Some of the creatures living in her clothes had come all the way from Flea Bottom with her; it didn’t seem right to drown them."