Greenseers are Instruments of Him of Many Faces
Aug 24, 2016 1:31:38 GMT
voice, SlyWren, and 6 more like this
Post by Maester Sam on Aug 24, 2016 1:31:38 GMT
Now hear me out. 
It's not as crackpot as it sounds, I promise.
It has bothered me for a long time that there seems to be such a clear parallel between Bran’s cave and Arya’s House of Black and White- but I couldn’t find the connection. Now I have (maybe).
Before I start, I want to point out that I am choosing to disregard a piece of show canon, which is that the COTF created the ww’s in order to fight the First Men. In my theory they are still created by COTF (or, more precisely, by a greenseer, but he could have been human), but I believe they were created for a different reason.
Ok, here goes.
Sometimes, death is a gift.
I suppose if one asked these women, they would say that their sins (kinslaying) and suffering have grown too great to be borne. Let’s also remember that old men would go out to die in the snow, actively seeking death.
I imagine these suffering First Men (and women) often prayed to their weirwood trees….
Just like the resident greenseer would have heard the First Men praying to the trees…
Just like the greenseer heard all the different tribes/clans/Houses pray for release during the Long Night. The trees aren’t gods though, and so they did not answer.
The greenseer, much like the first Faceless Man, heard the desperate prayers for release, and took it upon himself to answer them. His solution was a little different; instead of killing them himself, he used his magic abilities to create assassins, but the end was the same.
The Kindly Man was right; He of Many Faces exists in each religion. And each religion has its own Priest of Black and White, or greenseer, or someone else to fulfill the role of Instrument. He is the one who hears the prayers, and sees that they are answered.
So in summary, it is my belief that – regardless of the LN’s cause which I am not speculating on – once the LN had been going on for a while, the First Men were so desperate that they prayed for an end to their suffering. They prayed to the trees, and the greenseer heard their prayers. He sent the Others to put them out of their misery.
So what’s the parallel? Well, both Bran and Arya are being trained to become Instruments. Instruments who will be ready just in time for the start of the LN. In Arya’s case it’s obvious, but Bran… Bran doesn’t know it yet. I wonder if they will work together? Maybe she will be his general, or the new Night’s Queen? To bewitch the Lord Commander?
After all, she has to ultimately do something that justifies her endless training in how to kill. She began training with Micah in AGOT, then had Syrio, then spent 2 whole books around killers (Yoren, the Mountain, the Hound, the BWB), then arrived at the HOBAW. Her whole arc has set her up to be a killer…
not to mention the Faceless Men's endless patience with her, and the fact that Jaqen gave her the coin in the first place. She is important, very important... to the cause of Death.
The End.
What do you think?
It's not as crackpot as it sounds, I promise.It has bothered me for a long time that there seems to be such a clear parallel between Bran’s cave and Arya’s House of Black and White- but I couldn’t find the connection. Now I have (maybe).
Before I start, I want to point out that I am choosing to disregard a piece of show canon, which is that the COTF created the ww’s in order to fight the First Men. In my theory they are still created by COTF (or, more precisely, by a greenseer, but he could have been human), but I believe they were created for a different reason.
Ok, here goes.
“Death is not the worst thing,” the kindly man replied. “It is His gift to us, an end to want and pain. On the day that we are born the Many-Faced God sends each of us a dark angel to walk through life beside us. When our sins and our sufferings grow too great to be borne, the angel takes us by the hand to lead us to the nightlands, where the stars burn ever bright.”
-Arya, AFFC
-Arya, AFFC
Sometimes, death is a gift.
“Thousands and thousands of years ago, a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond all memory of man. There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks.”
-Bran, AGOT
-Bran, AGOT
I suppose if one asked these women, they would say that their sins (kinslaying) and suffering have grown too great to be borne. Let’s also remember that old men would go out to die in the snow, actively seeking death.
I imagine these suffering First Men (and women) often prayed to their weirwood trees….
“Revolts were common in the mines, but few accomplished much. The dragonlords of the old Freehold were strong in sorcery, and lesser men defied them at their peril. The first Faceless Man was one who did.”
“Who was he?” Arya blurted, before she stopped to think.
“No one,” he answered. “Some say he was a slave himself. Others insist he was a freeholder’s son, born of noble stock. Some will even tell you he was an overseer who took pity on his charges. The truth is, no one knows. Whoever he was, he moved amongst the slaves and would hear them at their prayers.
-Arya, AFFC
“Who was he?” Arya blurted, before she stopped to think.
“No one,” he answered. “Some say he was a slave himself. Others insist he was a freeholder’s son, born of noble stock. Some will even tell you he was an overseer who took pity on his charges. The truth is, no one knows. Whoever he was, he moved amongst the slaves and would hear them at their prayers.
-Arya, AFFC
Just like the resident greenseer would have heard the First Men praying to the trees…
Men of a hundred different nations labored in the mines, and each prayed to his own god in his own tongue, yet all were praying for the same thing. It was release they asked for, an end to pain. A small thing, and simple. Yet their gods made no answer, and their suffering went on.
-Arya, AFFC
-Arya, AFFC
Just like the greenseer heard all the different tribes/clans/Houses pray for release during the Long Night. The trees aren’t gods though, and so they did not answer.
Are their gods all deaf? he wondered... until a realization came upon him, one night in the red darkness.
“All gods have their instruments, men and women who serve them and help to work their will on earth. The slaves were not crying out to a hundred different gods, as it seemed, but to one god with a hundred different faces... and he was that god’s instrument. That very night he chose the most wretched of the slaves, the one who had prayed most earnestly for release, and freed him from his bondage. The first gift had been given.”
-Arya, AFFC
“All gods have their instruments, men and women who serve them and help to work their will on earth. The slaves were not crying out to a hundred different gods, as it seemed, but to one god with a hundred different faces... and he was that god’s instrument. That very night he chose the most wretched of the slaves, the one who had prayed most earnestly for release, and freed him from his bondage. The first gift had been given.”
-Arya, AFFC
The greenseer, much like the first Faceless Man, heard the desperate prayers for release, and took it upon himself to answer them. His solution was a little different; instead of killing them himself, he used his magic abilities to create assassins, but the end was the same.
The Kindly Man was right; He of Many Faces exists in each religion. And each religion has its own Priest of Black and White, or greenseer, or someone else to fulfill the role of Instrument. He is the one who hears the prayers, and sees that they are answered.
So in summary, it is my belief that – regardless of the LN’s cause which I am not speculating on – once the LN had been going on for a while, the First Men were so desperate that they prayed for an end to their suffering. They prayed to the trees, and the greenseer heard their prayers. He sent the Others to put them out of their misery.
So what’s the parallel? Well, both Bran and Arya are being trained to become Instruments. Instruments who will be ready just in time for the start of the LN. In Arya’s case it’s obvious, but Bran… Bran doesn’t know it yet. I wonder if they will work together? Maybe she will be his general, or the new Night’s Queen? To bewitch the Lord Commander?
After all, she has to ultimately do something that justifies her endless training in how to kill. She began training with Micah in AGOT, then had Syrio, then spent 2 whole books around killers (Yoren, the Mountain, the Hound, the BWB), then arrived at the HOBAW. Her whole arc has set her up to be a killer… not to mention the Faceless Men's endless patience with her, and the fact that Jaqen gave her the coin in the first place. She is important, very important... to the cause of Death.
The End.
What do you think?
. This is from the WB:
