Post by mulldrifter on Jun 30, 2017 1:46:26 GMT
I write a theory blog about ASOIAF and I was suggested to post my theories here, so here goes.
I'm going to start with my theory on Azor Ahai. It's a similar theory to the one contained in the Bloodstone Compendium from LucifermeansLightbringer, but I'm taking more of a straightforward approach, rather than his approach using imagery and mythology. If you haven't seen LmL's essays, I strongly recommend them.
Bloodstone Emperor Azor Ahai
Let’s say that we want to ignore the mountains of symbolism presented by the author of LucifermeansLightbringer and look at this through logic. The Night’s King and the Last Hero legends seem to involve the Night’s Watch and Westeros, while the Azor Ahai legend does not. It appears to come from the east, both because “Azor Ahai” sounds eastern rather than Westerosi and because it seems to be championed by red priests who come from the east. The red priests say that Azor Ahai will be born amid salt and smoke, wield Lightbringer, and fight back the Night. The prophecy is said to come from Asshai. Why would the shadow city of Asshai have a legend about a savior who fought back the darkness? Melisandre says the red god R’hllor embodies light, goodness, and life while the Great Other embodies evil, cold, and death. But she used the power of R’hllor, blood magic, to birth a terrifying shadow baby that killed Renly Baratheon, and did the same thing again to Cortnay Penrose. The ritual sapped the life from Stannis and it took time for him to recover. Does this sound like the powers of a benevolent god of light and goodness?
If we take a closer look at Asshai, we can piece together clues about the nature of the Bloodstone Emperor and the red god R’hllor.
This stone sounds exactly like the stone that fell from the sky that the Bloodstone Emperor worshiped. But how did enough of this stone fall to build an entire city, not to mention other oily black stone structures elsewhere in Planetos such as the Seastone Chair? That must have been a big rock that fell from the sky. So we have a huge, alien black rock that fell from the sky, and we have a Long Night, a darkness over the entire world that is mentioned in mythology from Winterfell to Ib to Yi Ti. A celestial cause of the Long Night is starting to sound more plausible. I’m reminded of the great flood stories that span all across our real world.
Why would the Bloodstone Emperor worship this black stone?
“Despite its forbidding aspects, Asshai-by-the-Shadow has for many centuries been a thriving port, where ships from all over the known world come to trade, crossing vast and stormy seas. Most arrive laden with foodstuffs and wine, for beyond the walls of Asshai little grows save ghost grass, whose glassy, glowing stalks are inedible. If not for the food brought in from across the sea, the Asshai’i would have starved.” (World of Ice and Fire)
H.P. Lovecraft, an influence on GRRM, wrote a story called “The Colour Out of Space” about a meteor that landed on a farm. The meteor was made of a material that scientists couldn’t explain, and the meteor eventually dissolved. But its effects remained. The area around the meteor landing started to become blighted, especially with organic matter.
Was Lovecraft an influence on GRRM? Definitely. Was the space rock from “The Colour Out of Space” inspiration for the oily black stone on Planetos? Probably. But Lovecraft’s meteor didn’t just poison plants. The residents living in the nearby farmhouse all eventually went mad, yelling in alien languages and wanting to sacrifice themselves to the well where the corruption seemed to be focused. Does the oily black stone on Planetos cause madness? It certainly seems that way. The sinister Church of Starry Wisdom, a direct Lovecraft reference, was said to have been started by the Bloodstone Emperor. It’s cultists make sacrifices to oily black stones. Residents of Asshai are prone too all sorts of debauchery, violence, and dark magic. People on the Isle of Toads worship a huge black stone carved into a toad. It’s clear that the corrosive madness of the black stone drove the Bloodstone Emperor to worship it, and perhaps drove him to other dark deeds.
We have oily black stones causing blight and madness, very similar to a stone in Lovecraft. Since the stone in Lovecraft fell from the stars, one could assume the oily black stones on Planetos also came from the stars, especially given the name of the Church of Starry Wisdom. Was it this dark meteor, or rather meteor shower given the spread of oily black stones across the world, that hit the planet and caused the Long Night?
LucifermeansLightbringer has established mountains upon mountains of symbolic evidence for meteor impacts causing the Long Night. But what about prophecy?
LmL believes that the comet hit Planetos’ second moon and shattered it, which may well be true, but let’s stick to just a meteor for now. The story told to Dany from a Qartheen trader may be a catastrophe myth surviving from the Long Night. Fiery meteors falling to the earth might appear as dragons to less advanced people. But this story isn’t a prophecy. Do we have any prophecies about a meteor causing the Long Night? How about the one prophecy that has been the most puzzling for ASOIAF theorists:
From a tower (in the sky) a great stone beast (meteor) took wing (flew through the air) breathing shadow fire (darkness). So we have a big stone flying through the air that brings darkness. We can actually relate this prophecy directly to Azor Ahai.
The red bleeding star obviously matches the comet from A Game of Thrones. Mel says Azor Ahai will wake a stone dragon when the darkness gathers. It sounds like the Azor Ahai legends that Melisandre have brought from Asshai match the vision of the great stone beast, and possibly match our theory of a meteor causing the Long Night. Why do Mel and the red priests believe they are on the side of light and the end of the long night, when their home city is closely tied to the Bloodstone Emperor? After reading many GRRM stories, I have learned to never trust religions, especially religious zealots. The red priests in our story clearly have power, but why do they all seem to have different goals? I’ll discuss the true nature of R’hllor in my next post.
The variations of the Azor Ahai myth across Essos can be explained by a shared catastrophe, just like flood stories from our own distant past. Azor Ahai is Noah, he is Gilgamesh. GRRM is just the type of writer to subvert our expectations and give us an inversed myth, tricking us into trying to fit our favorite characters into the prophecy. Did GRRM invert other prophetic myths, like the Prince That was Promised, the Night’s King, and the Last Hero? I’ll get to that in my next post. Let’s finish here with one more question.
If Azor Ahai brought about the Long Night, who is Azor Ahai reborn? I’m not sure there will be an Azor Ahai reborn, but I definitely know of a certain character associated with destroying gods, kinslaying, bringing about the end of the world, and constant blood-on-black imagery, the same colors as bloodstone.
My other theories delve into Euron and the origins of the Ironborn, the truth about R'hllor and the Great Other, and I have a big series on Bloodraven. I'll probably post some of these at another time.
I'm going to start with my theory on Azor Ahai. It's a similar theory to the one contained in the Bloodstone Compendium from LucifermeansLightbringer, but I'm taking more of a straightforward approach, rather than his approach using imagery and mythology. If you haven't seen LmL's essays, I strongly recommend them.
Bloodstone Emperor Azor Ahai
Let’s say that we want to ignore the mountains of symbolism presented by the author of LucifermeansLightbringer and look at this through logic. The Night’s King and the Last Hero legends seem to involve the Night’s Watch and Westeros, while the Azor Ahai legend does not. It appears to come from the east, both because “Azor Ahai” sounds eastern rather than Westerosi and because it seems to be championed by red priests who come from the east. The red priests say that Azor Ahai will be born amid salt and smoke, wield Lightbringer, and fight back the Night. The prophecy is said to come from Asshai. Why would the shadow city of Asshai have a legend about a savior who fought back the darkness? Melisandre says the red god R’hllor embodies light, goodness, and life while the Great Other embodies evil, cold, and death. But she used the power of R’hllor, blood magic, to birth a terrifying shadow baby that killed Renly Baratheon, and did the same thing again to Cortnay Penrose. The ritual sapped the life from Stannis and it took time for him to recover. Does this sound like the powers of a benevolent god of light and goodness?
If we take a closer look at Asshai, we can piece together clues about the nature of the Bloodstone Emperor and the red god R’hllor.
“ Travelers tell us that the city is built entirely of black stone: halls, hovels, temples, palaces, streets, walls, bazaars, all. Some say as well that the stone of Asshai has a greasy, unpleasant feel to it, that it seems to drink the light, dimming tapers and torches and hearth fires alike.” (World of Ice and Fire)
This stone sounds exactly like the stone that fell from the sky that the Bloodstone Emperor worshiped. But how did enough of this stone fall to build an entire city, not to mention other oily black stone structures elsewhere in Planetos such as the Seastone Chair? That must have been a big rock that fell from the sky. So we have a huge, alien black rock that fell from the sky, and we have a Long Night, a darkness over the entire world that is mentioned in mythology from Winterfell to Ib to Yi Ti. A celestial cause of the Long Night is starting to sound more plausible. I’m reminded of the great flood stories that span all across our real world.
Why would the Bloodstone Emperor worship this black stone?
“Despite its forbidding aspects, Asshai-by-the-Shadow has for many centuries been a thriving port, where ships from all over the known world come to trade, crossing vast and stormy seas. Most arrive laden with foodstuffs and wine, for beyond the walls of Asshai little grows save ghost grass, whose glassy, glowing stalks are inedible. If not for the food brought in from across the sea, the Asshai’i would have starved.” (World of Ice and Fire)
H.P. Lovecraft, an influence on GRRM, wrote a story called “The Colour Out of Space” about a meteor that landed on a farm. The meteor was made of a material that scientists couldn’t explain, and the meteor eventually dissolved. But its effects remained. The area around the meteor landing started to become blighted, especially with organic matter.
“Then fell the time of fruit and harvest. The pears and apples slowly ripened, and Nahum vowed that his orchards were prospering as never before. The fruit was growing to phenomenal size and unwonted gloss, and in such abundance that extra barrels were ordered to handle the future crop. But with the ripening came sore disappointment; for of all that gorgeous array of specious lusciousness not one single jot was fit to eat. Into the fine flavour of the pears and apples had crept a stealthy bitterness and sickishness, so that even the smallest of bites induced a lasting disgust. It was the same with the melons and tomatoes, and Nahum sadly saw that his entire crop was lost. Quick to connect events, he declared that the meteorite had poisoned the soil, and thanked heaven that most of the other crops were in the upland lot along the road.” (The Colour Out of Space – Lovecraft)
Was Lovecraft an influence on GRRM? Definitely. Was the space rock from “The Colour Out of Space” inspiration for the oily black stone on Planetos? Probably. But Lovecraft’s meteor didn’t just poison plants. The residents living in the nearby farmhouse all eventually went mad, yelling in alien languages and wanting to sacrifice themselves to the well where the corruption seemed to be focused. Does the oily black stone on Planetos cause madness? It certainly seems that way. The sinister Church of Starry Wisdom, a direct Lovecraft reference, was said to have been started by the Bloodstone Emperor. It’s cultists make sacrifices to oily black stones. Residents of Asshai are prone too all sorts of debauchery, violence, and dark magic. People on the Isle of Toads worship a huge black stone carved into a toad. It’s clear that the corrosive madness of the black stone drove the Bloodstone Emperor to worship it, and perhaps drove him to other dark deeds.
We have oily black stones causing blight and madness, very similar to a stone in Lovecraft. Since the stone in Lovecraft fell from the stars, one could assume the oily black stones on Planetos also came from the stars, especially given the name of the Church of Starry Wisdom. Was it this dark meteor, or rather meteor shower given the spread of oily black stones across the world, that hit the planet and caused the Long Night?
LucifermeansLightbringer has established mountains upon mountains of symbolic evidence for meteor impacts causing the Long Night. But what about prophecy?
“He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi,” the Lysene girl said. “Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.” (A Game of Thrones)
LmL believes that the comet hit Planetos’ second moon and shattered it, which may well be true, but let’s stick to just a meteor for now. The story told to Dany from a Qartheen trader may be a catastrophe myth surviving from the Long Night. Fiery meteors falling to the earth might appear as dragons to less advanced people. But this story isn’t a prophecy. Do we have any prophecies about a meteor causing the Long Night? How about the one prophecy that has been the most puzzling for ASOIAF theorists:
“From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing breathing shadow fire”
From a tower (in the sky) a great stone beast (meteor) took wing (flew through the air) breathing shadow fire (darkness). So we have a big stone flying through the air that brings darkness. We can actually relate this prophecy directly to Azor Ahai.
“When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.” (Melisandre)
The red bleeding star obviously matches the comet from A Game of Thrones. Mel says Azor Ahai will wake a stone dragon when the darkness gathers. It sounds like the Azor Ahai legends that Melisandre have brought from Asshai match the vision of the great stone beast, and possibly match our theory of a meteor causing the Long Night. Why do Mel and the red priests believe they are on the side of light and the end of the long night, when their home city is closely tied to the Bloodstone Emperor? After reading many GRRM stories, I have learned to never trust religions, especially religious zealots. The red priests in our story clearly have power, but why do they all seem to have different goals? I’ll discuss the true nature of R’hllor in my next post.
The variations of the Azor Ahai myth across Essos can be explained by a shared catastrophe, just like flood stories from our own distant past. Azor Ahai is Noah, he is Gilgamesh. GRRM is just the type of writer to subvert our expectations and give us an inversed myth, tricking us into trying to fit our favorite characters into the prophecy. Did GRRM invert other prophetic myths, like the Prince That was Promised, the Night’s King, and the Last Hero? I’ll get to that in my next post. Let’s finish here with one more question.
If Azor Ahai brought about the Long Night, who is Azor Ahai reborn? I’m not sure there will be an Azor Ahai reborn, but I definitely know of a certain character associated with destroying gods, kinslaying, bringing about the end of the world, and constant blood-on-black imagery, the same colors as bloodstone.
“He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him.
“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.”
Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. “Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” (The Forsaken – Winds of Winter)
“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.”
Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. “Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” (The Forsaken – Winds of Winter)
My other theories delve into Euron and the origins of the Ironborn, the truth about R'hllor and the Great Other, and I have a big series on Bloodraven. I'll probably post some of these at another time.
