Post by SlyWren on Jul 1, 2017 17:35:50 GMT
The Night’s King in the Black Gate:
Dawn Burns Red Like a Fallen Star
A glow came from the wood, like milk and moonlight, so faint it scarcely seemed to touch anything beyond the door itself. Storm, Bran IV
He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light. Game, Eddard X.
Very Short Version:
1. The Black Gate is the fearless Night’s King’s heart tree and Dawn was his weirwood sword—metaphorically “forged from the heart of a fallen star[k].”
2. That’s why milkglass Dawn glows alive with light like the living Black Gate. It’s the Night King’s sword—the sword of a fallen star.
3. But where Ned executes oathbreakers himself, the Night’s King was put into his heart tree and entombed alive in the Wall—like the 79 Sentinels. Thus, the Night’s King lives on in a living Wall—a Wall that continues to grow and weeps as the Black Gate does.
4. Just as Ned Stark cleanly executed oathbreakers, The Sword of the Morning (Jon) must end the fearless Night’s King—once and for all. With Dawn—burning like a fallen star.
5. Thus downing the Wall “raised” by Brandon the Builder—the Fallen Star Night’s King. Restoring the land to unity and the cycle of night and day.
Set up and Shout Outs:
• Shout out to Ravenous Reader for staring me on looking for this here: asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144901-heresy-195-and-the-mists-of-time/&do=findComment&comment=7859918
• A lot of these ideas build off of voice ’s theory about fallen Star[k]s and swords. thelasthearth.com/thread/386/ice-dawn-updated
• As well as my arguments that Jon is the next Sword of the Morning and that Dawn burns red.
thelasthearth.com/thread/1086/death-dawn-revisited-sword-morning
asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/135480-from-death-to-dawn-2-jons-nightmare-battle-and-the-king-of-winter/
• Big shout-outs to darksister , Lady Dyanna , LmL , ladybarbrey and everyone else for the ideas they put into those threads.
• Both voice and LmL asserted that Dawn could be a weirwood sword long before I did.
• I think Black Crow (or someone on Heresy) has argued something akin to the idea that the Night’s King was sacrificed to/turned into the Black Gate, but I could not find the posts. If you’ve argued this, just tell me so and I’ll cite it here.
Thus: The following arguments are largely derived from a group effort. My apologies to anyone I’ve forgotten to mention. Remind me and I’ll amend this section ASAP.
Disclaimer: I neither assert nor assume that any of the posters listed above agree with any of the following arguments. They are not responsible for my madness.
Part I: Dawn and the Heart of a Fallen Star: What exactly is this sword?
1. Dawn is completely unique and as sharp and strong as Valyrian steel.It looks like no Valyrian steel they know, being pale as milkglass but in all other respects it seems to share the properties of Valyrian blades, being incredibly strong and sharp. World Book: Dorne: The Andals Arrive
2. Ned told Bran that Dawn was “forged from the “heart of a fallen star.” Clash, Bran III
3. Ned’s dream tells us that Dawn is “pale as milkglass, alive with light.” Game, Eddard X
4. So, that’s it, right? Dawn is glowing white, really sharp, and strong? No: Dawn was “forged from the heart of a fallen star.” And in Martinlandia, “fallen stars” burn like fires.
Part II: Counting Up Words and Phrases (not Clauses):
“Fallen stars” burn like red/orange fires.
“Fallen stars” burn like red/orange fires.
1. Martin uses the exact phrase “fallen star” very sparingly—only four times in the published works (so far).
- One is Ned’s statement that Dawn is forged from the heart of a fallen star.
- The other three: “fallen stars” are metaphorical comparisons to fires/flames burning in darkness.
- When narrators mention colors, the fires burn red or orange.
And Martin uses similar phrases just as sparingly.
2. Instances of “fallen star” or something very close to “fallen star.” I’ll put this in a spoiler for those who’d rather not read a list of data points and just skip to the bottom line.
• Game: Zero uses of the exact phrase.
• Clash: Three exact uses. One slightly indirect use.
o NOTE: Phrase occurs most in the novel where Ned tells Bran about Dawn.
o Torches flickered along the walls of Dragonstone, and in the camp beyond, he could see hundreds of cookfires burning, as if a field of stars had fallen to the earth. Clash, Prologue.
o "The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star." Clash, Bran III
o Wherever [Catelyn] looked, she saw fires. They covered the earth like fallen stars, and like the stars there was no end to them. Clash, Catelyn II
o They could see the fire in the night, glimmering against the side of the mountain like a fallen star. It burned redder than the other stars. Clash, Jon VI.
• Storm: Zero exact uses of the phrase. One similar phrase.
o A fine black night, thought Dany. The fires burned all around her, small orange stars strewn across hill and field. Storm, Dany IV
• Feast: One use of the exact phrase. One very close phrase.
o he pushed through the weirwood door into the House of Black and White. Only a few candles burned this evening, flickering like fallen stars. Feast, Cat of the Canals
o [T]he stars still shone. All but one, Cersei thought. The bright star of the west has fallen, and the nights will be darker now. Feast, Cersei I
• Dance: Zero exact uses of the phrase. One very close phrase.
o Her sun-and-stars had fallen from his horse, the maegi Mirri Maz Duur had murdered Rhaego in her womb. Dance, Dany X
•Winds Sample Chapters: Zero uses.
• Novellas: Zero uses of “fallen star.” Many “falling/shooting stars” tied to Dunk’s sword symbolism.
• World of Ice and Fire: Zero uses of “fallen star.” One “falling star—referencing the Dayne legend.
• Clash: Three exact uses. One slightly indirect use.
o NOTE: Phrase occurs most in the novel where Ned tells Bran about Dawn.
o Torches flickered along the walls of Dragonstone, and in the camp beyond, he could see hundreds of cookfires burning, as if a field of stars had fallen to the earth. Clash, Prologue.
o "The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star." Clash, Bran III
o Wherever [Catelyn] looked, she saw fires. They covered the earth like fallen stars, and like the stars there was no end to them. Clash, Catelyn II
o They could see the fire in the night, glimmering against the side of the mountain like a fallen star. It burned redder than the other stars. Clash, Jon VI.
• Storm: Zero exact uses of the phrase. One similar phrase.
o A fine black night, thought Dany. The fires burned all around her, small orange stars strewn across hill and field. Storm, Dany IV
• Feast: One use of the exact phrase. One very close phrase.
o he pushed through the weirwood door into the House of Black and White. Only a few candles burned this evening, flickering like fallen stars. Feast, Cat of the Canals
o [T]he stars still shone. All but one, Cersei thought. The bright star of the west has fallen, and the nights will be darker now. Feast, Cersei I
• Dance: Zero exact uses of the phrase. One very close phrase.
o Her sun-and-stars had fallen from his horse, the maegi Mirri Maz Duur had murdered Rhaego in her womb. Dance, Dany X
•Winds Sample Chapters: Zero uses.
• Novellas: Zero uses of “fallen star.” Many “falling/shooting stars” tied to Dunk’s sword symbolism.
• World of Ice and Fire: Zero uses of “fallen star.” One “falling star—referencing the Dayne legend.
4. Bottom Line of the Data Points List:
• In the novels, the exact phrase “fallen star” ONLY references Dawn and fires burning in the darkness—red or orange fires, when the color is given.
• The most instances of the phrase “fallen star” occur in the same novel (Clash) where Ned says Dawn is forged from the heart of a fallen star. And where Jon sees a red fire glimmering like a fallen star—at the start of the same chapter where he meets the woman who almost leads him to “fall” from the Watch.
• And when not a fire, a “fallen star” is a great man who fell—a “star who has fallen.”
5. Thus, Dawn’s “fallen star” is a metaphor for great men who fall and fires in the night. Dawn will burn like a fallen star when the Long Night falls.
Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. Dance, Jon XII
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