Ironborn Mythos

Hello Everyone! The last topic I posted discussed the brotherly struggle between the Grey King and Garth the Green. The topic I am posting today is something related that I have had on the backburner for some time, but as luck would have it, I finally found the motivation to at least start something I thought to ambitious to take on.  So now that I have finally gotten around to it, this essay will explore Ironborn Mythos a bit more closely. Enjoy!

PART I: The Grey King: Our Lord and Savior

What is the Drowned God Religion?

According to TWOIAF, the Ironmen believe themselves a race set apart from the rest of mankind and consider themselves closer kin to merlings and fish. It is true there are several differences such as the Ironborn reverence for the old way and many mysteries surrounding ancient artifacts and structures such as Castle Pyke, Nagga’s Bones and the Seastone Chair. Another difference we see with the Ironborn is their worship of the Drowned God, a deity who dwells in his watery halls beneath the waves. The Forsaken chapter has provided us with a glimpse of how the Ironborn depict their Drowned God. Many religions traditionally choose to depict their deity as wise, strong and majestic, sometimes with animalistic aspects. I was quite taken aback by the description of the Drowned God.

 
Indeed, Why would the Ironborn worship something in the likeness of a dead, pale, drowned and bloated thing, a literal drowned man? The answer of course is in the mantra of the Ironborn religion itself: “what is dead may never die, but rises harder and stronger”. Ah yes, this most likely means there are tales of their Drowned God rising from the dead. A god too mighty for even death who rose from the sea harder and stronger. Similar to many religions around the world, the death resurrection of a god or Christ-like hero is one of the most universal stories in both religion and myth so the Ironborn having a similar version of this is nothing out of the ordinary.

From the LmL essays we have learned the Drowned God is most likely referring to a type of meteor impact which occurred in the ocean somewhere near the Iron Islands. This makes perfect sense as the Bloodstone Emperor was said to worship a stone which fell from the sky and practiced dark arts, torture, and necromancy. The way the Bloodstone Emperor is portrayed in TWOIAF, it seems as though the he had found a way (or at least he thought he had) to manipulate this stone that fell from the sky and his dark arts rested in this power. Likewise, The Grey King’s kingship came from the sea and from the Drowned God who dwells beneath it.

I would argue that the Drowned God religion has more parallels with Christianity than what initially meets the eye. In addition to a ritual baptism of infants, Christianity believes in something called the Holy Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit…all being aspects of one God. This is somewhat echoed in the faith of the seven where there are seven aspects of one god. I would argue TWOIAF gave the Grey King a very interesting Christ-like parallel. For those of you who have ever attended a Christian church, you are probably familiar with the Apostles Creed. The worldbook provides an uncannily similar description, except, instead of ascending to heaven, he Grey King descends to take his rightful place at the right hand of the Drowned God.

Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

TWOIAF


It is said by Aeron as he drowns his faithful “Lord God who drowned for us,” the priest prayed, in a voice as deep as the sea, “let Emmond your servant be reborn from the sea, as you were.” This sounds very much like the sacrifice of Christ who also ‘died for us’ and was subsequently resurrected. Now we don’t really see how the stone that fell from the sky becomes reborn, and maybe it does as it is said Dawn was forged from the heart of a falling star…so yeah maybe it was that kind of a rebirth where it rises harder and stronger…but I don’t think that is precisely what the Ironborn are referring to. As we have seen from the discussions regarding the Grey King, all of the symbolism points toward a fiery rebirth into an Azor Ahai type character. It just shows up time and time again. I believe this is the key to the idea of what is dead may never die, but rises harder and stronger. The perfect example of this is the ghost of Renly. Renly symbolizes a murdered green horned figure and the character we see in the Battle of the Blackwater is no longer a true green Renly, but rather Renly's ghost in a sense. If we look at it as kind of a resurrection, we see Renly as more of an AA figure with his possession of the fire of the Gods. Take a look at his resurrection, unRenly is not as green as he appears. his fire resurrection has turned his armor grey through the ashes of the burning crops. 

Ser Dontos laughed and hopped from one leg to the other, almost falling. “They came up through the ashes while the river was burning. The river, Stannis was neck deep in the river, and they took him from the rear. Oh, to be a knight again, to have been part of it! His own men hardly fought, they say. Some ran but more bent the knee and went over, shouting for Lord Renly! What must Stannis have thought when he heard that? I had it from Osney Kettleblack who had it from Ser Osmund, but Ser Balon’s back now and his men say the same, and the gold cloaks as well. We’re delivered, sweetling! They came up the roseroad and along the riverbank, through all the fields Stannis had burned, the ashes puffing up around their boots and turning all their armor grey, but oh! the banners must have been bright, the golden rose and golden lion and all the others, the Marbrand tree and the Rowan, Tarly’s huntsman and Redwyne’s grapes and Lady Oakheart’s leaf. All the westermen, all the power of Highgarden and Casterly Rock! Lord Tywin himself had their right wing on the north side of the river, with Randyll Tarly commanding the center and Mace Tyrell the left, but the vanguard won the fight. They plunged through Stannis like a lance through a pumpkin, every man of them howling like some demon in steel. And do you know who led the vanguard? Do you? Do you? Do you?” “Robb?” It was too much to be hoped, but … “It was Lord Renly! Lord Renly in his green armor, with the fires shimmering off his golden antlers!

So instead of the Drowned God dying and being reborn, like Jesus, it is the Grey King, the avatar of their god. It is the Grey King who dies and is resurrected and later descends to the watery halls to sit at the right hand of the Drowned God. Just as Garth was considered god-like and is linked to the Storm-God mythos, the Grey King can be linked cohesively with the Drowned God deity as both brothers were the actual antagonists of the Grey-Green cycle, both are loosely aspects of the ‘Drowned God’ and the ‘Storm God’.

Now, It is believed the Drowned God has the power to resurrect those who have drowned, and the Ironborn seem to have developed their own version of CPR where the ‘kiss of life’ is administered to the faithful servants who wish to become priests of the Drowned God religion. Although it is uncertain if there is an actual Drowned God, there have been several instances of drownings or suspected drownings where many readers believe the character might have had some sort of divine intervention. The best example of this is of course Patchface who washed up after three days and was naked, cold and lifeless. There is also Davos who washed up on the spears of the Merling King after the Blackwater, which also had some very bizarre occurrences. Other characters with some questionable drowning circumstances include Aeron, Tyrion, Moqorro and Elder Brother of Quiet Isle. Seeing these in the books, it makes you wonder if there is something going on with these water resurrections. Something magical maybe??????????

The Kiss of Life

Yes, it seems the Ironborn have developed their own version of CPR which the Ironborn dub the Kiss of life. Aeron shows us exactly how the kiss of life is performed in The Prophet chapter showing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and even chest compressions.  

His drowned men formed a circle around the dead boy, praying. Norjen worked his arms whilst Rus knelt astride him, pumping on his chest, but all moved aside for Aeron. He pried apart the boy’s cold lips with his fingers and gave Emmond the kiss of life, and again, and again, until the sea came gushing from his mouth. The boy began to cough and spit, and his eyes blinked open, full of fear. Another one returned. It was a sign of the Drowned God’s favor, men said. Every other priest lost a man from time to time, even Tarle the Thrice-Drowned, who had once been thought so holy that he was picked to crown a king. But never Aeron Greyjoy. He was the Damphair, who had seen the god’s own watery halls and returned to tell of it. “Rise,” he told the sputtering boy as he slapped him on his naked back. “You have drowned and been returned to us. What is dead can never die.” “But rises.” The boy coughed violently, bringing up more water. “Rises again.” Every word was bought with pain, but that was the way of the world; a man must fight to live. “Rises again.” Emmond staggered to his feet. “Harder. And stronger.” “You belong to the god now,” Aeron told him. The other drowned men gathered round and each gave him a punch and a kiss to welcome him to the brotherhood.

 When performed by priests, the kiss of life is considered a holy act, part of the holy rites when fully giving one to their God. When looking at this holy ritual it seems like this is the key to the death and rebirth of their Christ-like hero. A drowning with subsequent rebirth a la kiss of life was most likely how the Grey King’s resurrection went down. After being tempered by water, the Grey King was given the kiss of life causing a fiery resurrection.

Similar to the religion of the Ironborn, the religion of R’hllor practices a parallel holy rite when a follower of the Lord of Light dies, the last kiss. In practice, priests of R’hllor fill their mouths with fire and breathe flame into the deceased, as they believe that fire cleanses. Much to the astonishment of Thoros, this last kiss is what resurrected Beric Dondarrion, and it is after these resurrections Beric began to reveal corpse-like Azor Ahai greenseer symbolism. Although it is called the last kiss by the R’hllor religion, Thoros did once refer to this last kiss as the kiss of life.

Harwin begged me to give her the kiss of life, but it had been too long. I would not do it, so Lord Beric put his lips to hers instead, and the flame of life passed from him to her. And … she rose. May the Lord of Light protect us. She rose.”

Yes, Cat rose, and she had risen harder and stronger.

Death by Water

It is more than evident the Grey King underwent a re-birth and fiery transformation of sorts. I believe a fiery kiss of life is what resurrected our Grey King, but before he was resurrected, he had to die, he had to drown for us. I believe the key to this drowning lay in the legend of Nagga.


As most of you are already aware, the ribcage of Nagga’s Bones is most likely the overturned hull of a large weirwood boat, and that is EXACTY what TWOIAF states the Grey King made…ships from demon weirwood trees. In addition to Nagga being a ship, I see Nagga being a shipwreck. I believe the text is suggesting a shipwrecked person or group of people who washed upon the shores of Old Wyk. It is known the First Men were never seafaring people, so it might be safe to say many of them had never seen a boat before the Grey King. Primitive cultures coming into "first contact" with more advanced technology might result in the technology explained by the supernatural which could cause a large boat to be called a sea monster of sorts. If the First Men had never seen a boat in their lives, they may well think such a ship is a sea dragon. A boat on the waves of a supernatural storm like the drowning of the waters could even be viewed as CAUSING such an unusual event. And if this sea dragon becomes wrecked and washes to shore along with a certain survivor or a group of survivors, the First Men would believe the survivors had slain the sea monster. What is the wood of a wrecked ship? The answer to that riddle is driftwood, and the slaying of Nagga is the answer to the Grey King’s death by water. He went down with his ship and the two were washed to the shores of Old Wyk.

Indeed, if the First Men believed Nagga was a sea dragon, where do you think the First Men would have assumed The Grey King and his people had come from? Asshai? No, they would have thought the Grey King and his people came from the sea itself. They would not have shared a common language, and who is to argue when is someone thinks you killed a sea dragon anyway?

PART II:  The Little Mermaid

The Merling Myth

Merlings are aquatic half-human creatures that can be found in myth throughout the world. While there are some stories that stood out while researching, there seemed to be an overall theme: storms, sinking ships and drowning. In many tales, mermaids are classically femme fatales and enchantresses who lure men to death with their beauty or song. Merlings are often linked with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. Even sighting a mermaid can be an unfortunate omen, both foretelling an approaching storm or even causing it. This is exactly what the Grey King is believed to be connected to floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. Like the Grey King before his transformation, in Greek myth, mermen were often depicted with green seaweed-like hair, a beard, and a trident.

Merlings are not always wicked however, in some tales they can be a human’s protector by providing assistance; teaching cures for disease; and bestowing boons, gifts and rewards. In fact, they even fall in love with humans. The most iconic example of mermaids in literature is Hans Christian Andersen's, The Little Mermaid. It seems GRRM has made a point to give a nod to this fairytale particularly. As you may have noticed, Patchface is a guy said to be saved by mermaids and is always singing “under the sea”. Similarly, TWOIAF also details a certain ‘Ursula’ Upcliff who was the self-styled “Bride of the Merling King”. This is this tale which I believe inspired what happened on the shores of Old Wyk that fateful night. In the original Little Mermaid story, a young mermaid falls in love with a human prince whom she saves from drowning after his ship is wrecked in a storm. The mermaid falls in love with the prince and trades her voice to a sea-witch (named Ursula in the Disney version) in exchange for a chance to win his love. This mermaid also sacrifices an exceedingly long life in order to become human, another hefty price. Similarly, in ASOIAF there is also a tale of fair Elenei who happens to be mermaid-like and trades her immortality for a mortal’s love and ends up saving Durran from the wrath of the storm. See for yourself:

Knowing there is already a tale of a man who lived a thousand years who fought the storm god and was protected by his mermaid wife, doesn’t it just make you wonder about the what happened to the Grey King in his resurrection knowing he also took a mermaid to wife and also lived a thousand years and also planned his wars against the Storm God? That is right, that fateful night his mermaid wife gave him the kiss of life.

There is also another tale in ASOIAF which is mighty unusual. Remember when we examined the ritual of the Ironborn “kiss of life” and its similarities to the R’hllor “last kiss” ritual? If we recall, the last kiss was called the kiss of life by Thoros after it proved effective at bringing Beric back from the dead. After this resurrection, Beric began taking on some suspicious corpse looking Azor Ahai greenseer symbolism. In the below passage we also see mention of resurrection and living 1000 years…sound like someone we know? Then we see mention of a man who was a statue who was apparently brought back to life by the kiss of a mysterious woman. A statue is a lifeless object which is something of a metaphor for death as people become statues after they die, this is best exemplified in the crypts of Winterfell.

“The Shrouded Lord has ruled these mists since Garin’s day,” said Yandry. “Some say that he himself is Garin, risen from his watery grave.” The dead do not rise,” insisted Haldon Halfmaester, “and no man lives a thousand years. Yes, there is a Shrouded Lord. There have been a score of them. When one dies another takes his place. This one is a corsair from the Basilisk Islands who believed the Rhoyne would offer richer pickings than the Summer Sea.” “Aye, I’ve heard that too,” said Duck, “but there’s another tale I like better. The one that says he’s not like t’other stone men, that he started as a statue till a grey woman came out of the fog and kissed him with lips as cold as ice.”

The Shrouded Lord

Where do I begin? The Dolorous stroke, shrouds, greyscale, roaring giants, kissing, turtles and fools and there is a woman too. The Grey King is his Grey Grace himself. This may seem unlikely and if you are skeptical, that is okay, just keep reading.

So what do we know about the Shrouded Lord? According to tales:

We also know that GRRM was going to have a chapter where Tyrion was going to meet the Shrouded Lord, but the chapter eventually was re-written and later altogether scapped to the point that the Shrouded Lord encounter became only a dream allowing the reader to speculate what actually happened.

While there has been much speculation regarding why this chapter was scrapped, most readers have deduced that the reason why Tyrion never met the Shrouded Lord was the path of magic and the chapter being too magical in a sense for GRRMs low high fantasy style. To quote one redditor:

Magic in ASOIAF is very aloof, a lot of it is hinted at and implied, but we actually see very few direct manifestations of magic, especially when it comes to gods and deities and such. A lot of it is about the perception of power and magic, it’s about people believing magic exists, and about the way that power lies where people believe it lies. There are definitely a few direct cases of magic being present but for the most part it’s left pretty ambiguous, unreliable narration can account for a lot of exaggeration too.

We also don’t really have much evidence in the way of gods so far. People talk about them, and they claim that their power comes from such and such a god (particularly R’hllor) but for the most part we’re left to wonder where this power actually comes from, and whether or not these gods actually exist. Gurm has talked a lot about how magic can easily cheapen a story, how it can be the easy way out or make things unrealistic or unbelievable. He talks about how Bran is the most difficult character to write because he is the one who has the strongest link to magic and the gods in the series, and he talks about how it can be a dangerous game to play, too much magic and gods and whatnot can easily be disastrous. So to outright come out and say “So and so mystical deity exists (the shrouded lord) and directly communicates with a POV character in some magical meeting” seems to me to go against the grain, it doesn’t quite fit with what the series has done so far. If the shrouded lord can come speak to Tyrion (which granted, could just be him being and unreliable narrator)

So what most have come to understand is that GRRM had originally wanted Tyrion to meet Garin’s ghost, but I don’t think that is what GRRM really had in mind at the time. If you look at the symbolism of all three versions of the story and add them together, I think you will find the answer to the identity of the Shrouded Lord but you have to pay close attention to the symbolism. The first tale is about a man who caused watery walls to rise so high he drowned everything including himself and to this day the area has been plagued with greyscale. The second version of the story was a pirate king who is reborn in a sense every time one dies as another pirate king takes his place. The third story is of a statue, a lifeless object which comes to life through the kiss of a mysterious woman. This statue looks like the story we have been searching for in Part I, when we tie everything together you get the picture of the Grey King himself—a pirate king who caused watery walls to rise and was given the kiss of life when he drowned. The story also goes that. “The Shrouded Lord has ruled these mists since Garin’s day” so let’s examine what went down that fateful day when Garin made the watery walls rise and drowned the richest and most splendid of cities along the Rhoyne. What literally went down was thousands of people, thousands of drowned souls much like the drowned city of Velos which Victarion ponders when he is anchored in the Isles of Cedars: 

If there is any weight to Victarion’s assumptions, the Drowned God is supposed to be strong in areas that have collected more than its fair share of drowned souls. If we apply Victarion’s statement of the drowned city of Velos to the parallel drowned city of Chroyane, we have a little drowned god hot spot on our hands. And who descended to the watery halls to sit at the right hand of the Drowned God? That’s right, the Grey King. So think about it again a pirate king, a hero who caused watery walls to rise, and a statue who was kissed to life. The three versions of the Shrouded Lord (his Grey Grace) is the embodiment of the Grey king himself. The Sorrows chapter is full of symbolism and we are going to go over as much as we can today, but the symbolism is EVERYWHERE in the books once you know what to look for.

“Drown me for a Fool”

Ever wonder what the symbolism was behind Tyrion being dressed in a mish-mash motley on the Shy Maid? The outfit was obviously symbolic. You also might remember the Shrounded Lord, will grant a boon to anyone who can make him laugh? Some have theorized that Tyrion did not drown or contract greyscale because he had made the Shrouded Lord laugh. Knowing this, let’s take a look at another Drowned God hotspot, Shipbreaker Bay which lies directly off of Storm’s End. Storm’s End is of course notorious for its bad storms and even has a legend of Elenei surrounding it. Storm’s End also has another fool, Patchface, who is also speculated to have drowned and come back to life. If there is anyone who can make the Shrouded Lord laugh it would have been this guy right here. Why don’t we take a look at this guy patches, who is the only survivor of a shipwreck, whose survival is seemingly unexplainable as he should have drowned after being out to sea for three days.  

Oh you don’t say? Patches can make Stannis laugh? Stannis. You mean the same Stannis who takes on the Ahor Ahai and Grey King symbolism? That guy? Patches could have even made HIM laugh? That is rather convenient. This is also our guy giving us our ‘Little Mermaid’ references all of the time singing ‘under the sea’. So basically Patchface was drowned in a hotspot and made to sing for his supper and on the third day he rose. In the passage below we see the small council conspiring while pondering the likeness of Patchface to someone afflicted with greyscale, additionally we also see the metaphor of someone with greyscale being like a statue. 

Sam is another good example, here we have Sam being saved from drowning by some big Summer Islander. We can see him performing some rudimentary compressions like those done by the drowned preists. Once Sam is back talking again, the Summer Islander takes on the Shrouded Lord role and mentions that Sam had made him laugh and the chapter ends with him smiling.

I’m drowned, was his last thought. Oh, gods be good, I’m drowned. When he opened his eyes he was on his back and a big black Summer Islander was pounding on his belly with fists the size of hams. Stop that, you’re hurting me, Sam tried to scream. Instead of words he retched out water, and gasped. He was sodden and shivering, lying on the cobbles in a puddle of canal water. The Summer Islander punched him in the belly again, and more water came squirting out his nose. “Stop that,” Sam gasped. “I haven’t drowned. I haven’t drowned.” [...] He grabbed Sam’s doublet with a huge black fist and hauled him to his feet. “Xhondo mates on Cinnamon Wind. Many tongues he speaks, a little. Inside Xhondo laughs, to see you punch the singer. And Xhondo hears.” A broad white smile spread across his face. “Xhondo knows these dragons.”

So let's take a look at another fool, Dontos Hollard. Here we have a guy saved from drowning by a maid who is then forced into the role of a fool. 

“I lose,” he shouted. “Fetch me some wine.” The king stood. “A cask from the cellars! I’ll see him drowned in it.” Sansa heard herself gasp. “No, you can’t.” Joffrey turned his head. “What did you say?” [...] “What a man sows on his name day, he reaps throughout the year.” His voice was flat, as if he did not care a whit whether the king believed him or no. Could it be true? Sansa had not known. It was just something she’d said, desperate to avoid punishment. Unhappy, Joffrey shifted in his seat and flicked his fingers at Ser Dontos. “Take him away. I’ll have him killed on the morrow, the fool.” “He is,” Sansa said. “A fool. You’re so clever, to see it. He’s better fitted to be a fool than a knight, isn’t he? You ought to dress him in motley and make him clown for you. He doesn’t deserve the mercy of a quick death.” The king studied her a moment. “Perhaps you’re not so stupid as Mother says.” He raised his voice. “Did you hear my lady, Dontos? From this day on, you’re my new fool. You can sleep with Moon Boy and dress in motley.”

Before we take a look at a few more foolish things, lets just take a look at the next time we see Dontos. Dontos meets Sansa in the godswood and we see he has taken on the Shrouded Lord persona cloaked in grey.

“I feared you would not come, child.” Sansa whirled. A man stepped out of the shadows, heavyset, thick of neck, shambling. He wore a dark grey robe with the cowl pulled forward, but when a thin sliver of moonlight touched his cheek, she knew him at once by the blotchy skin and web of broken veins beneath. “Ser Dontos,” she breathed, heartbroken. “Was it you?” “Yes, my lady.” When he moved closer, she could smell the sour stench of wine on his breath.

[…] I think I may find it in me to be a knight again, sweet lady. And all because of you … your grace, your courage. You saved me, not only from Joffrey, but from myself.” His voice dropped. “The singers say there was another fool once who was the greatest knight of all …” “Florian,”

[…] “Rise, ser.” “Thank you, sweet lady.” Ser Dontos lurched clumsily to his feet, and brushed earth and leaves from his knees.

[…]“You will not come with me?” “Better if we are never seen together.” Nodding, Sansa took a step … then spun back, nervous, and softly laid a kiss on his cheek, her eyes closed. “My Florian,” she whispered. “The gods heard my prayer.”

So what we see here is Dontos acknowledging the importance of Sansa saving him from being drowned by Joffrey, and as they depart she gives him a symbolic kiss. The setting of this scene is a place of importance as they are situated in the godswood and in the Grey King's drowning he was surrounded by the bones of the weirwood Nagga. We also see Sansa and Dontos equate their story to Florian the fool.

So lets look at another guy named Florian who was obviously named after Florian the Fool as he is the Lord of Maidenpool’s brother…From tPatQ: 

Thereupon Lord Mooton sent for the captain of his guard, his brother, and his champion, Ser Florian Greysteel. He bade his maester to remain as well. When all had assembled, he read to them the letter and asked them for their counsel. [...] ” “The girl is but a child, however foul her treasons,” said Ser Florian, that old knight, grey and grizzled and stern. “The Old King would never have asked this, of any man of honor.”

Ser Florian Greysteel is given a name that personifies someone having a grey armor, likewise greyscale is a hard covering of the skin. Florian is also called old and grey, so what we get is a grey man with grey armor symbolism. Quite fitting.

Let’s take a look at this other passage. Here we have the mast of a torn apart ship that is given a dragon name making it a sea-dragon. This ship is beached to that it can be torn apart and used as a weapon of war. The mast of this sea dragon is reborn into a battering ram made of iron which is used to “storm” the gates. The battering ram is of course the face of a jester:

Poor Groleo. He still grieved for his ship, she knew. If a war galley could ram another ship, why not a gate? That had been her thought when she commanded the captains to drive their ships ashore. Their masts had become her battering rams, and swarms of freedmen had torn their hulls apart to build mantlets, turtles, catapults, and ladders. The sellswords had given each ram a bawdy name, and it had been the mainmast of Meraxes— formerly Joso’s Prank— that had broken the eastern gate. Joso’s Cock, they called it. The fighting had raged bitter and bloody for most of a day and well into the night before the wood began to splinter and Meraxes’ iron figurehead, a laughing jester’s face, came crashing through.

 Let’s not forget about Aeron, a main character who is famous for drowning should also follow this pattern as well since Aeron is claimed to have visited the Drowned Go's watery halls. Well, even though he held no official title of fool this guy was full of foolish symbolism.  

Yet another character with a seemingly supernatural drowning is Davos. The below passage is from the chapter where he lands on the Spears of the Merling King after the Battle of the Blackwater and is stranded for three days. This is one of the more magical drownings we see in the books as the last thing Davos had remembered was drowning and then waking up on the Spears. We also find Davos hears something that he believes is the Mother speaking to him. At the end of the chapter Davos is rescued and is asked his identity. Davos thinks to himself he should answer that he is a fool who rose too high. In the next Davos chapter, he is aboard the ‘Valyrian” (another sea-dragon if you will) and is given a fierce embrace and is kissed by his rescuer. The end of the paragraph is a reference to olives and a cross which is symbolically referring to the death of Jesus and his ascension to heaven, remember where in Part I we talked about the Grey King being a Christ-like hero who is said in TWOIAF to have descended “to the Drowned God’s watery halls to take his rightful place at his right hand", just as Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven from a place called Mount Olive. 

Prior to the Chapter in the Sorrows, Tyrian was aboard the Shy Maid and was thrown into the water by Rolly Duckfield. After emerging from the water he takes on the guise of a fool wearing motley. Tyrian already had so much going for him being a rather humorous dwarf, but in the chapter before the sorrows GRRM kicks this symbolism up a notch and puts him in motley.

Tyrian is later drowned and dreams of the Shrouded Lord (yes, this is the remnants of the forgotten chapter), when he is revived he is told it was Septa Lemore who revived him, we can assume Lemore performed some type of rudimentary CPR. GRRM purposely made sure it was a woman reviving Tyrian as a parallel to the story of the statue being brought to life:

The Sorrows are behind us. It was just a dream I dreamed as I was drowning. “Why do I stink of vinegar?” “Lemore has been washing you with it. Some say it helps prevent the greyscale. I am inclined to doubt that, but there was no harm in trying. It was Lemore who forced the water from your lungs after Griff had pulled you up. You were as cold as ice, and your lips were blue. Yandry said we ought to throw you back, but the lad forbade it

Finally we have Asha and Tris talking about Badbrother when Asha realizes this may be the key to stopping Euron. She kisses him in thanks and they are interrupted by a warhorn which is another drowning of the waters symbol.

When it comes down to it, the symbolism fits for a fool's drowning only to be resurrected by a kiss of life, this is what connects Tyrion's drowning to Patchface and all of the other drownings we see...in Patchface's case he most likely met the Shrouded Lord himself as did Tyrian. In the case of Aeron, Dontos and even Tyrian we are given a glimpse of how drunkenness can lead to becoming a fool and this is echoed in Elder Brother's drowning when he stated before he drowned, "when I was not fighting, I was drunk. My life was written in red, in blood and wine". What is really interesting is that another name for drinking can be to "drown your sorrows" and that is precisely what Tyrian did---he drowned in a place called the Sorrows. Elder Brother is also much like the tale of the Corsair King in the Shrouded Lord story in that when one dies the other takes on the role and the name. In the Dunk and Egg Tales we see Dunk drown in the Chequy water, Chequy is just another name for a checkered pattern....a motley, Dunk drowned in a motley river. Dunk is resurrected by an Ironborn master and is given a vinegar drink to prevent greyscale just as Davos is given a lime drink to prevent greyscale. Additionally, I don't think it is by chance that Thoros of Myr is from Myr. Thoros being from Myr technically makes him a Myrman performing fiery kiss resurrections. I think GRRM was sneeky with his symbolism of Cat and Beric's deaths by making their cause of death be not from drowning but still giving them the drowning associations. Cat's body was pulled from a river and before she died she symbolically killed the Frey fool Jinglebells and and went mad laughing before she died. Interestingly Beric's body was also pulled from a river before he succumbed to his wounds in a grove of Ash.

PART III: The Monomyth

Harlequin

So, as I mentioned in part II, I had been doing some research. While looking into all things fishy, I noticed a suggested topic at the bottom of the Mermaid Wikipedia page. It was a skin condition which causes the skin to take on a scale-like quality. The condition is called Ichthyosis, which is derived from the Greek word ichthys which means ‘fish’. I thought this might be something to take more than just a passing glance since greyscale is also a disease characterized by its scale like quality, pretty easy to find similarity there. I also decided to look closer because I had heard of this condition previously in the forums. If Ichthyosis sounds familiar, it is probably because you have read some Redditor posts (Here, Here, Here and Here) who all have noted that the most severe form of this, Harlequin Ichthyosis (warning, graphic images if you google this), is the closest real-world match to Rhaego’s dragon deformities.

Harlequin Ichthyosis is characterized at birth by the infant’s whole body being encased in an 'armor' of thick white plates of skin that resemble the checkered pattern of a famous fool’s costume named Harlequin.

Harlequin was a character portrayed by the real world equivalent of mummer’s troupes in the 17th-19th centuries. It has been suggested the term Harlequin originated from Hellequin, the leader of the French version of the Wild Hunt. Harlequin is also associated with King Herla (Herla-King) who is also a leader of the Germanic Wild Hunt and a kind of Germanized Odin if you will. In other versions, the leader of the Wild hunt is biblical Cain, King Arthur, Cernunnos (aka Herne the Hunter), and even an archaic version of Santa called Old Nick (which is why the storyline has a fool named Jinglebells). The Wild Hunt is basically a mono-myth found in many European cultures describing a group of demons chasing damned souls to Hell… you will find our writer using little bits of inspiration from each of these other Wild Hunt leaders all throughout the storyline.

In case you are still skeptical about the Harlequin greyscale/fool connection, you might also remember in the Prophet chapter Harlon Greyjoy was the name of the Greyjoy brother who died of greyscale. If you have read my grey/green essay, you will also understand these next references: We also have Harle the Hunstman and Harle the Handsome who are brothers who hate each other because of a woman. There are also the brothers Harlon the Hunter and Herndon of the Horn (Herne the Hunter-->another wild hunt leader) who shared a wife. Additionally, in the Vale Petyr mentions Harlan of House Hunter killed his father and will be killing his older brother in due time.

In a nutshell, GRRM is setting up the symbolism to point toward Azor Ahai having been the leader of a Wild Hunt so to speak while pitting two brothers against each other in the Grey/Green cycle, the symbolism suggests the other brother may in fact be leading a Wild Hunt of his own.

Let’s take a look at this passage now: 

Here we see, Tryrion doing cartwheels and telling a falsehood about being drowned and then being saved by a magical woman, he is then sold to a mummer’s troupe, and has his nose cut off. Taking what we know of the drownings and resurrections in Part II, would you be interested to know that the trademark of Harlequin was his acrobatics, and that a deformity of Harlequin Ichthyosis is an absent nose? 


So now you know why Tyrian gets to cartwheel and somersault all through the storyline and why our writer had his nose cut off  it is a nod to Harlequin and a real world disease that has inspired dragon deformities and greyscale.

Nissa Nissa

I have tried to stay away from the Grey King’s Merling wife for as long as humanly possible. She is an enigma and as the wife of Azor Ahai she is also Nissa Nissa. She is a integral part of the Azor Ahai monomyth and is found in other tales such as the mermaid-like Elenei or in the story of Florian the Fool where Jonquil is spotted bathing. She can be found in more places than you might have realized, and when you find Nissa Nissa you will also find your Azor Ahai. Let’s look at one example:

An old legend told in Pentos claims that the Andals slew the swan maidens who lured travelers to their deaths in the Velvet Hills that lie to the east of the Free City. A hero whom the Pentoshi singers call Hukko led the Andals at that time, and it is said that he slew the seven maids not for their crimes but instead as sacrifice to his gods. There are some maesters who have noted that Hukko may well be a rendering of the name of Hugor.

If you recall from Part II, the trademark of the classic run of the mill mermaid myth is luring sailors to their deaths with their song and beauty, they are often a hazard, a femme fatale, although sirens are not true mermaids they are often equated with mermaids because of this trademark. In the myth, the Sirens are most often depicted as bird women. So in the story of Hukko, having maidens associated with aquatic-birds who lure travelers to their deaths is simply putting a spin on the age-old merling/siren myth. It’s actually a pretty simple, in your face parallel.

Let’s talk about the Andals making seven of everything for a moment. Chances are there weren’t really seven swan maidens since the Andals make everything into Seven to further testify to their religion. Knowing this, how much would you want to bet Hukko is in fact a variation of Hugor as the maester suggests and he slew just one really special ‘swan maiden’? Let’s examine this conversation between Illyrio and Tyrion. The conversation at hand was the greyscale Illyrio’s wife had succumbed to and Tyrion suddenly thinks of this about Hugor Hill and his lovely swan maiden: 


Hugor Hill is ultimately another adaption of the Azor Ahai mono-myth. What is funny to me is that Hugor Hill is the same alias Tyrion takes when he is on the Shy Maid. So in the Sorrows chapter we literally get Hugor Hill an Azor Ahai figure drowning and being saved by the woman that Tyrion gets to see bathing all the time (just like Jonquil). Let’s take a look at another one: 

Ser Gallawho of What?” He snorted. “Never heard o’ him. Why was he so bloody perfect?” “Ser Galladon was a champion of such valor that the Maiden herself lost her heart to him. She gave him an enchanted sword as a token of her love. The Just Maid, it was called. No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss.

So this time instead of the Maid bringing her forth the merling wife is instead the Maiden herself. Just to solidify the drowning symbolism of Azor Ahai, Brienne also had a brother named Galladon and look what happened to him as Brienne tells it: “Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight”. Of course he did.

Now I am sure most were pretty much tracking these examples of the Azor Ahai/Nissa Nissa monomyth, but let’s not forget the Grey King had greyscale and look at this example you may not be aware of:

MARIS THE MAID, the Most Fair, whose beauty was so renowned that fifty lords vied for her hand at the first tourney ever to be held in Westeros. (The victor was the Grey Giant, Argoth Stone-Skin, but Maris wed King Uthor of the High Tower before he could claim her, and Argoth spent the rest of his days raging outside the walls of Oldtown, roaring for his bride.)

If this tale of Maris sounds familiar it is because it is literally the EXACT same storyline as Helen of Troy. Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world, the face that launched a thousand ships and because of her beauty there was a competition for her hand and King Menelaus wins this competition and is supposed to get Helen…except Menaleus doesn’t get to keep Helen because she is abducted by Paris and an epic war breaks out. Similarly, Maris is the ‘most fair’ and her beauty also causes a competition for her hand and the Grey Giant emerges victorious so her hand should rightly go to him, except Uthor plays the role of Paris and ends up with her instead…and then guess what happens…

Let’s just look at the tale of Elenei once more. If you notice Elenei is also a variation of Helen—you will also notice that there is a theme of this mermaid-like woman whose union seems to be tied to a war with the Storm God. Additionally, it is said the Grey King “took his mermaid wife and planned his wars with the Storm God.” I had mentioned earlier some examples that were obvious nods to Harlequin and Cernnunos (aka Herne the Hunter); those being the duo of Harle the Hunstman and Harle the Handsome, and also of Harlon the Hunter and Herndon of the Horn. With these two examples there is one common denominator—a woman they shared. The previous "drown me for a fool" quote also has Asha mention the possibility her husband has come to claim her as she was a "wayward bride".  We are going to continue touching on this concept in the future essays, but just realize there is symbolism behind Rhaegar also winning a tournament and crowning Lyanna the “queen of love and beauty” and then running off to steal her.

Broken Swords

In addition to Nissa Nissa, a broken sword is also part of the monomyth. If you look at the story of Azor Ahai, his sword broke twice before he tempered his blade in the heart of Nissa Nissa. In the story of the Last Hero, we also find a sword that is broken. Additionally, the prologue of GOT provided symbolism of this Last Hero character right from the get go as we also see a Night’s Watch brother whose sword also breaks as he is fighting the Others. When we look at the Sorrows chapter, Tyrion notices a few shapes in the distance as they draw closer to the Bridge of Dream:
Later, there is the Bridge of Dream rewind and Tyrion notices these items again, and these shapes are pointed out to the reader for a second time

And for a third time we get our broken spire:


To put it in a nutshell, these broken spires are a broken sword symbol neatly tucked into the Sorrows chapter. There is often reference to spires being weaponlike as we see in the metaphor of broken spears, and you can even see other instances outside of the Sorrows chapter such as in Bran’s fever dream   

Another drowned man, Davos Seaworth, was also washed ashore to the oceanic spires located outside of Blackwater Bay. These spires were likewise given this spear like reference as the rock grouping is named the “Spears of the Merling King”. A broken spear is also what Tyrian was using at the end of the fiery Blackwater battle before he was cut down by a “white shadow” and fell in the river. So, putting the idea of spires being like spears or weapons is kind of the imagery that is being implied by our writer, and placing these broken weapon metaphors throughout the Sorrows chapter is simply hinting at the monomyth of our historic hero. Knowing the Grey King was Azor Ahai, and that his Grey Grace is just another version of our Grey King, the broken spires throughout the Sorrows chapter is in its simplest form is an allusion to monomythic legend that has been detailed thus far.

A broken sword is also found wielded by another legendary hero, the Titan of Braavos. The Titan of Braavos is a green clad warrior depicted with green hair who emerges from the sea. He is a green legendary hero who holds a broken sword in one hand as he heralds the rising and setting of the sun. This is another obvious Azor Ahai myth, if you have read the grey/green essay you will know the Grey King to be the brother of Garth the Greenhand. One of the great finds in the discussion on the grey/green topic was the sigil of House Greyiron, who were the first driftwood kings after the Grey King. When you look at the sigil for this extinct house, you see the sigil is a picture of ‘the Sea King’ crowned with green hair and a green beard. This sigil we came to realize in our discussion is most likely a mugshot, so to speak, of the Grey King prior to his grey transformation. So knowing the Grey King also had grey hair, seeing a statue which comes to life and wades into sea with a broken sword and green hair with fire in his eyes is another obvious piece of the monomyth. Petyr Baelish’s grandfather also bore the Titan’s head for a sigil which Sansa notices when they stay in his keep in the Fingers. His shield is displayed on the wall and we see another broken sword seated next to the Titan shield.

The Titan of Braavos is not the only green haired hero within the monomyth. I have seen some conclude the ‘Sea King’ sigil of House Greyiron a depiction of the Merling King. This is somewhat influenced by an eerily similar sigil of House Manderly that depicts a merman with green hair and beard. If we start piecing the myth together once it is realized that the Grey King was not always grey, it becomes fairly easy to understand the ‘Sea King’ and the Grey King who ruled the sea itself are one in the same. However, if you go a step further and toy with the conventions of the Greyiron Sigil being the head of the Merling King, other things begin to line up. Basically, the Merling King is an east coast version of the Grey King. EAST SIDE! <throws up mermaid gang sign>

As with the broken spires, GRRM can get a little sly with his broken sword symbolism. The Merling King is a great example of this. It is not hard to see the Merling King connections within the Grey King legend. We are already aware the Grey King is said to have taken a mermaid to wife. Aeron mentions there are mermaids in the Drowned God’s watery halls and Asha mentions merlings are the subjects of the Drowned God when she said, “Below the waves the merlings HAIL THEIR LORD by blowing into seashells”. We have also seen in part I that there are even some Ironborn who believe themselves to be descended from fish or merlings. So the Merling King, in a sense is just a spin placed on the monomyth itself.

If we recall, after Davos was drowned in the fiery Battle of the Blackwater, he washed ashore to the Spears of the Merling King which gives us our key drowning association. Later, in another Davos chapter he is taken to Mermen Court and an allusion to the Grey king being the Merling King is provided: 

"The knight wore silver armor, his greaves and gauntlet inlaid with niello to suggest flowing fronds of seaweed. The helm beneath his arm was the head of the merling king, with a crown of mother-of-pearl and a jutting beard of jet and jade. His own beard was as grey as the winter sea. Davos rose. “May I know your name, ser?” “Ser Marlon Manderly.” He was a head taller than Davos and three stones heavier, with slate-grey eyes and a haughty way of speaking."

As we can see, Marlon Manderly has basically put on a Merling King personification symbol. We can also see by the bearded helm that the Merling King is indeed depicted with green facial hair, however it is what is underneath that armor that gave me pause. Underneath we have a grey man as grey as the winter sea. The above passage is eluding the idea that the Grey King and the Merling King are one in the same. Has anyone ever noticed the almost duplicated descriptions between the two?  

In the Davos chapter prior to Mermen’s court, Davos is in White Harbor staring at the Merman statue centered in the courtyard and what do you know, we have another broken sword symbol, and we also have our storm reference nestled neatly afterward.

Take the legend of House Velaryon as another example revealing the Merling King to be part of the monomyth. House Velaryon is said to have received a ‘Driftwood Throne’ from the Merling King to conclude a pact. As we already know, the legendary throne of the Grey King (which is now lost to history) was not Nagga's bones, but driftwood. The books mention Nagga’s teeth made his crown and the jaws had made his throne. TWOIAF later contradicts this and mentions his crown was made of driftwood.   


So now we have the Grey King’s driftwood throne which is lost to history, and we also have an ancient driftwood throne that was gifted to the ancestors of House Velaryon to conclude a pact with the Merling King. This is not coincidence…not at all.

Knowing what we know about Nissa Nissa and the drowning storyline, let’s take a look at our man Petyr as he speaks about his upcoming travel to the Vale, they discuss the hazards of the autumn storms and we are introduced to the Merling King ship.  


Directly after discussing storms, drowning, the Merling King and brides, they turn their conversation to the Ironborn fleet. The better option mentioned we later learn is the bastard of Driftmank, Aurane Waters. The only problem with their plan is that Aurane doesn’t fight the Ironmen as the small council had hoped, and according to Patchface’s prophesy he may well join his fleet with ‘merlings’ in an alliance very soon; much like the parallel we see in the Dance of Dragons where the Blacks, which was heavily comprised of Velaryons, also sided with the Ironborn in an alliance.

Closing Thoughts

Welp, I am going to cut this off for now, but will be continued in a later post.  In the meantime, what I want you to do is question why we have a character who has the head of the Titan of Braavos for a family sigil with a broken sword displayed on the wall and rode on a ship called the Merling King when he spirited (stole) Sansa away to the Vale. I also want you to know there is another myth much like that of mermaids and sirens, it is a tale of a cunning man who wanted to be the 'ruler of them all' and lured people to their death with his gift of voice. This man became the first mockingbird.

Thanks for reading!