I couldn't find any more weeping weirwoods (the Winterfell one is melancholy and brooding, but I don't think tears are ever mentioned; Riverrun one is also more sad than fierce, but no tears; Bran does wonder during his weirwood vision whether the tree would start crying if he did)
Ooh--had forgotten that about Bran. Definitely fits with the way the Singers and Greenseers see the trees-obviously. And might go to WeaselPie's Bran=timelord theory. Or just that Brandon Starks are tied to the trees. Am also wondering if it goes to the idea that the trees have will--or empathy. . . .
But to get back to the OP: the idea of the trees weeping with human loss (and possibly Childrens')--Lyanna has lost her child (really, really think she had a baby). Via her own death if not also by the death of the baby. Same with Jon's thinking the Gilly would wrap tears of blood over what he's done. Am assuming the image's being repeated shows both Ned and Jon are aware of a cultural concept of women weeping blood over lost children. Not proof positive of baby or even death by baby. But certainly highly suggestive of baby's being lost. And Ned's guilt. Ned's feeling responsible for the loss.
Need to let this percolate a bit more. . .
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Oscar Wilde.
NICE! I'm latching on to this as circumstantial evidence for my Lyanna is alive below the crypts theory.
At the heart of the godswood, the great white weirwood brooded over its reflection in the black pool, its leaves rustling in a chill wind. When it felt Bran watching, it lifted its eyes from the still waters and stared back at him knowingly.
That's Lyanna. And she's calling to Jon, urging him lower and lower into the crypts, past all those hard, cold Kings of Winter. She's not looking so good these days, but she's still his mum.
If this turns out to be true, will half expect Lyanna to come flying out of the crypts and claw at the newly returned Benjen--Winterfell will then crack and fall into the hot springs. Fall of the House of Stark. Poe will win.
And that counts as a bumping for Benjen, right?
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Oscar Wilde.
It sort of does, but can Benjen hear you way over here? I don't like taking chances like that. We have the beacon lit over at the Bumping for Benjen thread, and a hornblower, so I think you might want to give a quick bump over there just to be safe...
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
It sort of does, but can Benjen hear you way over here? I don't like taking chances like that. We have the beacon lit over at the Bumping for Benjen thread, and a hornblower, so I think you might want to give a quick bump over there just to be safe…
Okay. Going over now. Mojo? I'm borrowing your horse for a quick second. . . .Will bring him right back.
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Oscar Wilde.
I thought we had an essay on this somewhere and was looking for it and realized we didn't.Not that i could find.So as many of you know, myself and a few others for a while now have been proposing that Lyanna’s death came about as a result of her being stabbed. This essay will look at that possibility by highlighting clues and unveiling interpretations as the author may have meant it. By looking at Lyanna’s character per those who knew her, the “beds of blood” phraseology and the weeping woman myth I hope to prompt a discussion about the interpretation that some us feel fits better than childbirth. So first off let’s look at Lyanna and her personality. When it comes to the expectations and imagery of being a noble lady Lyanna is lacking in that department.
"It has a name, does it?" Her father sighed. "Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. 'The wolf blood,' my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave." <Snip>. "Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her."
"Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. <Snip> Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout.<Snip>
“None offered a name, but he marked their faces well so he could revenge himself upon them later. They shoved him down every time he tried to rise, and kicked him when he curled up on the ground. But then they heard a roar. ‘That’s my father’s man you’re kicking,’ howled the she-wolf.”
A wolf on four legs, or two?“
"Two,” said Meera.“ The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all.”
If we take into consideration Ned’s words about his sister and her own actions we see the image of a girl who didn’t conform to the idea of what a lady should be. She wanted to ,and successfully practiced in secret with swords. Additionally, she seemed to have strong sense of loyalty and justice evident in her defense of Howland Reed. We also see in this scene a parallel to Arya who did the same thing in defense of Micha who was subsequntly killed in horric fashion as a result.Arya will go on to get more training at swords because that is what she wanted and Ned allowed it. This is what Lyanna wanted to do and wasn't allowed to ,so she practiced in secret .The text establishes that Lyanna wasn’t a damsel but a girl who was very much into fighting.Over the years we have been told that “Bed of blood” means childbirth? Do i think it means childbirth? It can but is this phrase rigid; limited to one interpretation or is it a concept that’s specifically broader?
"I heard you speak of birthing songs . . . " "I know every secret of the bloody bed, Silver Lady, nor have I ever lost a babe," Mirri Maz Duur replied.
The above quote has been one of the primary quotes used as proof that Lyanna could only have died during childbirth. But on closer look at the context this may not be the case. Dany asks a question about birthing songs and we get some ellipses indicating there has been an omission.Why? Mirri cut her off with the she“knows all the secrets of the bloody bed” statement .So what’s she talking about? It is here i think it important to take in the entire scene and context of what's happening to grasp what she's speaking of.
“They passed through a series of anterooms, into the high central chamber under the onion. Faint light shone down through hidden windows above. A few torches burnt smokily from sconces on the walls. Sheepskins were scattered across the mud floor. "There," Mirri Maz Duur said, pointing to the altar, a massive blue-veined stone carved with images of shepherds and their flocks. Khal Drogo lay upon it. The old woman threw a handful of dried leaves onto a brazier, filling the chamber with fragrant smoke.…<snip>
"If you must stay, then help," Mirri told the bloodriders. "The Great Rider is too strong for me. Hold him still while I draw the arrow from his flesh." She let the rags of her gown fall to her waist as she opened a carved chest, and busied herself with bottles and boxes, knives and needles. When she was ready, she broke off the barbed arrowhead and pulled out the shaft, chanting in the singsong tongue of the Lhazareen. She heated a flagon of wine to boiling on the brazier, and poured it over his wounds. Khal Drogo cursed her, but he did not move. She bound the arrow wound with a plaster of wet leaves and turned to the gash on his breast, smearing it with a pale green paste before she pulled the flap of skin back in place. The khal ground his teeth together and swallowed a scream. The god’s wife took out a silver needle and a bobbin of silk thread and began to close the flesh. When she was done she painted the skin with red ointment, covered it with more leaves, and bound the breast in a ragged piece of lambskin. "You must say the prayers I give you and keep the lambskin in place for ten days and ten nights," she said. "There will be fever, and itching, and a great scar when the healing is done."
(Drogo bravado,flexing his arm Mirri giving instructions on not drinking wine etc....Then
"Before," Dany said to the ugly Lhazareen woman, "I heard you speak of birthing songs . . . " "I know every secret of the bloody bed, Silver Lady, nor have I ever lost a babe," Mirri Maz Duur replied.
Mirri’s response to Dany “she knows all the secrets of “the bloody bed” is not in response to the red bolded, she's speaking about what she just did which was taking care or Drogo’s battle wound the “Nor have I ever lost a babe” IS in response to Dany’s pregnancy. She's saying she knows how to mend wounds from battle and that she has never lost a babe. Mirri was boasting about her knowledge in two different set of skills, she is basically being haughty about her resume.
If Mirri’s statement about her knowing all the secrets of the bloody bed meant only childbirth, there would be no reason to add she’s never lost a babe. It would be overstating to say the least. The writer would have had Mirri stop at “I know all the secrets of the bloody bed” and continued with Dany saying "attend me my time is near."The basis for the “bloody bed” phraseology has its foundation in injuries caused by fighting/battles.There is more to support this as i will show you.
Ser Boros Blount guarded the far end of the bridge, white steel armor ghostly in the moonlight. Within, Ned passed two other knights of the Kingsguard; Ser Preston Greenfield stood at the bottom of the steps, and Ser Barristan Selmy waited at the door of the king's bedchamber. Three men in white cloaks, he thought, remembering, and…….<snip> The king still wore his boots. Ned could see dried mud and blades of grass clinging to the leather where Robert's feet stuck out beneath the blanket that covered him, A green doublet lay on the floor, slashed open and discarded, the cloth crusted with red-brown stains. The room smelled of smoke and blood and death.<snip> Renly's mouth twitched. "My brother commanded us to stand aside and let him take the boar alone."
Eddard Stark lifted the blanket. They had done what they could to close him up, but it was nowhere near enough. The boar must have been a fearsome thing. It had ripped the king from groin to nipple with its tusks. The wine-soaked bandages that Grand Maester Pycelle had applied were already black with blood, and the smell off the wound was hideous. Ned's stomach turned. He let the blanket fall. "Serve the boar at my funeral feast," Robert rasped. "Apple in its mouth, skin seared crisp. Eat the bastard. Don't care if you choke on him."Promise me Ned."
"He dreamt an old dream, of three knights in white cloaks, and a tower long fallen, and Lyanna in her bed of blood." -AGOT chapter 39.
“Promise me, Ned, his sister had whispered from her bed of blood. She had loved the scent of winter roses.”
Here we see the famous "old dream" of Ned being a parallel to the death scene of Robert. Three men in white cloaks and “Robert” where? Robert in his “bed of blood”. Now it doesn’t look like Robert has just given birth and dying of puerperal fever. However, he did stand toe to toe with a boar which ripped him from navel to groin.He was in a battle.The common thread between Robert and the Dany scene is injury on account of being involved in some fighting and we have a direct association between Robert's death and Lyanna's.The common thread is not child birth.
The concept of the term “bloody bed” lay in “battles”.Now I’m not saying “bed of blood/bloody bed” can’t mean childbirth occured.We have examples of that.The point is childbirth is battle for a woman.
“Nine sons had been born from the loins of Quellon Greyjoy, but only four had lived to manhood. That was the way of this cold world, where men fished the sea and dug in the ground and died, whilst women brought forth short-lived children from beds of blood and pain.”
No woman could defeat him, not even Asha; women were made to fight their battles in the birthing bed. (Damphair, AFFC).
The gods made men to fight, and women to bear children. A woman's war is in the birthing bed.”
Catelyn: “Knights die in battle”...
Brienne: “As ladies die in childbed. No one sings songs about them.”
“Children are a battle of a different sort....A battle without banners or warhorns, but no less fierce. Carrying a child, bringing it into the world... your mother will have told you of the pain...” (ACOK,Catelyn VI)
Here we see a clear connection between birthing bed to battle reaffiming that battle is the foundational phrase for the birthing bed.Another observation and theme that is evident in the above quotes are women playing the part of men by literally fighting like Knights and soldiers "being" told where their wars/battles 'should' take place. In light of the above, who would you group Lyanna with? Asha, Brienne and Arya or Cat, Cersie and Margery? What does the first three have in common with Lyanna? They are warrior women and the likelihood of them dying by the sword is very high.So given Lynna’s personality sense of justice tomboy nature and desire to carry a sword, it is not out of the realm of possibility and plausibility that she met her fate at sword point.If we look at Ned's dream we see-pay attention to the bolded
"Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death."
Now close your eyes and picture the bolded now to all my posters out there that watch Japanese anime doesn't this bit of imagery seem familiar.Just watch a few episodes of Kenshin-The legend of Batusai the Slasher,or Attack on Titan and you will see blood streaked skies.Also,if you think as the sky as a wall then the bloody streaks are cast of from slashing swords.That it was petals and not roses themselves would seem as if they were removed disturbed from the stems.Food for thought when you are thinking of this scene
The Weeping woman: Over the years there has also been a lot of discussion over Theon and Ned's dream of Lyanna.The description of Lyanna in both dreams and the varying ideas on what they mean and if they mean anything. One discussion on Theon’s description of the gore on Lyanna’s dress many have taken this as proof that this represents childbirth while others like myself claim it was a battle of another nature that claimed her.So let’s look at the texts some more.
“The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind (Theon). "
So important to note that Theon refers to Lyanna, Rickard and Brandon as figures he’s only known in stone and not real life. Also of note is that Rickard and Brandon are not represented the way they died which could indicate that Theon is lacking in knowledge of how they died and that in a way his waking knowledge is influencing the visuals in the dream. This lack of description regarding their deaths makes the image of Lyanna more profound. We don’t know if the gore is on Lyanna’s dress nor do I think it’s important.
The very meaning of the word gore means blood that has been shed especially as a result of violence.” Every dictionary will tell you that in some form of fashion.There is no question of that and that definition is continued on this book.
“He's more a spotted knight than a white one, Tyrion thought inanely. Every bit of Ser Balon was spattered with gore and smudged by smoke. He raised his mace to point downriver. Bits of brain and bone clung to its head. "My lord, look."
“The Mountain whirled. Helm, shield, sword, surcoat; he was spattered with gore from head to heels. "You talk too much," he grumbled. "You make my head hurt."
So I ask you readers is there any question in your mind that gore equates the kind of battle associated with weaponry? In the context of the dream what does it mean? The blood could be someone else’s spattered on her. But in the context of the dream couldn’t this be a representation of how she died. I also find the placing of Brandon and Rickard in relation to her and each other a bit odd and would throw out a discussion about that. In "The companion to Greek Democracy and Roman Republic," "spattered with gore," is a motif that exemplifies a victim's blood's tracing the path of responsibility ,so maybe it is nothing more than the violent death that befell them all being Lyanna’s fault which no matter what you believe started with Brandon going to KL. Her death and the death of her father and brother is on her. Which makes sense in a way when you apply Ned's statement that their wolfbood led them to early graves.
That being said one thing is clear everyone that was identified died a death that we would characterize as murder justified or not. Given that everyone identified deaths could be attributed to foul play, and the gore on Lyanna’s gown means a violent death are we to believe she died of childbirth?Let's look at another imagery
”Last of all, he came to the tomb where his father slept, with Brandon and Lyanna beside him. “Promise me, Ned," Lyanna's statue whispered. She wore a garland of pale blue roses, and her eyes wept blood."
The woman weeping blood: The tale of the weeping woman is a well-known one told around the world Llohorna,Onryo,Madea are such examples of women who were wronged by husbands, fiancés’, lovers and out of spite committed heinous acts which usually involved killing his children or haunting him.Particularly of importance when it comes to Lyanna's statue is its connection to the statues of the Virgin Mother Weeping tears of blood. It is a long held belief among followers that she is crying for the injustice perpetrated on the innocent and weak.
In all these myths regarding the Weeping woman there is a single theme of injustice done against women,or to put it more accurately ,the women percieved they were wronged.
As i conclude i just want to reiterate and makes sense of the points made in the essay.Beds of blood in this story are synonymous with battles of which childbirth can be a type,that is true but not neccessarily the case seeng as battle can come in many forms.This opens up a lot of possibilities for what could have happened to Lyanna.My personal opinion based on Lyanna's interest,defense of Howland against ridiculous odds and her touch of wolfblood.Given the right conditions she may have fought back.I have a theory on that circumstance and will be sharing that in the sister essay " The Orphaned hero," but until then feel free to discuss.
As i conclude i just want to reiterate and makes sense of the points made in the essay.Bed of blood in this story are synonymous with battles of which childbirth can be a type.This opens up a lot of possibilities for what could have happened to Lyanna who chose in secret to carry a sword vs carrying a sewing kit.
If not for the direwolf in the first chapter, I'd agree it was battle/sword that did for Lyanna. Wolfblood certainly makes her death sound like a reckless one due to her own impetus.
But that dying/dead mother wolf... I think she whelped for the purpose of bringing Jon the weirwood direwolf, and that the others were ancillary.
Medieval c-section is a possibility though. I don't see "bed of blood" as proof-positive, but I see that Mother Direwolf as proof that Lyanna died to give birth to a son whose eyes alone are open, while the others are still blind.
Bran 1: "Or been driven away," their father said, looking at the sixth pup. His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind.
Jon 1: Jon had noticed that too. A bastard had to learn to notice things, to read the truth that people hid behind their eyes. His father was observing all the courtesies, but there was tightness in him that Jon had seldom seen before. He said little, looking out over the hall with hooded eyes, seeing nothing.
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
If not for the direwolf in the first chapter, I'd agree it was battle/sword that did for Lyanna. Wolfblood certainly makes her death sound like a reckless one due to her own impetus.
But that dying/dead mother wolf... I think she whelped for the purpose of bringing Jon the weirwood direwolf, and that the others were ancillary.
Voice....Lol. Mama wolf died in battle...She got daggered someone killed her if you believe the bone knife theory or the Stag killed her when he piecered her throat....Hence my point "bed of blood" equates battle.
As for his eyes being open before the others barring all the symbolisms of perception which applies to all of them( i'll show those quotes later) His eyes open before the others could simply mean he was born first.
Voice....Lol. Mama wolf died in battle...She got daggered someone killed her if you believe the bone knife theory or the Stag killed her when he piecered her throat....Hence my point "bed of blood" equates battle.
Totally agree, actually. Lyanna died amidst battle. A battle which involved a crowned (antlered) stag.
I'm team shattered-antler, but I nonetheless agree the direwolf was killed in conflict. Wolves will be wolves.
One way or another, the mother wolf was wounded, then died in a bed of blood while whelping six pups.
As for his eyes being open before the others barring all the symbolisms of perception which applies to all of them( i'll show those quotes later) His eyes open before the others could simply mean he was born first.
That's not really how pup eyes work, but I agree Jon was likely born first. Might be Ghost was born first as well, would be a cool parallel, but it's impossible to know.
Wolf pups, like dogs, open their eyes around two weeks of age. You do find early pups in a litter opening their eyes before the others.
Not only has this pup opened its eyes while the others are still blind, it has wandered off alone...or been driven away... away, from his dead mother. Sure sounds a lot like newborn Jon.
The death of the mother is clearly meant to be a significant part of the birth.
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
Note: Editing in process,more to add and adjust just got a bit lazy now.
whilst you are lazying, i thought i would add this to your proposal
"I was with her when she died," Ned reminded the king. "She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father." He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes.
I see this as Ned promising Lyanna that he would bring her bones back to Winterfell rather than anything else, such as taking care of a child.
Whether that turned out to be a broken promise is another question...after all he did not bring back lady Dustbin's husband bones back.
"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."
I thought we had an essay on this somewhere and was looking for it and realized we didn't.Not that i could find.So as many of you know, myself and a few others for a while now have been proposing that Lyanna’s death came about as a result of her being stabbed. This essay will look at that possibility by highlighting clues and unveiling interpretations as the author may have meant it.
My thoughts on this subject are so extensive that I've been wondering how to respond without writing up a whole essay. It may seem a bit off-beat at first but bear with me. I'll try to keep it short :-)
Here we see a clear connection between birthing bed to battle reaffiming that battle is the foundational phrase for the birthing bed.Another observation and theme that is evident in the above quotes are women playing the part of men by literally fighting like Knights and soldiers "being" told where their wars/battles 'should' take place. In light of the above, who would you group Lyanna with? Asha, Brienne and Arya or Cat, Cersie and Margery? What does the first three have in common with Lyanna? They are warrior women and the likelihood of them dying by the sword is very high.So given Lynna’s personality sense of justice tomboy nature and desire to carry a sword, it is not out of the realm of possibility and plausibility that she met her fate at sword point.
There's no dispute that childbirth and the battlefield are linked to the 'bloody bed'. Nevertheless, I'm not convinced she was stabbed to death after bringing forth her child. At least not at sword point in the sense of the physical weapon. In fact, if we're talking about beds of blood, there's a lot of war imagery (or a war going on) surrounding 'the bloody bed' in terms of flowering as well but none of these end in an actual stabbing.
Some examples of this include Sansa's and Asha's first flowering:
Then she saw the bright glimmer of steel. The knife plunged into her belly and tore and tore and tore, until there was nothing left of her down there but shiny wet ribbons. When she woke, the pale light of morning was slanting through her window, yet she felt as sick and achy as if she had not slept at all. There was something sticky on her thighs. When she threw back the blanket and saw the blood, all she could think was that her dream had somehow come true. She remembered the knives inside her, twisting and ripping. She squirmed away in horror, kicking at the sheets and falling to the floor, breathing raggedly, naked, bloodied, and afraid.
When Cersei questions her about it later, Sansa admits to being frightened:
And now you’re setting fires as well. What did you hope to accomplish?” Sansa lowered her head. “The blood frightened me.” “The blood is the seal of your womanhood. Lady Catelyn might have prepared you. You’ve had your first flowering, no more.” Sansa had never felt less flowery.
Asha's flowering takes place during wartime:
Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was … that, and the moon blood. Even so, she’d called it love, till Tris began to go on about the children she would bear him; a dozen sons at least, and oh, some daughters too. “I don’t want to have a dozen sons,” she had told him, appalled. “I want to have adventures.”
Asha's character is comparable to Lyanna's, the difference being Asha is a woman trained to war and successful enough at it for Balon Greyjoy to consider her as his heir. Note also Asha's distaste at the idea of having numerous children. She want's to have adventures instead. Arya didn't see that kind of life for herself either. We don't know much about Lyanna, but considering that she obviously enjoyed a lot of freedom (horseriding all over the place with Brandon, no mother around to curtail her, and that she wasn't keen on marrying Robert, we can assume she wouldn't have wanted to spend the rest of her life popping out one child after another. Somehow I don't think she would have succumbed that easily to Rhaegar's supposed charms and run off to go and have a baby with him.
Dany also shows us another kind of bloody bed. This takes place in the grasslands, while she's trying to find her way back to civilization:
When she woke, gasping, her thighs were slick with blood. For a moment she did not realize what it was. The world had just begun to lighten, and the tall grass rustled softly in the wind. No, please, let me sleep some more. I’m so tired. She tried to burrow back beneath the pile of grass she had torn up when she went to sleep. Some of the stalks felt wet. Had it rained again? She sat up, afraid that she had soiled herself as she slept. When she brought her fingers to her face, she could smell the blood on them. Am I dying? Then she saw the pale crescent moon, floating high above the grass, and it came to her that this was no more than her moon blood.[/quote]
So we have a number of incidences in which blood stains a bed in one way or another, all linked to the theme of childbearing - flowering - and in Dany's case, what appears to be a miscarriage. There are war references in all of them, even in Dany's, where the stalks of grass are often described as razor sharp. None of these girls have been physically hurt but Sansa and Dany are frightened by the sight of blood.
There's one more area that belongs within the theme of bloody beds - that of losing one's virginity. And that's where I disagree with your statement:
We don’t know if the gore is on Lyanna’s dress nor do I think it’s important.
We do know the gore is on Lyanna's gown, at least in the context of Theon's dream.
The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind.
Except for the 'gore', all three are unhurt, unlike the rest of the party. The first question I asked myself here is "what connects these three other than family?" The second question: why is Lyanna still crowned with winter roses, wearing a virginal white gown that happens to be soiled with gore?
I personally feel too much emphasis is placed on Lyanna's she-wolf nature, with little attention paid to the crowning roses. The roses personify her as much as her she-wolf status does. They seal her status as queen of love and beauty, link her story with Bael the Bard and the Stark daughter abducted by him, they reference Jon and almost every time Ned thinks of or dreams of Lyanna, they come up. In my opinion, the blue winter roses also represent the blood inheritance that made her special. Further, the symbolism of the roses also serves to temper the symbolism of the wolf-nature. Rose petals are a feminine principle - soft petals, sweet smelling, altogether delicate and helpless - but for the defending thorns - the latter represented by the wolf-blood. Unlike Arya who is all thorns or Sansa who is all roses, Lyanna had both but symbolically, via her crowning, Lyanna is more identified with the roses and thus with the vulnerability characterized by these flowers. Indeed, like Lyanna, the real counterpart in the glass gardens of Winterfell were left 'torn and exposed to die' after Winterfell was destroyed by Ramsay Bolton.
Torn and exposed to die. Not cut up. Torn. Which brings me to the white gown spattered with gore. White dresses are a standard expression of innocence and purity, especially in the context of a wedding. Traditionally, they express the maiden's untouched virginal state. That Lyanna does not wear ordinary clothes in Theon's dream is thus significant to me - and that it's stained with blood, described as gore, is telling us she was violated, raped, just as the tales have it. She cannot have been raped by Rhaegar, I'd rule that out, but there are enough parallels suggesting Mad Aerys was the culprit. That's what Rickard, Brandon and Lyanna have in common in Theon's dream. All three die through Aerys hand. We know how Rickard and Brandon died. Lyanna died a slower kind of death, probably enduring months of repeated rape. The bed of blood she lay in may have been the birthing bed, or, if Jon was born earlier, she may have miscarried a second child. All the imagery of knives and swords, especially in Sansa's moon blood case, can be interpreted in terms of the 'bloody sword' as in Lady Dustin's words - the sexualized sword, which in rape cuts up and causes pain and I think this also applies to Lyanna. Also of note is that Sansa, who represents Lyanna's more vulnerable side (and as a captive, she certainly was at the mercy of her captors), was betrothed to monstrous Joffery who was as cruel as Aerys in his own way - and to Tyrion, who though not cruel is nevertheless perceived as monstrous by the majority. There is also nothing romantic about the Bael the Bard story. Being abducted and held in a crypt for a year is no woman's notion of romance, especially when the story tells us that Bael's intentions were to spite the Lord of Winterfell. I personally cannot see why this is cited as proof for R+L.
The main point being the 'bloody bed' can be the result of many things - a stabbing, childbirth, miscarriage, deflowering or flowering. The symbolism surrounding the roses suggest a violent deflowering, rather than an actual stabbing.
Quirky Seasons: Under the sea, men marry fishes More on bluewinterroses.com
Voice....Lol. Mama wolf died in battle...She got daggered someone killed her if you believe the bone knife theory or the Stag killed her when he piecered her throat....Hence my point "bed of blood" equates battle.
Totally agree, actually. Lyanna died amidst battle. A battle which involved a crowned (antlered) stag.
I'm team shattered-antler, but I nonetheless agree the direwolf was killed in conflict. Wolves will be wolves.
One way or another, the mother wolf was wounded, then died in a bed of blood while whelping six pups.
As for his eyes being open before the others barring all the symbolisms of perception which applies to all of them( i'll show those quotes later) His eyes open before the others could simply mean he was born first.
That's not really how pup eyes work, but I agree Jon was likely born first. Might be Ghost was born first as well, would be a cool parallel, but it's impossible to know.
Wolf pups, like dogs, open their eyes around two weeks of age. You do find early pups in a litter opening their eyes before the others.
Not only has this pup opened its eyes while the others are still blind, it has wandered off alone...or been driven away... away, from his dead mother. Sure sounds a lot like newborn Jon.
The death of the mother is clearly meant to be a significant part of the birth.
On the matter of the eyes i should have clarified that more.I was actually thinking that while Ghost was of the same litter he probably wasn't littermates to the others.I don't know how long a Direwolf gestation,mating season or how much litters they can have during the season.Which could have account for Ghost eyes and possibly him going off by himself exploring.
He was the only one that could see,and the fact that the others were blind could be something that escaped them.
Again to call the she-wolf Lyanna doesn't work.Symbolism there doesn't work, unless you already believe she died and died giving birth.Which in this case still doesnt mesh ;the she-wolf died because someone took her life in violent fashion.
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes"--Sherlock Holmes"