Jon’s Magic Mirror and Bran’s Starry Knight

PART III: These are not the dragons you’re looking for.

1. Another known element? The Mirror Shield supposedly helped Serwyn kill a dragon.



2. Okay—Martin is totally making fun of all us book nerds with this conversation—Tyrion and Haldon spar over which dragon was actually fought this way. And while they are fighting over that detail, they miss the key point. Thanks, George.

3. The key point of Ser Byron Swann’s attempt against a dragon is that the technique was a dismal failure. Using a mirror to kill a Targaryen-like dragon is insane. And completely useless.

4. Thus, something about the story is off. But it is important enough that it still shows up in multiple novels. So what gives? Unless Serwyn wasn’t fighting a Valyrian dragon.

5. Why would an ancient, very pre-Targaryen figure with a very northern name be fighting a Valyrian dragon? Ancient Westeros wasn’t plagued by dragons. It was plagued by Others. The ice dragons.

6. The Ice Dragon constellation has a bright blue star eye that points north—eyes like the Others. And stories say its breath is horribly cold. The Others and wights have blue star eyes and the bring cold wind. And come into the cold.



7. As the novels progress, the Wall becomes colder—the cold winds are rising with the coming Others. And the Wall built against the Others grows colder, too. This cold makes Jon think of ice dragons multiple times in Dance.





8. Thus, I think “ice dragon” is a metaphor/euphemism for “Others.” Perhaps even for what’s behind the Others. That’s what Serwyn fought and defeated, using the Mirror Shield/Wall.

PART IV: Sword? Check. Shield? Check. I am waitin’ for the light to shine!

1. So, if a Mirror Shield does not help kill a Valyrian dragon, how would a mirror help with the Others? Perhaps the Others are absurdly vain and will forget to fight whilst preening?

2. If they are fighting in the Long Night, the Others don’t have to worry about dawn or daylight. But they do have to worry about the real Lightbringer—Dawn.

3. Some of you know I think Jon will wield Dawn. That Dawn is the red blade Jon sees himself wielding in his nightmare battle for the Wall. Aaaand now all of you know I think that.

4. But, Dawn or no, how on earth would one burning sword help against an army of wights and Others in unending darkness? By bringing light.

5. We’ve seen what fake Lightbringer does under Mel’s glamour.


6. That’s a freakish amount of light. Imagine how much light the real Lightbringer (Dawn) could bring at the right moment? When Jon invokes the unifying power of the Night’s Watch Oath?

7. If the sword is the light, what’s the shield? It’s a mirror. It reflects light.


8. The Wall reflects fake Lightbringer as it has been reflecting light for 5 books. Stannis’ sword brings light, though no heat. Dawn, however, brings much more light—and heat.

9. And the Dawn and the Wall/Shield go together. They even look like each other.



10. Jon dreams of being atop the Wall with that burning sword—Dawn. He’s woken up by a gnarled hand before the whole thing comes to fruition. But imagine the light when the real Lightbringer reflects off of that Mirror Shield Wall.

PART V: Blinded by the light.

1. So how would this help stop the Others and end the Long Night? This is where I get even more speculative. Serwyn’s mirror let him sneak up on the “dragon” and spear him in the eye.

2. Eye-stabbing is a time-honored killing method that badass heroes use on evil foes. Given the emphasis on the star-eyes of the Others and wights, eye-stabbing a new Night’s King as he’s blinded by the Dawn-Shield combo—that might help break the magics.

3. But look at the descriptions of raised wights in the novels—they see. And their blue eyes emit light.



4. But if they are dead, “they” can’t see. Will got it right: “It” saw. The eye is seeing, but Waymar is gone. Something else is seeing. Seeing and emitting light through the eyes. Which is why the thing that was Thistle can see even without Thistle’s eyes.

5. So, who is behind the wights? Who is seeing through their eyes? There’s a LOT of debate on this. But, one way or another, the wights and Others see for someone or something. And that’s who must be stopped to stop the Others.

6. The wights’ eyes EMIT LIGHT OUT. This is. . . unusual. So, how will the Others and wights, let alone those who see through their eyes react where the light is reflected back at them? When they can only see themselves?

7. I propose that when Lightbringer’s light is reflected back at them, they’ll be blinded. Like the Wildlings were when climbing the Wall. And those behind the Others will be vulnerable and blind.

8. The light that the wights’ and Others’ eyes emit will be shot back through their eyes to whatever is behind them. Stabbed through the eye. Because they can only see themselves (the light they emit).

9. But if that’s no go—Jon could try a sword or spear through the eye. And if it does turn out to be Bloodraven behind all of this, Meera’s right there with a frog spear. Team work!

PART VI: Serwyn’s side projects: tortured soul saves the girl

1. Not convinced? There’s more! Serwyn was haunted by those he killed.


2. Jon is haunted. Haunted by those he’s lost—he dreams of killing Ned as a wight. In the same novel as Dany’s Serwyn quote, Jon’s haunted in his nightmare battle by the horror of those he got killed (Ygritte, Robb, Qhorin, etc.).


3. Plus, Serwyn supposedly saved a maiden from a terrible fate:


4. What could this be? My first temptation is to go to sweetsunray ’s fabulous “Sansa and the Giants” essay. But my idea might stretch sweetsunray ’s much too far. And then she might yell at me.

5. We definitely have Alys Karstark’s being “saved” by Jon. So, that might be it. But I also think Jon may help Sansa when she comes north.

PART VII: Wrapping up—Turn up the volume, Jon.

Bottom line:

1. Serwyn is in the story far too much not to matter.

2. The Wall is noted for its reflective qualities far too often not to be significant.

3. Based on fake Lightbringer, real Lightbringer is likely to bring a LOT of light.

4. Jon has seen part of the future in his nightmare battle—atop the Wall with a red blade burning in his fist.

5. Now Jon just needs to speak his words and light that blade up to 11. And shine!

6. (Aaaand then possibly stab something in the eye.)

THE END

Next up: ACT II: Bran’s Starry Knighthood
thelasthearth.freeforums.net/thread/831/brans-starry-knighthood

Okay--I know you were kidding, but looking around the board, I'm thinking you might have a point. We've got a lot of new open threads.

I posted this because it and the Bran essay go together and it made for good linking potential right before the show starts.

But if there's too much open for us all right now, I'd be happy to have you all delete this and the Bran essay and I could repost them in a few weeks when things calm down. Seriously. That would be just fine with me. Just say the word.



Oh, I'm not saying the Wall protects from the sword. Just that the Wall could be used to reflect the light of the sword out against the Others.

But I had not thought of the curtain of light. I waffle on what it is--passageway to death? Both Heart of Winter and Heart of Fire sound like death to me. The opposite of life cycles.

But the idea that the Wall could have been built to stop that. .. maybe.

I honestly am all over the place right now on why the Wall was built. I sincerely doubt it was built as a mirror to be used the way I think Serwyn used it. Or how I think Jon will.

Given how the Wall changes according to the light (or lack thereof) around it, I'm thinking that the madness I've proposed would be the Sword of the Morning turning the use of the Wall away from its original purpose.

Because if the Wall was raised just to be a mirror--that's madness. It's much to big. Some parts are straight. Some snakey. That can't be it.

But if you are turning the Wall against those who built it, or if voice is right and the Night's King was Brandon the Builder--then Brandon the Builder could have raised to Wall for his own reasons, become Night's King (before or after the Wall), and then had the Wall changed round on him.

Or something. If you haven't noticed, I'm only just getting going on this idea. But the idea that the Wall is the Mirror Shield just made too much sense once I'd looked at it not to play it out.

Definitely a good problem to have



It definitely is



AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!



Tis but a shard o' the crystal... (yes, apparently I'm still stuck on the Dark Crystal)

LOL, but for real tho. The Wall is the Light in the Darkness... and that's Dawn.

Add in a dash o' red comet light, and you have yourself a Wall and a Sword burning red against the burning blue.







It is the sky alive with light. Just like Dawn and the Wall. One person's passageway to death is another person's passageway to life.


Old Nan says the Wall is as strong as the men are true who guard it. Thus, if starry-eyed knights are walking it, they need no gravel for a foothold, and the Wall would shine like blue crystal.

It already is a mirror-shield, imo. It simply reflects those upon it.



Now that my miasma thang is finally done, I can speak to this stuff freely.

The Wall functions as a mirror, a crystal, a lens, and a portal. It also functions as light in the darkness. And it is at once a Shield, a Sword, and, a Snake...



Sound familiar?

The Wall is shaped like the Staff (sometimes a Wand or Sword) of Asclepius:

Gotta be, in the hands of the right Katharmos, anyway.

Only way to treat a miasma.

The Wall is certainly a power to wield, and a shield to shield. But wielding and shielding can only do so much. Inherent within them is conflict. In this way, the Wall can only sustain conflict, rather than end conflict.

My miasma argument is very much about this. The NW and the Wall likely began with very good intentions. But like most good intentions in GRRM's works, they only made things worse. Tis the same in tragic miasma mythology.

The Wall is certainly a hinge. But a hinge is not a shield. And a shield is not a sword. The Wall is different things at different times to different people (and non-people).

If Mel is right, and the Wall is a hinge, then what does it hinge?

A door?

The Black Gate springs to mind, but I don't think that is the answer. At least not completely.

"Hinge" once referred to the very axis of the earth. And I think this is closer to Mel's intent. The Wall is a place where darkness and light meet. Men cloaked in blackness, and Others cloaked in white. Few literal objects can function this way, but the Wall is certainly one. The Staff/Wand/Sword) of Asclepius just happens to be another. For Benjen to tell Jon that the Eastward Wall is a Sword, but that the Westward Wall is a Snake, is rather revealing imo, and not incongruous with Mel's Hinge concept at all.

After all, Asclepius' Rod could be seen as a visual representation of a planet's axis, imbued with the inherent qualities of life and death. From Cornutus (via wikipedia):


Interestingly, after his death, Zeus placed Asclepius' body in the heavens as the constellation Ophiuchus, "the Serpent Holder."

Ophiuchus is known as the "13th Sign" of the Zodiac... an outcast, with a dozen companions, who raised the dead.



Indeed. It creates "the Other" side.


The little man gestured up at the Wall with a gnarled black walking stick. "As I was saying … why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?"

Is it only in the show that Selwyn gets baked by the dragon he is trying to fool?
If so, I kinda like that it is the antithesis of the Gorgon tale, snakes and all can't be undone by such easy "magic" as reflection. On the other hand, found this in Wikipedia (Gorgon entry)to chew on:
"In Ancient Greece a Gorgoneion (a stone head, engraving, or drawing of a Gorgon face, often with snakes protruding wildly and the tongue sticking out between her fangs) frequently was used as an apotropaic symbol [18] and placed on doors, walls, floors, coins, shields, breastplates, and tombstones in the hopes of warding off evil. In this regard Gorgoneia are similar to the sometimes grotesque faces on Chinese soldiers’ shields, also used generally as an amulet, a protection against the evil eye. Likewise, in Hindu mythology, Kali is often shown with a protruding tongue and snakes around her head.

In some Greek myths, blood taken from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life, yet blood taken from the left side was an instantly fatal poison.[citation needed] Athena gave a vial of the healing blood to Asclepius, which ultimately brought about his demise."

Yes, that's the one. They combined the characters. How, ummm, unusual. Are you basing the ice dragon apearance on the mirrored exterior of the Others in the initial prologue?

The blue eyes see, the weirwoods see, the obsidian candles see. Are the Others mirrored to keep the weirwoods and candles blinded to the blue-eyed magic?

I like this. Gargoyles were made to look frightening to demons and scare them away.

That was an interesting part for me, first time I've come across this story. Goes with voice 's antibody to the miasma theory too.
(Frankly I was thinking 'stone men' originally. Now I'm wondering if dragon's blood is the cure, and why Shireen's case didn't progress.
Keeping myself on topic is like herding cats.)