Post by min on May 6, 2016 2:18:36 GMT
Good catch there, about Mel having "dreamed" of the Wall. That's always stood out to me, too. Here are a few more ideas. Tell me what you think:
(1) There are weirwood trees, frozen into the Wall, at intervals along its length. Possibly at the locations of the NW fortresses. (Certainly there is one at the Nightfort.) And, KEY POINT: Weirwoods focus, or amplify magic. Recall the monstrous tree at Whitetree:
“An old tree.” Mormont sat his horse, frowning.
“Old,” his raven agreed from his shoulder. “Old, old, old.”
“And powerful.” Jon could feel the power.
“Old,” his raven agreed from his shoulder. “Old, old, old.”
“And powerful.” Jon could feel the power.
Here's a crazy idea, that I'm not entirely sure I can support with evidence ... but: What if the Old Tongue of the First Men is the same as (or closely related to) the language of Asshai?
"Maegi" ~ "Maege" Mormont?
(3) What if the Dothraki are somewhat similar to the First Men, in terms of having history with Asshai, except that theirs is more recent? In other words: their history and culture is, in part, defined by through the influence of Asshai? I commented on this elsewhere, and gave my reasons, but an intimate history with Asshai would go a long way toward explaining certain oddities related to the Dothraki. Such as:
- those statues in Vaes Dothrak, "misshapen and terrible," that Ser Jorah says "likely come from the Shadowlands beyond Asshai"
- legends of "ghost grass" that exists in the Shadowlands beyond Asshai, and the sense of doom and fear that one day all the land will be covered in it. (Why would Dothraki culture be carrying around legends and myths concerning the Shadowlands, unless there was some history there?)
- the Dothraki dread of abandoned, "dead" cities in the Red Waste, full of "ghosts," where the "gods are gone," and "the dead feast by night;" the belief that "such places are best shunned."
- the strong cultural taboo against bloodmagic, and the fear and revulsion of the maegi.
- the remarkable, and clearly pertinent, convergence of Dothraki prophecy with the prophecies reported by Mel as having been written on "ancient scrolls of Asshai." Princes, Dragons, Stallions that Mount Worlds, horses of fire riding through the night sky... the khal of khals. ... Shierak qiya translating to "bleeding star." And the fact that Rheagar identified his son Aegon as the PtwP because he "was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet."
(Just a few thoughts.)
And of course the Black Gate with it's spindly weirwood tree breaking through the stone of the castle to reach the moonlight. Where is the rest of the tree? There has to be a connection between the weirwoods, the wall and the House of Black and White. I just can't put my finger on it outside of the suggestion that crooked stitching is involved, that the Black Gate is a ghost face hung on a stone wall and that Coldhands in some aspects behaves like a faceless man.
And here's a crazy idea with nothing to support it... what if Mel can read the runes of the first men and what if the first men are refugees from Asshai?
Addendum:
I wish Knew how to do multi-quotes and how people separate posts out so neatly.
Considering that GRRM inclues mega-fauna like woolly mammoth, aurochs and possibly woolly rhinos (unicorns); he seems to be hinting at an ice age sometime in the past. Whether this is the long night or not with Old Nan's description of the snow piled hundreds of feet high is the question. I think the sketchy evidence points to some kind of ice age or mini-ice age. That means there would be a lot of water trapped in the ice at the poles and land bridges would exist to the coasts east and the west of Westeros , not exclusive to the Arm of Dorne. The first men could have migrated across an alternate land bridge just like the first people of North America. It's seems probable to me that the First Men were nomadic like the Dothraki horse people and possibly share the same gene pool if you go back far enough.
We might get more history of Asshai in the next book when the Kindly Man explains the origins of the faceless men. There is a symmetry between the captured gods of the Dothraki and the gods in the HoB&W and between Vaes Dothrak and Braavos. Braavos as the center for all religions and Vaes Dothrak with it's godsway and captured gods and heroes. Both Arya and Dany comment that there are no walls in either place. Access to both is through a gate, the towering bronze horse statues and the Titan of Braavos
Considering Mirri Maaz Duur's prophecy: when mountains blow; (seabirds fly) in the wind like leaves; I wonder if the prophecy refers to the Titan of the Braavos and the fall of Braavos.