Theory in Progress: Joruman and the Horn of Winter
Feb 29, 2016 14:42:58 GMT
Maester Flagons and Weasel Pie like this
Post by snowfyre on Feb 29, 2016 14:42:58 GMT
Joruman and the Horn of Winter - Theory in Progress
Just to get this conversation started, I'm going ahead with the first part of this - and I may reserve a few posts for the next several parts, just so the theory flows (once it's up). For now, in Part I, a summary of what we've been told about the Horn of Winter. I believe this summary is more or less accurate and complete - but if there are questions, let me know. (I'll happily point to relevant places in the text for evidence. Or revise/reconsider if I've missed something.)
A word of caution: I believe both readers and in-story characters have been misled with respect to the Horn of Winter, and what it really is. So take Part I with a grain of salt. This is but the surface-level story of what has been said and/or shown about the Horn of Winter, in GRRM's story so far. I expect our understandings of this "ancient legend" will undergo forceful re-calibration, once WINDS hits the shelves.
I. The Story We're Told - A Recap
In ancient days, Joramun of the wildlings "blew the Horn of Winter, and woke giants from the earth." He may have been a king, or he may not... but his name is associated with an invasion of wildling hordes into the realm of men. It is said that he joined the Stark of Winterfell to free the Night's Watch from bondage during the time of Night's King. In the end, it can be supposed that Joramun lived a full and storied life, retired famous, died, and was buried somewhere up the Milkwater Valley in the Frostfangs.
Yet "the songs" say his horn will be blown again some day, and when that happens... the Wall will come tumbling down.
More recently, when Mance Rayder realizes Winter Really Is Coming... he figures this Horn of Winter would be handy to have around. So he gathers up the free folk, sings the old songs for them, and leads them all up to the Frostfangs for a hopeful bit of grave-robbery. They're not precisely sure where Joramun was buried. But they think it must be up in those mountains - possibly, the songs say that. And given how old those songs are - the tale of Joramun and the Horn being "ancient legend" - digging up old graves seems a likely place to start.
That said, it's worth noting how much stock Mance and the free folk put in this Horn of Winter. They already know about the wights and the Others - there's real danger, and they've got to move. But when they leave their villages, they do not immediately run south, toward (or around) the Wall, but instead haul their children and livestock with them up into the Frostfangs. Yes, those Frostfangs:
Given how unpleasant the Frostfangs are, Mance and his people must have thought they had very good reason to go there. What a disappointment then, that they return from their digging empty-handed. Ygritte first admits this to Jon as they climb the Wall, declaring that they'd "opened half a hundred graves," but "never found the Horn of Joramun."
Was she wrong? Mance does later produce a Horn outside Castle Black, and threatens to bring the Wall down if the Night's Watch won't let him through. Stannis captures both Mance and the Horn, and even the wildlings themselves believe the Horn to be authentic, as they "moan" to see "their hope afire" when Melisandre eventually burns the Horn (and, apparently, Mance himself) as sacrifice to R'hllor.
But the reader who perseveres through ADWD receives conflicting information. Turns out, it's possible that both Melisandre and Mance were full of shit. The Mance she burned, we now know... wasn't the real Mance. And the Horn she burned, we're now told... may not have been the real Horn:
So Tormund confirms Ygritte. Mance and his people "never found the true horn, not for all [their] digging." And Jon Snow wonders:
(To be continued...)
Just to get this conversation started, I'm going ahead with the first part of this - and I may reserve a few posts for the next several parts, just so the theory flows (once it's up). For now, in Part I, a summary of what we've been told about the Horn of Winter. I believe this summary is more or less accurate and complete - but if there are questions, let me know. (I'll happily point to relevant places in the text for evidence. Or revise/reconsider if I've missed something.)
A word of caution: I believe both readers and in-story characters have been misled with respect to the Horn of Winter, and what it really is. So take Part I with a grain of salt. This is but the surface-level story of what has been said and/or shown about the Horn of Winter, in GRRM's story so far. I expect our understandings of this "ancient legend" will undergo forceful re-calibration, once WINDS hits the shelves.
I. The Story We're Told - A Recap
In ancient days, Joramun of the wildlings "blew the Horn of Winter, and woke giants from the earth." He may have been a king, or he may not... but his name is associated with an invasion of wildling hordes into the realm of men. It is said that he joined the Stark of Winterfell to free the Night's Watch from bondage during the time of Night's King. In the end, it can be supposed that Joramun lived a full and storied life, retired famous, died, and was buried somewhere up the Milkwater Valley in the Frostfangs.
Yet "the songs" say his horn will be blown again some day, and when that happens... the Wall will come tumbling down.
More recently, when Mance Rayder realizes Winter Really Is Coming... he figures this Horn of Winter would be handy to have around. So he gathers up the free folk, sings the old songs for them, and leads them all up to the Frostfangs for a hopeful bit of grave-robbery. They're not precisely sure where Joramun was buried. But they think it must be up in those mountains - possibly, the songs say that. And given how old those songs are - the tale of Joramun and the Horn being "ancient legend" - digging up old graves seems a likely place to start.
That said, it's worth noting how much stock Mance and the free folk put in this Horn of Winter. They already know about the wights and the Others - there's real danger, and they've got to move. But when they leave their villages, they do not immediately run south, toward (or around) the Wall, but instead haul their children and livestock with them up into the Frostfangs. Yes, those Frostfangs:
...mountains like a great shadow, range on range of them receding into the blue-grey distance, their jagged peaks sheathed eternally in snow. Even from afar they looked vast and cold and inhospitable.
"The Frostfangs are cruel, inhospitable, a wilderness of stone and ice. They will not long sustain any great number of people."
"The Frostfangs have a cruel bite even in summer, and now… if we should be caught by a storm…"
"I do not mean to risk the Frostfangs unless I must," said Mormont. "Wildlings can no more live on snow and stone than we can.
"...the Frostfangs? Bleak and hard they are, and a long weary march from the Wall."
"The Frostfangs were as cruel as any place the gods had made, and as inimical to men."
"The Frostfangs are cruel, inhospitable, a wilderness of stone and ice. They will not long sustain any great number of people."
"The Frostfangs have a cruel bite even in summer, and now… if we should be caught by a storm…"
"I do not mean to risk the Frostfangs unless I must," said Mormont. "Wildlings can no more live on snow and stone than we can.
"...the Frostfangs? Bleak and hard they are, and a long weary march from the Wall."
"The Frostfangs were as cruel as any place the gods had made, and as inimical to men."
Given how unpleasant the Frostfangs are, Mance and his people must have thought they had very good reason to go there. What a disappointment then, that they return from their digging empty-handed. Ygritte first admits this to Jon as they climb the Wall, declaring that they'd "opened half a hundred graves," but "never found the Horn of Joramun."
Was she wrong? Mance does later produce a Horn outside Castle Black, and threatens to bring the Wall down if the Night's Watch won't let him through. Stannis captures both Mance and the Horn, and even the wildlings themselves believe the Horn to be authentic, as they "moan" to see "their hope afire" when Melisandre eventually burns the Horn (and, apparently, Mance himself) as sacrifice to R'hllor.
But the reader who perseveres through ADWD receives conflicting information. Turns out, it's possible that both Melisandre and Mance were full of shit. The Mance she burned, we now know... wasn't the real Mance. And the Horn she burned, we're now told... may not have been the real Horn:
"Melisandre burned the Horn of Joramun."
"Did she?" Tormund slapped his thigh and hooted. "She burned that fine big horn, aye. A bloody sin, I call it. A thousand years old, that was. We found it in a giant's grave, and no man of us had ever seen a horn so big. That must have been why Mance got the notion to tell you it were Joramun's. He wanted you crows to think he had it in his power to blow your bloody Wall down about your knees. But we never found the true horn, not for all our digging. If we had, every kneeler in your Seven Kingdoms would have chunks o' ice to cool his wine all summer."
"Did she?" Tormund slapped his thigh and hooted. "She burned that fine big horn, aye. A bloody sin, I call it. A thousand years old, that was. We found it in a giant's grave, and no man of us had ever seen a horn so big. That must have been why Mance got the notion to tell you it were Joramun's. He wanted you crows to think he had it in his power to blow your bloody Wall down about your knees. But we never found the true horn, not for all our digging. If we had, every kneeler in your Seven Kingdoms would have chunks o' ice to cool his wine all summer."
So Tormund confirms Ygritte. Mance and his people "never found the true horn, not for all [their] digging." And Jon Snow wonders:
- "Had Mance Rayder lied to him, or was Tormund lying now? If Mance's horn was just a feint, where is the true horn?"
(To be continued...)