Post by Melifeather on May 2, 2016 4:05:13 GMT
A Song of Ice and Fire Battles the Citadel, or
A Storm, the Smiling Knight, and a Giant in Armor Made of Stone
This is an spin-off essay using information gleaned from my chapter analsys’s of The Soiled Knight and The Queenmaker. Deciphering the inversions helped me identify the true identities of the Kingswood Brotherhood and the Smiling Knight, and how Robert's Rebellion may tie into a conspiracy by the Citadel and the Faith of the Seven to control events in Westeros.
Part I - A Storm
Storm’s End is the seat of House Baratheon, the Lords Paramount of the Stormlands, and once ancestral home of House Durrandon. It was built by Durran Godsgrief the first Storm King during the Dawn Age, who declared war against the gods after they killed his family and guests, ruining his wedding to Elenei, who is said to have been daughter to the god of the sea and the goddess of the wind. Elenei gave her maidenhead to Durran thus committing herself to a mortal life. The castle is said to be one of the strongest in the Seven Kingdoms and is protected by spells woven into its very walls to prevent magic from affecting it or passing through it. It is surrounded by a massive outer curtain wall one hundred feet high and nearly eighty feet thick on its seaward side.
All Lords of Storm’s End are symbolized as Storm Gods in the books and Robert Baratheon in particular epitomizes this image even going so far as to resemble Thor the god of thunder, lightning, and storms, and has been known to favor a warhammer in battle.
The gathering storm that Bran envisions includes the actions of Robert Baratheon leading into the Rebellion, and the after effects that led to the near extinction of House Stark, which is also symbolized by the dead mother direwolf scene early on in A Game of Thrones.
Part II - The Smiling Knight
In my inversion chapter essay on The Soiled Knight, I’ve identified Robert Baratheon as the inversion of Arys Oakheart. Old Oak is the seat of House Oakheart and is located in the west end of the Reach on the shore of the Sunset Sea. West of Old Oak are the Shield Islands known as the Four Shields. It is the job of the people who live there to protect the Mander river from invaders. The mirrored reflection of Old Oak is Storm’s End, seat of House Baratheon and Robert’s home. The Soiled Knight inversion chapter describes an illicit affair between Arienne Martell and Arys Oakheart who I believe are mirroring Cersei Lannister and Robert Baratheon. Now that we know who Arys is mirroring we can move onto The Queenmaker inversion chapter and use this information to identify The Smiling Knight.
The Kingswood Brotherhood was an infamous outlaw organization that gained notoriety by kidnapping nobles and holding them for ransom. A ploy that echoes how Tywin and Kevan Lannister kidnapped nobles and held them for ransom in order to collect debts owed their father. As a matter of fact, Kevan married a former hostage, Dorna Swift.
The KWB got the king’s attention after an attack on Elia while traveling through the woods. An attack that ended with an injury taken by Ser Gerold Hightower. King Aerys II then sent a detachment of soldiers led by Ser Arthur Dayne to take care of the outlaws. I’d like to examine the members of the detachment, and compare them to the known members of the Kingswood Brotherhood.
The Members of the Detachment:
Ser Arthur Dayne - who led in Ser Hightower’s place
Ser Barristan Selmy
Lord Sumner Crakehall
Squire Merrett Frey
Squire Jaime Lannister
Known members of the Kingswood Brotherhood:
Simon Toyne - was the leader of the KWB
Smiling Knight - Jaime said he was “the Mountain of my boyhood. Half as big, twice as mad.”
Wenda the White Fawn
Oswyn Longneck - the Thrice-Hanged
Big Belly Ben - nearly killed Lord Crakehall, but was deterred by Jaime. Ben escaped capture.
Fletcher Dick - unknown fate
Ulmer - captured and sent to the Wall
Some readers wonder if Wenda the White Fawn was in fact Lyanna Stark. Was Wenda the White Fawn actually a member of the Kingswood Brotherhood, or was this just the story? Merrett Frey reports being captured by the KWB and that Wenda branded her trademark, a fawn onto the cheek of his ass. That’s the kind of crazy story that the common people would love to repeat, because it’s so provocative and exactly why I am wary to believe it.
I first got suspicious that the detachment of soldiers and the Kingswood Brotherhood were one and the same while working on the Queenmaker chapter. Since they have a reputation for kidnapping nobles, they seemed like they deserved further scrutiny.
When it comes to kidnapping, Ygritte and Arianne have something in common. They both told stories about the Red Wanderer being in the Moonmaid as being a good time to steal a woman.
The Moonmaid is a constellation, and the Red Wanderer is one of the Seven Wanderers visible in the sky over the known world. Colored red, it is associated with the Smith god by the Faith of the Seven. It therefore seems to be an analog to Mars. Among the Free Folk, the Red Wanderer is also known as the Thief. Supposedly when it is visible within the constellation of the Moonmaid it is a good time for a man to steal a woman. What Westerosi man best represents the Smith, who is symbolically like Mars the warrior god, and carried a hammer? What is also so great about the symbolic use of the number seven is that it connects the Faith to the kidnappers.
There is a passage in A Game of Thrones that caught my attention. After Cately kidnapped Tyrion, Tywin called his banners and sent out Ser Gregor Clegane to raid the riverlands, but curiously he and his men rode under cover of night, without banners:
Thank the gods for old Lord Hoster, then. Tywin Lannister was as much fox as lion. If indeed he’d sent Ser Gregor to burn and pillage— and Ned did not doubt that he had— he’d taken care to see that he rode under cover of night, without banners, in the guise of a common brigand. Should Riverrun strike back, Cersei and her father would insist that it had been the Tullys who broke the king’s peace, not the Lannisters. The gods only knew what Robert would believe.
The premise of my Eating the Dragon's Tail theory is that the present is a mirrored inversion of the past. The raiding party led by Ser Gregor Clegane of the present story is similar to the attack by the Kingswood Brotherhood which was said to have attacked Elia’s group. It is my belief that the Kingswood Brotherhood was a fake band of outlaws so named to conceal their true identities. Their attack on Elia’s group was meant to injure Ser Gerold Hightower and they may even have killed him and concealed his death with a disappearance, telling King Aerys II that he went south to fetch Rhaegar. The attack prompted King Aerys to send out a detachment led by Ser Arthur Dayne. It appears attempts were made by the others in the detachment to corrupt him, but he held true so the “outlaw” group planned to murder him. The Queenmaker chapter suggests that Ser Arthur Dayne escaped and is still alive in the current story disguised as Lem Lemoncloak.
The detachment now disguised as the outlaw group included Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, Sumner Crakehall, Merrett Frey, and Robert Baratheon who shows up later dressed in Rhaegar’s armor with Lyanna and Maester Walys in tow. For more details on how Robert got Lyanna and Maester Walys away, please read The Soiled Knight inversion essay.
It was stated in The Queenmaker inversion chapter that Arianne and Arys rode with Myrcella between them, Garin was next, followed closely by Spotted Sylva, with two Dornish knights bringing up the rear. Which should translate as Cersei and Robert with Lyanna between them, Jaime would be next, followed closely by Cersei’s childhood friend Melara Hetherspoon. Two Lannister guards would bring up the rear.
A quick explanation for why I am inserting Melara. Melara was Cersei’s childhood friend that she pushed down a well. She was a young girl with freckles, thus her inversion to Spotted Sylva, both of whom symbolize the death of a young girl. Cersei wouldn’t have been there, and Robert wouldn’t have arrived just yet. Spotted Sylva/Melara symbolizes Lyanna since the intent is to kill her. For a more complete explanation of how I’ve identified each person in the inversion chapter, please read my analysis of The Queenmaker.
Lets now re-examine the seven members by inverting Arianne’s group, combine them with the detachment, and then compare them to the named members of the Kingswood Brotherhood:
1) Arianne "the leader" becomes Simon Toyne the leader, who is actually Maester Walys (since I suspect a Citadel conspiracy)
2) Arys Oakheart becomes the Smiling Knight Robert Baratheon
3) Myrcella symbolically is Jaime, the Lannister of the group
4) Spotted Sylva/Melara becomes Lyanna since she’s the “dead girl” and Wenda the White Fawn (fawns are also spotted)
5) Garin is symbolically Sumner Crakehall, whom Jaime squired for
6) & 7) the Lannister guards would be Merrett Frey and Barristan Selmy
To expand on my suspicions regarding Maester Walys, lets examine how he may have been the leader of this plot. Maester Walys is Walys Flowers the bastard son of a Hightower girl and an Archmaester of the Citadel. Lady Barbery Ryswell implies that he instigated Lord Rickard’s “southron ambitions”. Being that Walys is the bastard son of an Archmaester, I think we can suspect a connection to the Citadel. There is some additional evidence that seems to point in this direction with regard to the author’s choice of the name of the leader of the Kingswood Brotherhood: Simon Toyne. A google search reveals that Simon Toyne is a British author whose best selling trio of books are titled: Sanctus, The Key, and The Tower.
A short summary from the back cover of Sanctus:
In the oldest inhabited place on earth, atop a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. The eyes of the world are on a group that has prized its secrets above all things. For the Sancti - the monks living inside the Citadel - this could mean the end of everything they have built and protected for millennia…and they will stop at nothing to keep what is theirs.
Seriously? I should also point out that in other book summaries they talk about a man jumping from a tower and how it was a symbolic message to the world. Substitute a woman jumping from a tower and it sounds eerily like ASOIAF.
I also found this in the wiki under the Tourney of Storm’s End:
Contradictions:
Lord Steffon Baratheon was sent on a mission to Essos in 278 AC, but he died during the return voyage. The tourney he hosted thus must have occurred by 278 AC at the latest. Barristan states that Rhaegar defeated Simon Toyne during the tourney, but Barristan's White Book entry lists the tourney as occurring after the defeat of the Kingswood Brotherhood (during which Barristan killed Simon) and before the Battle of the Trident. In the White Book entry, written by Ser Gerold Hightower (as he was the Lord Commander), the tourney is called "Lord Steffon's Tourney". The chronology of the entry would place the tourney years after Steffon's death, which is suggested as well by naming Robert Baratheon by the title of "Lord", as Robert became the Lord of Storm's End after Steffon's death, and possibly the fact that Jon Connington was described as "Lord" as well, while it is known that Connington, exiled during the Rebellion, ruled Griffin’s Roost as Lord only for a few short years.
When the discrepancy was brought to his attention, George R.R. Martin stated that Barristan's recollection of Simon's participation is incorrect and that the aged knight is confusing multiple historical tourneys. It seems therefore likely that Barristan mixed up multiple tourney's at Storm's End in his mind, one hosted by Lord Steffon before his death, and one hosted by Robert after Steffon's death.
The contradictions regarding the Tourney of Storm’s End may be attempts by Barristan Selmy to conceal his part in the kidnapping plot by creating a false backstory for Simon Toyne, who I believe was actually Maester Walys. We know he’s lying since he places the Tourney of Storm’s End after the defeat of the Kingswood Brotherhood where he also credits himself as killing Simon Toyne. How could Rhaegar have defeated a dead man in a tourney? It’s a pretty convenient tale since Rhaegar isn’t alive to discredit the claim.
How did Ser Barristan get so cozy with Robert Baratheon and have the balls to lie so convincingly to Dany about how loyal he was to her brother? Somehow there is a connection with Ser Barristan and Robert Baratheon to the Citadel which I am hoping Sam will reveal answers to since our author is telling us that the Sanctus is the Key to the Tower.
Part III - A Giant in Armor Made of Stone
Every flight begins with a fall, the crow said. Look down.
“I’m afraid …”
LOOK DOWN!
Bran looked down, and felt his insides turn to water. The ground was rushing up at him now. The whole world was spread out below him, a tapestry of white and brown and green. He could see everything so clearly that for a moment he forgot to be afraid. He could see the whole realm, and everyone in it.
He saw Winterfell as the eagles see it, the tall towers looking squat and stubby from above, the castle walls just lines in the dirt. He saw Maester Luwin on his balcony, studying the sky through a polished bronze tube and frowning as he made notes in a book. He saw his brother Robb, taller and stronger than he remembered him, practicing swordplay in the yard with real steel in his hand. He saw Hodor, the simple giant from the stables, carrying an anvil to Mikken’s forge, hefting it onto his shoulder as easily as another man might heft a bale of hay. 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.
He looked east, and saw a galley racing across the waters of the Bite. He saw his mother sitting alone in a cabin, looking at a bloodstained knife on a table in front of her, as the rowers pulled at their oars and Ser Rodrik leaned across a rail, shaking and heaving. A storm was gathering ahead of them, a vast dark roaring lashed by lightning, but somehow they could not see it.
He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.
He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.
Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived.
North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks.
Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live.
“Why?” Bran said, not understanding, falling, falling.
Because winter is coming.
There have been many discussions on the identity of the giant in stone armor full of black blood and many theories do seem to fit. I myself have been a proponet that the stone giant is Littlefinger, but I’ve also read convincing arguments that it’s Ser Ilyn Payne, however I am now beginning to suspect that the stone giant’s identity is much bigger in size and strength than any one man and am influenced by GRRM’s modeling of the Faith of the Seven on the Catholic Church.
The Faith and it’s Citadel are the looming giant in armor made of stone with nothing but darkness and thick black blood inside. This is the true enemy that Bloodraven and the Children are assembling forces against. The Faith encouraged the Storm God disguised as The Smiling Knight to kidnap the Moonmaid in order to prevent ice magic from returning to power, and it has led to the near extinction of House Stark. It remains to be revealed what part the Others may play in this, but there is a small nagging thought in the back of my mind that the plan is to bring both ice and fire magic back into the realm to destroy the Faith of the Seven.
One of the earliest stories of Westeros is the one about the Last Hero who I believe was the first Stark in Winterfell, and Brandon the Builder. Brandon was a human that became endeared to the Children and to whom they first extended guest right. There are rules that the old gods hold high in importance and protection from enemies while under guest right seems to imply that the Children have failed to protect the Starks from the Faith of the Seven. The coming battle that has summoned both ice and fire are the weapons that the Children will use to reset the wheel of time to the place where they feel they’ve made a terrible mistake: the time where they destroyed the First Men by conjuring the comet.