Post by Some Pig No Doubt on Jun 10, 2017 5:17:09 GMT
Work in progress.
Pondering on this great mystery of the three heads - what they are, who they might correspond to in current story, equivalents in other cultures, etc. Equally, GRRM's cagey statement that the dragon does have three heads, but one of the heads may not necessarily BE a Targaryen (dragon).
That led me to thoughts of Cerberus, the three-headed Hound of Hades that guards the entrance to the Underworld in Greek mythology. Cerberus not only sports the three heads, he is a true chimera that also has a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body - so part dog, part reptile. (Ironically, one of Cerberus' brothers is none other than Chimera himself.)
Marvel has an equivalent, of course - Garm (Thor Annual #5, September 1976), the monstrous watchdog/wolf that guards the entrance to Hel, realm of the underworld for those that did not die a glorious death in battle and therefore don't go on to Valhalla. Hel is ruled by the goddess Hela, who I will get to in a second. In Marvel world, Garm only has one head, and is female. Garm will be slain by Tyr, the Norse god of war and heroic glory and one of Asgard's greatest defenders, who also happens to be one-handed after losing his left hand in a violent manner (detail below). Fun fact: Marvel Tyr (Journey into Mystery #85,Oct 1962) "now wears a gold ornamental prosthetic of sorts as a replacement."
Interestingly, Marvel also has its version of the Fenris Wolf, and this the one on which I want to focus - the Marvelverse and the real Norse mythos has conflation here, so I'll roll it all into one.
Fenrir or the Fenris Wolf (Journey into Mystery #114 March 1965), in Norse mythology/Marvel canon - born of Loki and giantess Angerboda/Angrboða.
Angerboda = also known as "Mother of Monsters". Catchy, no?
Parent talk:
Loki (Journey into Mystery #85, October 1962)- Asgardian god, adopted son of Odin, offspring of ice giants from realm of Jotunheim. Trickster, shapeshifter. We know about him so won't go into that. (Or I will, eventually, but not in this thread.)
Angerboda (Thor #360, October 1985): powerful witch goddess. Angerboda had the ability of shapeshifting into animals. Keep this in mind for a minute.
Angrboða is mentioned in the Norse Poetic Edda. From Wikipedia:
"The poem Völuspá (stanzas 40–41 in most editions) speaks of a giantess dwelling in Járnvid ('Iron-wood') whom commentators usually identify with Angrboða (and the Iárnvidia of the list of troll-wives):
The giantess old in Ironwood sat,
In the east, and bore the brood of Fenrir;
Among these one in monster's guise
Was soon to steal the sun from the sky.
There feeds he full on the flesh of the dead,
And the home of the gods he reddens with gore;
Dark grows the sun, and in summer soon
Come mighty storms: would you know yet more? "
Or, if you prefer the less lyrical version:
"A witch dwells to the east of Midgard, in the forest called Ironwood: in that wood dwell the troll-women, who are known as Ironwood-Women [Iárnvidjur]. The old witch bears many giants for sons, and all in the shape of wolves; and from this source are these wolves sprung. The saying runs thus: from this race shall come one that shall be mightiest of all, he that is named Moon-Hound [Mánagarm]; he shall be filled with the flesh of all those men that die, and he shall swallow the moon, and sprinkle with blood the heavens and all the lair; thereof-shall the sun lose her shining, and the winds in that day shall be unquiet and roar on every side."
So, a witch bears a wolf that begats a line of wolves, and the mightiest of these shall be called Managarm, and this Great Wolf shall one day smite all in his path, swallowing the moon, bringing about a Great Darkness and the Winds of Winter. Dayum. Will return to Managarm in a sec.
Loki and Angerboda actually produce THREE great and monstrous children:
1) Fenrir the Wolf. From Encyclopedia Mythica:
There's not much different about the Marvel Fenris wolf, beyond that it's a Class 100+ strength character and can shift back and forth between wolf form and wolfy-humanoid form. Also, Fenris Wolf is a true carnivore, and snacks on people...with a twist. "Fenris Wolf learned that he could not only become stronger as he ate more people, but he could also take on the form of his latest victim -making him a literal "wolf in sheep's clothing." " Second life, anyone? Oh, and he has red eyes, too. Otherwise, Marvel Fenris is still predicted to bring about Ragnarok same as his mythological counterpart.
(Side note 1: I find it intriguing that the god Tyr - who has association with Jaime Lannister, in case you didn't catch that above with the golden hand and all - lost his hand in the first place because his bravery/arrogance/hubris led him to screw with a wolf. If you think about it, Jaime Lannister pushed Bran Stark out of a window, an act that set in motion the Wot5K...so in a roundabout way, it could be said that Jaime lost HIS hand because his bravery/arrogance/hubris led him to screw with a wolf.)
(Side note 2: Also, if you refer back to the famous 1993 plot synopsis, you see that GRRM had initially made Tyrion out to be much more like brother Jaime - more of a brave warrior type. It doesn't seem to imply that he was a dwarf, either. There's a good chance that GRRM is having both Jaime AND Tyrion take on various aspects of the Tyr role in Norse legend. Interesting that in both the mythology and the Marvelverse, Tyr goes through periods of rebellion against his own family and at times actively seeks to bring Odin's downfall (he is a son of Odin, btw), but he always ends up realigning with his blood ties...particularly during the events of Ragnarok - in Marvel, Tyr fights alongside Thor and Odin against Surtur the fire demon, and sadly meets his death during this battle. The 1993 synopsis has Tyrion eventually breaking allegiance with Jaime and the Lannisters and allying himself with the Starks, so I'm eager to see what will play out in current story now that both men are channeling Tyr.)
2) Jormungand the Midgard Serpent. Again from Encyclopedia Mythica:
Again, not much difference with the Marvel Midgard Serpent (Marvel Tales #105, February 1952), although there is this nifty tidbit: Jormungand can manipulate time - which totally makes sense if you think of him as a giant ouroboros / time as a wheel etc. When he wakes from his slumber and becomes solid, he can freeze time for everyone except Asgardians like Thor - hundreds of years can pass in the blink of an eye; time can move forward and backward, etc. Oddly, this makes me think of the caves and tunnel systems, and the weirwood roots with their attached "sleepers" winding deep underground....weirwoods serving as the land version of Jormungand, encircling the earth. This idea neatly ties into the other famous Norse reptile (that people often confuse with Jormungand) , Nidhogg - the dragon that perpetually gnaws on the roots of Yddgrasil the World Tree.
3) Hela/Hel, Goddess of Death, ruler of Asgard's northernmost kingdoms of the dead, Niflheim and Helheim. From EM:
Marvel Hela (Journey into Mystery #102, March 1964) has actually been pretty well developed out as a character and has been fairly prolific in the Thor arcs, so I won't go into much detail about her various roles and devious machinations. This sentence sums things up well: "Unlike her original inspiration death goddess Hel, Hela exists alongside many other pantheons death gods and goddesses, and as such she has over time been shown to interact, plot and war with such other characters." She's been all up in Thor & Odin's shit on the regular and has partnered with Loki to bring down his adoptive family several times...but the big takeaway here is that, in the Marvelverse, Hela also actively works to bring about Ragnarok - mainly because this is a way to get her hands on Valhalla, as her longtime goal is to wrest the Hall of Heroes and its dead away from Odin. She often commandeers and controls all the (likewise dead) occupants of Helheim to further these plans as well.
So, to recap, Loki's children include one Great Wolf, one Great Serpent, and one powerful Ice Queen of Death. Three heads from the one body Angerboda.
Another interesting tidbit about these kids:
"It is also believed that it is because both parents are shapeshifters that the children came out thus, their form corresponding to the form of their parents during their intercourses." Hmmmm. So Loki and Angerboda got busy at respective times as wolves, dragons, death gods.
What to make of all this? First, let me return to Garm/Managarm and the significance of this wolf. In the Norse mythology, Managarm - the wolf who will snatch the moon and bring tabout the darkness - is thought to be a person: Hati Hróðvitnisson (first name meaning "He Who Hates", or "Enemy"). Hati is the SON of Fenrir - he and his brother Skoll along with father Fenrir are designated in the mythology as wargs (which in Nordic terms is really just a particularly large and evil wolf, not specifically a skinchanger, although all three certainly have that ability). (FWIW, Hati never appears in the Marvelverse but Skoll does show up as a Wolf God in Journey Into Mystery #101, February 1964.)
Unsurprisingly, Garm and Fenrir are comingled as one wolf-being in a lot of the old stories, and Marvel picks up and runs with that ball too - most of the 'real' backstory for Garm is attributed to Fenrir himself in the comics, and this also applies to "son of Garm" type deeds as well. For example, from the Garm entry on EM:
Compared to the Fenris Wolf from Marvel (via Comic Vine):
Re: that celestial body swallowing:
In legend, Skoll is a wolf that chases the Sun (fire), and Hati is the wolf that chases the Moon (ice): eventually, as the prophecy goes, during Ragnarok both Skoll and Hati will finally succeed in their quest; both the sun, and perhaps more pertinently, the Moon, will be destroyed. This act releases Fenrir from his bondage as the earth and sky darken, and a now unshackled Fenrir will subsequently kill and devour Odin. This is Ragnarok.
On the flip side, the name Skoll means "Treachery" - meaning, there is the chance that Skoll will perhaps betray his family and refuse to swallow the sun, thereby dooming his father & preventing his escape, stopping Ragnarok, and saving the Asgardians and humanity.
*****
My point (did I have a point? I don't remember) is that I can see the interweaving of Norse legend and Marvel arcs in ASOIAF - powerful Old Gods, a major enemy, prophecy, armies of the undead, a line of skinchanging "wolves" descended from a Great Wolf, plus One Wolf to End Them All and in the Darkness Eat Them....but in the background, a glimmer of hope that this fate can be averted. I think of the times we have debated on who the real antagonists of the story might be, and what role the Stark kids - particularly Bran and Jon - will play in the upcoming Battle for the Dawn, and based on this I'm wondering if one or both are (unwittingly) going to come down on the "wrong" side of Westerosi history.
With regard to the title of the thread and what the hell three heads of a dragon have to do with Norse mythology and Marvel comics, my guiding thought was that either:
A) the dragon's three heads are the three monster 'siblings' : wolf, serpent, undead ice queen (or Night's King, as the case may be), represented of course by our favorite Westerosi All-Stars, all playing significant roles in getting Ragnarok to come to pass;
or
B) the dragon NEEDS three heads of its own to battle each of the three wolves that are destined to assist in the ushering in of Ragnarok/the destruction of the moon/the Long Night. (The prophecy may have missed the part about the Judas brother wolf...and my gut tells me this may turn out to be the most important part of the tale.)
I think an interesting case can be made for both from the text in terms of the PtwP prophecy, Azor Ahai and the three temperings of Lightbringer, and Rhaegar naming Aegon's song as that of Ice and Fire. Curious to see what others think.
Pondering on this great mystery of the three heads - what they are, who they might correspond to in current story, equivalents in other cultures, etc. Equally, GRRM's cagey statement that the dragon does have three heads, but one of the heads may not necessarily BE a Targaryen (dragon).
That led me to thoughts of Cerberus, the three-headed Hound of Hades that guards the entrance to the Underworld in Greek mythology. Cerberus not only sports the three heads, he is a true chimera that also has a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body - so part dog, part reptile. (Ironically, one of Cerberus' brothers is none other than Chimera himself.)
Marvel has an equivalent, of course - Garm (Thor Annual #5, September 1976), the monstrous watchdog/wolf that guards the entrance to Hel, realm of the underworld for those that did not die a glorious death in battle and therefore don't go on to Valhalla. Hel is ruled by the goddess Hela, who I will get to in a second. In Marvel world, Garm only has one head, and is female. Garm will be slain by Tyr, the Norse god of war and heroic glory and one of Asgard's greatest defenders, who also happens to be one-handed after losing his left hand in a violent manner (detail below). Fun fact: Marvel Tyr (Journey into Mystery #85,Oct 1962) "now wears a gold ornamental prosthetic of sorts as a replacement."
Interestingly, Marvel also has its version of the Fenris Wolf, and this the one on which I want to focus - the Marvelverse and the real Norse mythos has conflation here, so I'll roll it all into one.
Fenrir or the Fenris Wolf (Journey into Mystery #114 March 1965), in Norse mythology/Marvel canon - born of Loki and giantess Angerboda/Angrboða.
Angerboda = also known as "Mother of Monsters". Catchy, no?
Parent talk:
Loki (Journey into Mystery #85, October 1962)- Asgardian god, adopted son of Odin, offspring of ice giants from realm of Jotunheim. Trickster, shapeshifter. We know about him so won't go into that. (Or I will, eventually, but not in this thread.)
Angerboda (Thor #360, October 1985): powerful witch goddess. Angerboda had the ability of shapeshifting into animals. Keep this in mind for a minute.
Angrboða is mentioned in the Norse Poetic Edda. From Wikipedia:
"The poem Völuspá (stanzas 40–41 in most editions) speaks of a giantess dwelling in Járnvid ('Iron-wood') whom commentators usually identify with Angrboða (and the Iárnvidia of the list of troll-wives):
The giantess old in Ironwood sat,
In the east, and bore the brood of Fenrir;
Among these one in monster's guise
Was soon to steal the sun from the sky.
There feeds he full on the flesh of the dead,
And the home of the gods he reddens with gore;
Dark grows the sun, and in summer soon
Come mighty storms: would you know yet more? "
Or, if you prefer the less lyrical version:
"A witch dwells to the east of Midgard, in the forest called Ironwood: in that wood dwell the troll-women, who are known as Ironwood-Women [Iárnvidjur]. The old witch bears many giants for sons, and all in the shape of wolves; and from this source are these wolves sprung. The saying runs thus: from this race shall come one that shall be mightiest of all, he that is named Moon-Hound [Mánagarm]; he shall be filled with the flesh of all those men that die, and he shall swallow the moon, and sprinkle with blood the heavens and all the lair; thereof-shall the sun lose her shining, and the winds in that day shall be unquiet and roar on every side."
So, a witch bears a wolf that begats a line of wolves, and the mightiest of these shall be called Managarm, and this Great Wolf shall one day smite all in his path, swallowing the moon, bringing about a Great Darkness and the Winds of Winter. Dayum. Will return to Managarm in a sec.
Loki and Angerboda actually produce THREE great and monstrous children:
1) Fenrir the Wolf. From Encyclopedia Mythica:
Fenrir (or Fenris) is a gigantic and terrible monster in the shape of a wolf. He is the eldest child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. The gods learned of a prophecy which stated that the wolf and his family would one day be responsible for the destruction of the world. They caught the wolf and locked him in a cage. Only the god of war, Tyr, dared to feed and take care of the wolf.
When he was still a pup they had nothing to fear, but when the gods saw one day how he had grown, they decided to render him harmless. However, none of the gods had enough courage to face the gigantic wolf. Instead, they tried to trick him. T hey said the wolf was weak and could never break free when he was chained. Fenrir accepted the challenge and let the gods chain him. Unfortunately, he was so immensely strong that he managed to break the strongest fetters as if they were cobwebs.
After that, the gods saw only one alternative left: a magic chain. They ordered the dwarves to make something so strong that it could hold the wolf. The result was a soft, thin ribbon: Gleipnir. It was incredibly strong, despite what its size and appearance might suggest. The ribbon was fashioned of six strange elements: the footstep of a cat; the roots of a mountain; a woman's beard; the breath of fishes; the sinews of a bear; and a bird's spittle.
The gods tried to trick the wolf again, only this time Fenrir was less eager to show his strength. He saw how thin the chain was, and said that was no pride in breaking such a weak chain. Eventually, though, he agreed, thinking that otherwise his strength and courage would be doubted. Suspecting treachery however, he in turn asked the gods for a token of good will: one of them had to put a hand between his jaws. The gods were not overly eager to do this, knowing what they could expect. Finally, only Tyr agreed, and the gods chained the wolf with Gleipnir. No matter how hard Fenrir struggled, he could not break free from this thin ribbon. In revenge, he bit off Tyr's hand.
Being very pleased with themselves, the gods carried Fenrir off and chained him to a rock (called Gioll) a mile down into the earth. They put a sword between his jaws to prevent him from biting. [Brings to mind an iron sword laid across a lap.] On the day of Ragnarok, Fenrir will break his chains and join the [frost] giants in their battle against the gods. He will seek out Odin and devour him. Vidar, Odin's son, will avenge his father by killing the wolf.
When he was still a pup they had nothing to fear, but when the gods saw one day how he had grown, they decided to render him harmless. However, none of the gods had enough courage to face the gigantic wolf. Instead, they tried to trick him. T hey said the wolf was weak and could never break free when he was chained. Fenrir accepted the challenge and let the gods chain him. Unfortunately, he was so immensely strong that he managed to break the strongest fetters as if they were cobwebs.
After that, the gods saw only one alternative left: a magic chain. They ordered the dwarves to make something so strong that it could hold the wolf. The result was a soft, thin ribbon: Gleipnir. It was incredibly strong, despite what its size and appearance might suggest. The ribbon was fashioned of six strange elements: the footstep of a cat; the roots of a mountain; a woman's beard; the breath of fishes; the sinews of a bear; and a bird's spittle.
The gods tried to trick the wolf again, only this time Fenrir was less eager to show his strength. He saw how thin the chain was, and said that was no pride in breaking such a weak chain. Eventually, though, he agreed, thinking that otherwise his strength and courage would be doubted. Suspecting treachery however, he in turn asked the gods for a token of good will: one of them had to put a hand between his jaws. The gods were not overly eager to do this, knowing what they could expect. Finally, only Tyr agreed, and the gods chained the wolf with Gleipnir. No matter how hard Fenrir struggled, he could not break free from this thin ribbon. In revenge, he bit off Tyr's hand.
Being very pleased with themselves, the gods carried Fenrir off and chained him to a rock (called Gioll) a mile down into the earth. They put a sword between his jaws to prevent him from biting. [Brings to mind an iron sword laid across a lap.] On the day of Ragnarok, Fenrir will break his chains and join the [frost] giants in their battle against the gods. He will seek out Odin and devour him. Vidar, Odin's son, will avenge his father by killing the wolf.
(Side note 1: I find it intriguing that the god Tyr - who has association with Jaime Lannister, in case you didn't catch that above with the golden hand and all - lost his hand in the first place because his bravery/arrogance/hubris led him to screw with a wolf. If you think about it, Jaime Lannister pushed Bran Stark out of a window, an act that set in motion the Wot5K...so in a roundabout way, it could be said that Jaime lost HIS hand because his bravery/arrogance/hubris led him to screw with a wolf.)
(Side note 2: Also, if you refer back to the famous 1993 plot synopsis, you see that GRRM had initially made Tyrion out to be much more like brother Jaime - more of a brave warrior type. It doesn't seem to imply that he was a dwarf, either. There's a good chance that GRRM is having both Jaime AND Tyrion take on various aspects of the Tyr role in Norse legend. Interesting that in both the mythology and the Marvelverse, Tyr goes through periods of rebellion against his own family and at times actively seeks to bring Odin's downfall (he is a son of Odin, btw), but he always ends up realigning with his blood ties...particularly during the events of Ragnarok - in Marvel, Tyr fights alongside Thor and Odin against Surtur the fire demon, and sadly meets his death during this battle. The 1993 synopsis has Tyrion eventually breaking allegiance with Jaime and the Lannisters and allying himself with the Starks, so I'm eager to see what will play out in current story now that both men are channeling Tyr.)
2) Jormungand the Midgard Serpent. Again from Encyclopedia Mythica:
In Norse mythology, Jormungand is one of the three children of the god Loki and his wife, the giantess Angrboda. The gods were well aware that this monster was growing fast and that it would one day bring much evil upon gods and men. So Odin deemed it advisable to render it harmless. He threw the serpent in the ocean that surrounds the earth, but the monster had grown to such an enormous size that it easily spans the entire world, hence the name Midgard Serpent. It lies deep in the ocean where it bites itself in its tail [Ouroboros!! Deep ocean!! Planetos Ring of Fire!!! (blatant hat tip to my thread)] and all mankind is caught within his coils. At the destruction of the universe [Ragnarok], Jormungand and Thor will kill each other. [Recall that I have identified Thor's counterpart as Rhaegar in pre-story and Dany in current story, so this has interesting story implications.]
3) Hela/Hel, Goddess of Death, ruler of Asgard's northernmost kingdoms of the dead, Niflheim and Helheim. From EM:
Niflheim ("house of mists") is the far northern region of icy fogs and mists, darkness and cold. It is situated on the lowest level of the universe. The realm of death, Helheim is part of the vast, cold region. Niflheim lies underneath the third root of Yggdrasil, close to the spring Hvergelmir ("roaring cauldron") [again, volcanoes, people!!]. Also situated on this level is Nastrond, the Shore of Corpses, where the serpent Nidhogg eats corpses and gnaws on the roots of Yggdrasil. After Ragnarok, there will be a hall here for the punishment of murderers, oath breakers, and philanderers. [A frozen hell reserved for Starks?] Hel is the ruler of Helheim, the realm of the dead. She is the youngest child of the evil god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. She is usually described as a horrible hag, half alive and half dead, with a gloomy and grim expression. Her face and body are those of a living woman, but her thighs and legs are those of a corpse, mottled and moldering.
So, to recap, Loki's children include one Great Wolf, one Great Serpent, and one powerful Ice Queen of Death. Three heads from the one body Angerboda.
Another interesting tidbit about these kids:
"It is also believed that it is because both parents are shapeshifters that the children came out thus, their form corresponding to the form of their parents during their intercourses." Hmmmm. So Loki and Angerboda got busy at respective times as wolves, dragons, death gods.
What to make of all this? First, let me return to Garm/Managarm and the significance of this wolf. In the Norse mythology, Managarm - the wolf who will snatch the moon and bring tabout the darkness - is thought to be a person: Hati Hróðvitnisson (first name meaning "He Who Hates", or "Enemy"). Hati is the SON of Fenrir - he and his brother Skoll along with father Fenrir are designated in the mythology as wargs (which in Nordic terms is really just a particularly large and evil wolf, not specifically a skinchanger, although all three certainly have that ability). (FWIW, Hati never appears in the Marvelverse but Skoll does show up as a Wolf God in Journey Into Mystery #101, February 1964.)
Unsurprisingly, Garm and Fenrir are comingled as one wolf-being in a lot of the old stories, and Marvel picks up and runs with that ball too - most of the 'real' backstory for Garm is attributed to Fenrir himself in the comics, and this also applies to "son of Garm" type deeds as well. For example, from the Garm entry on EM:
On the day of Ragnarok, Garm will join the giants in their fight against the gods. The god of war Tyr will kill it in this cataclysmic battle but will die from the wounds inflicted by the hound.
Compared to the Fenris Wolf from Marvel (via Comic Vine):
Fenris the Wolf, Demon spawn of Loki, destined on the day of Ragnarok to break his bonds and to stand at the side of his father Loki, as they ushered in the Twilight of the Gods. Fenris wolf once more came back to life during Ragnarok to swallow Asgard's Sun and Moon assisting the bringing of Ragnarok.
Re: that celestial body swallowing:
In legend, Skoll is a wolf that chases the Sun (fire), and Hati is the wolf that chases the Moon (ice): eventually, as the prophecy goes, during Ragnarok both Skoll and Hati will finally succeed in their quest; both the sun, and perhaps more pertinently, the Moon, will be destroyed. This act releases Fenrir from his bondage as the earth and sky darken, and a now unshackled Fenrir will subsequently kill and devour Odin. This is Ragnarok.
On the flip side, the name Skoll means "Treachery" - meaning, there is the chance that Skoll will perhaps betray his family and refuse to swallow the sun, thereby dooming his father & preventing his escape, stopping Ragnarok, and saving the Asgardians and humanity.
*****
My point (did I have a point? I don't remember) is that I can see the interweaving of Norse legend and Marvel arcs in ASOIAF - powerful Old Gods, a major enemy, prophecy, armies of the undead, a line of skinchanging "wolves" descended from a Great Wolf, plus One Wolf to End Them All and in the Darkness Eat Them....but in the background, a glimmer of hope that this fate can be averted. I think of the times we have debated on who the real antagonists of the story might be, and what role the Stark kids - particularly Bran and Jon - will play in the upcoming Battle for the Dawn, and based on this I'm wondering if one or both are (unwittingly) going to come down on the "wrong" side of Westerosi history.
With regard to the title of the thread and what the hell three heads of a dragon have to do with Norse mythology and Marvel comics, my guiding thought was that either:
A) the dragon's three heads are the three monster 'siblings' : wolf, serpent, undead ice queen (or Night's King, as the case may be), represented of course by our favorite Westerosi All-Stars, all playing significant roles in getting Ragnarok to come to pass;
or
B) the dragon NEEDS three heads of its own to battle each of the three wolves that are destined to assist in the ushering in of Ragnarok/the destruction of the moon/the Long Night. (The prophecy may have missed the part about the Judas brother wolf...and my gut tells me this may turn out to be the most important part of the tale.)
I think an interesting case can be made for both from the text in terms of the PtwP prophecy, Azor Ahai and the three temperings of Lightbringer, and Rhaegar naming Aegon's song as that of Ice and Fire. Curious to see what others think.
