# wolf and devour

[diangelosdays]

i may be a little obsessed with wesper

[palaeosinensis]

Took a piece from my sketchbook & reinked it digitally while being sure to crank the idea to 11. It did not begin as a Watership Down work but the quote felt very appropriate. It's a marvelous book. This art might mark the first complete work with a boxwolf.

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Something rubbed against his leg beneath the table. Jon saw red eyes staring up at him. “Hungry again?” he asked. There was still half a honeyed chicken in the center of the table. Jon reached out to tear off a leg, then had a better idea. He knifed the bird whole and let the carcass slide to the floor between his legs. Ghost ripped into it in savage silence. His brothers and sisters had not been permitted to bring their wolves to the banquet, but there were more curs than Jon could count at this end of the hall, and no one had said a word about his pup. He told himself he was fortunate in that too. His eyes stung. Jon rubbed at them savagely, cursing the smoke. He swallowed another gulp of wine and watched his direwolf devour the chicken. Dogs moved between the tables, trailing after the serving girls. One of them, a black mongrel bitch with long yellow eyes, caught a scent of the chicken. She stopped and edged under the bench to get a share. Jon watched the confrontation. The bitch growled low in her throat and moved closer. Ghost looked up, silent, and fixed the dog with those hot red eyes. The bitch snapped an angry challenge. She was three times the size of the direwolf pup. Ghost did not move. He stood over his prize and opened his mouth, baring his fangs. The bitch tensed, barked again, then thought better of this fight. She turned and slunk away, with one last defiant snap to save her pride. Ghost went back to his meal. Jon grinned and reached under the table to ruffle the shaggy white fur. The direwolf looked up at him, nipped gently at his hand, then went back to eating.

Jon I, AGOT

It's interesting that GRRM would dedicate several paragraphs to a seemingly unimportant exchange between a boy, his wolf, and an unfriendly third party. But there's just something about this passage that has continued to nag at me for years since I first read it because, considering how heavy handed GRRM was with the foreshadowing in AGOT, this feels important.

Jon is sitting at table full of squires - aka would be knights. We don't really know who they are or what families they belong to, but it's safe to assume that they come from a certain level of privilege; this is considering the fact that it cannot be financially easy to be a squire. And these boys already have a slew of tales detailing all their previous knightly exploits regarding "battle and bedding and the hunt" which suggests that they have some capital. So you have boys who will soon be men. And they will, presumably, become men of some power.

These lads eat their fill of the chicken until only half remains, which Jon then gives to Ghost. The direwolf's name is not so important here but what he represents is. Throughout the series, we're told that Ghost is reminiscent of the weirwood trees (because of his red eyes and white fur). He's stated to be of and from the Old Gods and since he's a personification of the weirwoods, he might as well be one of them. It's almost as if Jon is presenting whatever is left on the table to the Old Gods (Ghost). He lets them devour his offerings while he silently watches. And the motif of watching is so interesting here because it's kind of like Jon takes on a stewardship role - to watch over land/people/etc. He oversees Ghost eating the chicken, so he's overseeing whatever has been given to the Old Gods. This is not new imagery to his arc. As a brother of the Night's Watch and eventually its leader, we have several instances where he leads people to adopting the Old Gods in some fashion. In ADWD, several recruits swear their vows to the Old Gods while he watches on as their Lord Commander. The Old Gods are also primarily of the North and we're told that Jon has more of the north in him than his brothers; interesting that this also includes Bran. So perhaps whatever is being offered to the Old Gods relates to the North.

We must also note that Jon initially thinks to give only a small portion, a leg, before pivoting and providing the entire thing. It feels to me a bit like the process of carving up a kingdom or something similar. The lords (represented by the squires) take what they want and leave aside what they don't; or perhaps they have eaten to their fill and can take no more. Then when his time comes, Jon first considers a small piece of land/group of people before eventually absorbing all of whatever is left behind. The concept of carving up a kingdom rings harder considering that we have several callbacks to the ideals of kingship in this chapter. Robert, Jaime, Tyrion, and even Mance though we don't know it yet, all play into this. And then there's the aspect of Jon letting the chicken slip between his legs which evokes birth/fatherhood, a very curious choice when GRRM could've just had Jon place the chicken on the floor. So land/people are carved up and Jon then uses whatever is left to birth his own type of kingdom. And this kingdom is one for the Old Gods.

This also touches on something that has been quite prevalent throughout Jon's arc. It's the concept of accepting the "others" or "those left over" who live apart from the accepted social norms. Arya (a tomboy), Sam (a gender non-confirming boy), the Night's Watch (criminals, extra sons, and men who have no future left or place to go), and even the wildlings are all examples of this. And Jon takes on a leadership/paternal role to every single one of them. He looks after them as a leader would/should. Sometimes, in the case of Arya and the wildlings, he's equated to a king. He's a steward/shepherd/king. There's messianic undertones to this:

Come unto me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).

If you're familiar with Judeo-Christian tradition, you'll know that Jesus is often personified as one who spent the majority his time among the outcasts. The idea is that he came to save them too and that anew kingdom (or new earth depending on your translation) would spring up after the end of the world where he would forever rule as king; which presents the idea of a final king after the earthly ones are done away with. Now GRRM isn't so heavy handed with Christian allusions as other authors out there, but he does have a Catholic background and Jon is so overtly a Jesus figure. And in Revelation, Jesus is king and god at the very end....

One last thing: the mention of the mongrel who challenges Jon has always been rather interesting but confusing to me. A mongrel doesn't really relate to one specific type of dog. But it's interesting that Jon notes several roaming about where he is. They follow the serving girls who carry the food to be offered. Mongrels are used to describe antagonist/villainous groups in ASOIAF. Sometimes, they're used to describe slavers in Essos. But what's interesting is that most of the time, they're used to describe Euron's Ironborn especially in Victorian's POV. So I don't think the mongrel who challenges Ghost is a supernatural threat of death (i.e., the Others) but rather a human one. They represent those who are called to the scene once the lords have finished playing their games. It almost feels like a feast for (carrion) crows....

But it doesn't really matter because this mongrel isn't much of a challenge for Ghost. Though the mongrel is much larger, the direwolf is able to fend her off very effortlessly. Given that "mongrel" is used to describe Ironborn raiders, could this exchange between Ghost and the mongrel point to reavers or sea raiders who rise and fail challenge Jon kingdom? There is a historical King Jon Stark who did this....

When sea raiders landed in the east, Jon drove them out and built a castle, the Wolf's Den, at the mouth of the White Knife, so as to be able to defend the mouth of the river.[1][2] His son, Rickard, followed him on the throne and annexed the Neck to the north.

ref.

So this might shed some light not only on Jon's already published arc, but also on what we can expect in the future. We have some foreshadowing through Jon's ADWD dream that he will not only rise with the dawn (thereby live through the Long Night), but will be in a position to lead people (wildings in that chapter) to a new peace after a hard fought war. Also remember that the wildlings, rather enthusiastically, swear oaths to him as if swearing oaths to their king. In this instance, the supernatural (a dream of the war for the dawn) is followed by the natural/human. So perhaps this particular passage (and Jon's dream) can be used to predict that Jon comes out on top, and quite effortlessly too, as a leader. And he becomes a leader who rules by association with the Old Gods; or rules a kingdom for them.

To end, I think it's of note that this passage immediately precedes Jon's conversation with Benjen where he voices his desire to go out on his own - the hero's call to action. This is the adventure that's going to kickstart his growth as a man, warrior and most importantly, a leader. So it looks like before we even began, GRRM telegraphed how it would all end in just three short paragraphs.

[paddooo]

nico is so lamb to the slaughter coded to me. And yet he refuses to be slaughtered

[ostrichchariot]

And is the very act of growing up not inherently devouring your past self? Containing it within your being and having it not be you, but still, and always, a part of you?

Is growing up not an act of destruction as much as it is an act of creation? Is it not right and good that your past self could not live forever, because otherwise you would never have come into being?

Is it not an act of love to keep that self inside you, to consume it and devour it and have it carry you forward, rather than killing it senselessly and leaving it to rot?

To bring something into being is to acknowledge that someday it will end. To carry something inside you is to let it live that small bit longer, and to say that you wish for it to be close to you.

[fruifruit]

little goody two shoes has a GRIP on me i tell you. got inspired by this art to make a full furry au about it

[mojinchiimanga]

[potatotrash0]

I think it’d be funny to put darkwick in a fairy tale au, if only to cast Sinostra for Snow White with Romeo as the evil queen and Taiga as the prince

Except Taiga doesn’t even kiss MC, he gets hungry and like. Licks some dried blood off the corner of her mouth or smth and it’s close enough to count (he gets distracted shortly after by the “dwarves” who are just anomalies from the nearby cave. He gets dirt and coal stuck in his teeth)

Also Romeo as an old hag………I like to think MC didn’t even do anything, he was going after Kaito and somehow his lackeys got MC instead. He also dunked the apple fully thinking that his lackeys made it a deadly poison as requested. No one tell him that they picked up a sleeping agent and went after the wrong target, so many people will get laid off………..

[hairtusk]

anyway look at my most recent book purchases

[texaschainsawmascara]

The Company of Wolves / Hemlock Grove / Devouring Mother - Roxanne Jackson

[fieriframes]

[She was a wolf. She was death, devourer of the worlds.]

[verysmallcyborg]

i have very normal achievement goals. very sane and normal pvp enjoyer and fisher methinks. with a crumb of hunt trains

[foxdies]

very quick scribble from the other day of minthara and my chaotic evil durge cassara

[knifeeater]

Interview with the Vampire ... After the Phantoms of Your Former Self | Francisco Goya Saturn Devouring His Son | Johann U. Krauss Pélops ressuscité | Homer The Odyssey transl. Emily Wilson | Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire | Tantalus | Interview with the Vampire ...The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child's Demanding | Euripides An Oresteia transl. Anne Carson | Interview with the Vampire A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart | Interview with the Vampire Like Angels Put in Hell by God | Christa Wolf Medea transl. John Cullen | Ruth Comfort Mitchell The Sin Eater

[tomdarsh]

you ever get really excited about something but you have no one to tell it to because it’s

a. too weird

b. you have 2 friends (like me lol) and you’ve already used your texting privileges and can’t text again till they respond out of fear of seeming desperate (i am VERY desperate)

[layraket]

Happy (belated) birthday! Have a creatures gang Legend and Hyrule!

OMG ITS THEM!!! THE LITTLE CREATURES EVER!! TADDY IM HUGGING YOU AND SENDING YOU MY THANKS TELEPATHICALLY SO AGRESSIVELY!!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA THIS MADE MY NIGHT SO MUCH BETTER :DDD