#varamyr sixskins

[kingsmoot]

adwd; prologue

acok; theon vi

adwd; prologue

acok; theon iv

[wallboys]

[agentrouka-blog]

Hey Rouka. What do you think about Jon saying "I am not a wolf"? Is he just in denial, not willing to accept his Stark heritage because of his bastard status, or is it foreshadowing for him rejecting it? Though I think about moments where he wants to be Jon Stark/lord of WF as well.

Hi there!

Pretty sure that this line is very specifically aimed at the act of warging, not at a symbolic identification with House Stark.

He was walking beneath the shell of the Lord Commander's Tower, past the spot where Ygritte had died in his arms, when Ghost appeared beside him, his warm breath steaming in the cold. In the moonlight, his red eyes glowed like pools of fire. The taste of hot blood filled Jon's mouth, and he knew that Ghost had killed that night. No, he thought. I am a man, not a wolf. He rubbed his mouth with the back of a gloved hand and spat. (ADWD, Jon III)

This is in direct contrast with both Varamyr from this book's prologue, taking pleasure in feeding on even humans while warged into a wolf, and the way Bran almost immediately embraced hunting, killing and eating inside Summer, much to the dismay and concern of Jojen and Meera. It is directly related to Bran's willingness to abuse Hodor in this way. It makes him feel free and powerful.

It's also implied to be a smart choice by the way Melisandre is very clearly interested in exploiting the magical power inherent in Jon's warg gift.

She knelt and scratched Ghost behind his ear. "Your Wall is a queer place, but there is power here, if you will use it. Power in you, and in this beast. You resist it, and that is your mistake. Embrace it. Use it." I am not a wolf, he thought. "And how would I do that?" "I can show you." Melisandre draped one slender arm over Ghost, and the direwolf licked her face. "The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows." (ADWD, Jon VI)

Jon refuses. His warg dreams are a thing he has accepted about himself, but it is not something he is willing to actively explore and embrace. He doesn't approach Ghost, mentally, Ghost links up with him almost against his own volition. His hesitation is quite unlike that of his younger siblings, but it does mirror Robb, who showed deep regret after using his secret gift to aid his war effort early on. It is only after being stabbed that Jon is implied to slip into Ghost, likely drawn into him the same way Robb was instinctively drawn into Grey Wind. Not purposefully or forcefully like Varamyr, but through a mutually shared bond. Ghost will harbor him but he will set him free again.

This is mirrored to and in contrast with Dany. She doesn't actively call Drogon into the fighting pit, clearly their bond is what draws him near. But she cannot stop reiterating how much she identifies with the dragons, is "blood of the dragon", or even "a dragon". Their shared time in the grasslands solidifies their bond, and she adapts to his behavior. Eating as he does, hunting as he does, standing next to him, near-naked, near feral. She blurs the distinction between herself and her animal, joyfully, intentionally.

[wpmorse]

"You must be very brave or very stupid, Jon Snow," Mance Rayder said, "to come back to us wearing a black cloak." Jon page 1017

Jon arrives at the wildling camp to parlay terms with Mance Rayder. At least that's his story until he gets close enough to try to kill him.

This ended up being just a group shot of Mance, Varamyr, Harma, and Varamyr's animals. I was especially pleased with how the Shadowcat turned out.

[dyannawynnedayne]

Who Has The Most Gender?: Round 1

Varamyr: art from Fantasy Flight Games, AWOIAF Page

Visenya: art by warp-speed, AWOIAF Page

BRACKET LINK

[mother-rhoyne]

You know what I think we should start posting about Varamyr's sex and gender fuckeries

[rosaluxembae]

It's interesting having Varamyr's prologue in between Bran's last ASOS chapter, where he wargs into Hodor for the first time, and his first ADWD chapter, where he starts doing it for longer and semi-regularly.

Edit: every time someone interacts with this (like once every couple of days) I notice that I had forgotten about the chapter where Bran meets Sam, which is actually Bran's last ASOS chapter but he wargs into Hodor for the second time in that one so I think the general point still stands.

[thewatcher0nthewall]

Sixskins

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Mance’s cloak this, Mance’s cloak that…WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE HELM??!!

A few tents were still standing on the far side of the camp, and it was there they found Mance Rayder. Beneath his slashed cloak of black wool and red silk he wore black ringmail and shaggy fur breeches, and on his head was a great bronze-and-iron helm with raven wings at either temple. Jarl was with him, and Harma the Dogshead; Styr as well, and Varamyr Sixskins with his wolves and his shadowcat.

The black and red is obviously a nod to Jon’s Targ parentage but the helm….ohhhhh

Robb’s crown looked much as the other was said to have looked in the tales told of the Stark kings of old; an open circlet of hammered bronze incised with the runes of the First Men, surmounted by nine black iron spikes wrought in the shape of longswords. Of gold and silver and gemstones, it had none; bronze and iron were the metals of winter, dark and strong to fight against the cold.

Winter has no king, as some wildlings would say. But there is a warrior suited to war against it. Isn’t that what Mance is? A black and red cloak reminiscent of the Targaryens of old Valyria - the ones who commanded beasts of flame. Dragonkings. And the helm is reminiscent of a crown worn by those who once ruled “Winter-fell”. And the ravens?? Birds of prophecy, foresight, destiny…..

Jon’s gotta get his hands on that stupid thing….

[kingsmoot]

adwd; prologue

acok; theon iv

adwd; reek i

adwd; reek i

[wallboys]

the old gods not being deities but the spirituality of interconnected nature and the balance of life and death. the energy must go somewhere, the soul must join something else after it leaves the body

[lavalais76]

RelatedWhy does Jon Snow have trouble accepting the fact that he is a warg?

George R.R Martin is fond of a quoting a phrase from a speech given by William Faulkner in acceptance of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Faulkner said,

“Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear, so long sustained by now that we cannot even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit…Because of this, every young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself, which alone can make good writing, because only that is worth writing about, with the agony and the sweat.” -William Faulkner 1949

Faulkner said that we were so afraid of being “blown up” (1949, a time when the H bomb was the scariest thing on people's minds) that we'd left our spirits behind, we'd ceased to look inward at ourselves. We've ceased walking a spiritual path because we were so immersed in fear. The fear is much worse now, and we can see that Martin is still writing with Faulkner's words in the forefront of his mind. It's especially apparent in Jon Snow.

Jon has trouble accepting that he's a warg just as he doesn't want to be called bastard, but that is what he is. Sadly in the caste system of The Medieval Ages that's how he's seen. Tyrion told him to wear it like armor and he's learning how to do that, he's learning to really believe in himself. He's growing and learning to accept himself even though it's frightened him. His dreams of the crypts show us that.

Jon is aware that he has power as a warg, but it makes him uncomfortable waking up with the taste of blood in his mouth. He doesn't like it because it's yet another thing that just serves to make him different. Jon has no mentor. Bran had Jojen and Bloodraven. Varamyr Sixskins had his mentor, Haggon, who taught him the rules of a skinchanger. Jon will have to teach himself. The Old Gods and Ghost can help, they are almost interchangeable in my mind. Even Varamyr himself took one look at Jon and Ghost and thought if he had what Jon has, he'd have a life worthy of a king.

Jon's resurrection in the books should be a learning phase for him. He will not see nothing, he'll learn. That's his chance. However this happens it will hurtle him into becoming the master of the two worlds in which he finds himself - the natural and the supernatural. When he accepts warging will be when he learns his real identity.

The human heart in conflict with itself is playing out here. Jon must accept all of who he is, and to gain that information he must be shown. That will have to happen while he's hovering between the veil of the living and the dead, when his spirit is in Ghost. Then he'll realize the power and influence he is capable of welding.

The true nature of who he is, is the very same thing that scares him. Warging has to be the act that will enable him to see the impact he was born to have on the world.

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[aegor-bamfsteel]

Hello there, I was looking at the asoiaf appendices and noticed House Greyjoy’s current Maester is called Wendamyr - my question is, based on naming conventions in the story, where do you think Maester Wendamyr is from originally and do you think he would be of the nobility or lowborn? Thanks

I’ve speculated that the Maesters of ironborn castles are usually from the Iron Islands themselves, given they’d be familiar with their customs and afforded some respect not given to “greenlanders” (that or the Maesters appointed to these castles aren’t well liked, considering how poor/isolated the islands are). This would be particularly important for Balon, considering he had a “greenlands” maester of his stepmother Lady Piper killed for giving his younger brother Urrigon an experimental treatment (seemingly without repercussion, as he had two Maesters after that); basically, if Wendamyr or any maester did something Balon disliked, punishing them wouldn’t be OOC. I think Qalen, Wendamyr’s predecessor, was ironborn, given he seemingly didn’t protest the first rebellion, his name is similar to traditionally ironborn names (Qarl, and has -en suffix like in Harren), and Helya describes him as sleeping in the sea (so a peaceful death, and ironborn are usually sent out to sea when they die). Wendamyr is described as Balon’s “healer and counselor”, he’s been keeping the ravens for years, and he lived to send Harlaw a letter about his death; it’s clear that he also didn’t protest the new rebellion despite advanced notice, which definitely points to him being ironborn himself. Even though he doesn’t have a traditionally ironborn name, there are characters from the Isles who don’t have them: obvious examples would be Uller, Tymor, Urzen, or Endehar, and that none of these men have surnames imply they aren’t nobles, maybe the descendants of thralls from places the ironborn reave but whose parents still had connections to that culture (seemingly the Stepstones, the Basilisk Isles, maybe Dorne if “Uller” is anything). If you consider that his name can be divided into 2 parts “Wend-” and “-myr”, there’s only one region that has people with names that contain both in that order (“myr-” is a decently common prefix in Westeros and Essos, but as a suffix is only shared by Varamyr Sixskins), and that’s the North, which the ironborn have raided throughout history; another region might be Essos specifically Braavos, as they use the “Wend” prefix (Wendeyne) and “myr” as a prefix (Myrmelo). Furthermore, Helya not calling Wendamyr by his title of Maester may indicate some familiarity, so maybe he’s of similar common born status. So if I had to guess, Wendamyr is an ironborn with recent “Greenlander” (possibly northern, possibly Essosi) lineage and not of noble origins.

[thelustybraavosimaid]

Hey! i wanted to know about your thoughts about how Jon would be like post-resurrection with the time skip grrm originally considered?

So that really took hold of me for the first three books. When it became apparent that that had taken hold of me, I came up with the idea of the five-year gap. "Time is not passing here as I want it to pass, so I will jump forward five years in time." And I will come back to these characters when they're a little more grown up. And that is what I tried to do when I started writing Feast for Crows. So [the gap] would have come after A Storm of Swords and before Feast for Crows. But what I soon discovered — and I struggled with this for a year — [the gap] worked well with some characters like Arya — who at end the of Storm of Swords has taken off for Braavos. You can come back five years later, and she has had five years of training and all that. Or Bran, who was taken in by the Children of the Forest and the green ceremony, [so you could] come back to him five years later. That’s good. Works for him. Other characters, it didn’t work at all. I'm writing the Cersei chapters in King's Landing, and saying, "Well yeah, in five years, six different guys have served as Hand and there was this conspiracy four years ago, and this thing happened three years ago." And I'm presenting all of this in flashbacks, and that wasn't working. The other alternative was [that] nothing happened in those five years, which seemed anticlimactic. The Jon Snow stuff was even worse, because at the end of Storm he gets elected Lord Commander. I'm picking up there, and writing "Well five years ago, I was elected Lord Commander. Nothing much has happened since then, but now things are starting to happen again." I finally, after a year, said "I can't make this work."

George R. R. Martin — The Complete Unedited Interview

You know, this is something that I haven't really thought about. I only haven't thought about it because there's something we just don't know: when was George planning to kill Jon with the gap in place? A year or two into the skip? Later? Earlier, or even after the skip, when he's had a few years of rule under his belt? It's probably more likely that it was going to happen after the skip, so I think the end result would be the same as the current book!Jon.

We know that death changes a character to the point where in some ways, they're not that character anymore:

And as I got older and considered it more, it also seemed to me that death doesn’t make you more powerful. That’s, in some ways, me talking to Tolkien in the dialogue, saying, “Yeah, if someone comes back from being dead, especially if they suffer a violent, traumatic death, they’re not going to come back as nice as ever.”

George R. R. Martin on the One Game of Thrones Change He ‘Argued Against’

And we have this, from Varamyr Sixskins:

"They say you forget," Haggon had told him, a few weeks before his own death. "When the man's flesh dies, his spirit lives on inside the beast, but every day his memory fades, and the beast becomes a little less a warg, a little more a wolf, until nothing of the man is left and only the beast remains." (Prologue, ADwD)

Jon's connection to Ghost takes the front seat in ADwD, so we have moments like this:

Jon expected hot mulled wine, and was surprised to find that it was soup, a thin broth that smelled of leeks and carrots but seemed to have no leeks or carrots in it. The smells are stronger in my wolf dreams, he reflected, and food tastes richer too. Ghost is more alive than I am. He left the empty cup upon the forge. (Jon II, ADwD)

--

He was walking beneath the shell of the Lord Commander's Tower, past the spot where Ygritte had died in his arms, when Ghost appeared beside him, his warm breath steaming in the cold. In the moonlight, his red eyes glowed like pools of fire. The taste of hot blood filled Jon's mouth, and he knew that Ghost had killed that night. No, he thought. I am a man, not a wolf. He rubbed his mouth with the back of a gloved hand and spat. (Jon III, ADwD)

--

Jon smelled Tom Barleycorn before he saw him. Or was it Ghost who smelled him? Of late, Jon Snow sometimes felt as if he and the direwolf were one, even awake. The great white wolf appeared first, shaking off the snow. A few moments later Tom was there.

...

The shield that guards the realms of men. Ghost nuzzled up against his shoulder, and Jon draped an arm around him. He could smell Horse's unwashed breeches, the sweet scent Satin combed into his beard, the rank sharp smell of fear, the giant's overpowering musk. He could hear the beating of his own heart. (Jon VII, ADwD)

So ultimately, I think the five year skip!Jon would have the same outcome as the Jon we have in the books: a little ruthless, a little different, and far more closer to Ghost.

[dyannawynnedayne]

Magic User Slapfight: Round .5

Patchface: art by shripscapi, AWOIAF Page

Varamyr: art from Fantasy Flight Games, AWOIAF Page

BRACKET LINK

[vivacissimx]

Bran Stark exploring paradox (or, a free case study on the Night's King & Melisandre of Asshai!)

I am thinking about Old Nan telling Bran stories of the mythical Night's King, the 13th Lord Commander of the Watch who she insists was a (Brandon) Stark, a man who began his tale as a warrior with no fear. 'And that was the fault in him,' she would add, 'for all men must know fear.' I am thinking about this vis-à-vis Ned telling Bran in AGOT Bran I that a man can only be brave when he is afraid, immediately placing in young Bran's storyline the idea of yin yang relationships, and then I am thinking about that in relation to Melisandre's R'hllorian fire magic which is powered (or at least strengthened) by fear. I don't believe that last one's a controversial claim, but if it is, then as proof I would point to a) Davos remembering Lord Florent being burned alive and how Lord Florent had been strong and silent as the queen's men bound him to the post, as dignified as any half-naked man could hope to be, but as the flames licked up his legs he had begun to scream, and his screams had blown them all the way to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea--that is, Melisandre tells them and they all believe that the screams of fear made the ritual successful; and b) Varamyr Sixskins' eagle death, how when he tried to fly from it, his terror fanned the flames and made them burn hotter. If that's not scary enough, remember: there's not even an employee discount. Melisandre's visions prey on her own body and mind. When she stays awake to tend her fire, she bleeds black smoke, finds herself weeping, and her tears were flame. And still she drank it in. But at the same time, she can't sleep because she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night.

So, on one hand we have the terrible figure of the Night's King, absolutely fearless, ruling the night, with an obvious thematic connection to ice while on the other we have Melisandre, crusader against the night, whose (fire)power requires fear. Ice preserves while fire consumes. Additionally, both of them are involved in human sacrifice, and have their supernatural experiences connected to a devil-esque "lover" figure in the Corpse Queen & R'hllor himself (with whom Mel shares a special intimacy unlike even other red priests/priestesses). Old Nan says that the Night's King gave the Corpse Queen his soul when he gave her his seed; beyond having sex with Stannis and literally giving birth in service to her God, Melisandre also deprives herself of needed sleep because she would sooner sit bathed in the ruddy glow of her red lord's blessed flames, her cheeks flushed by the wash of heat as if by a lover's kisses. 'Oh that's just George's writing style--' well if it's just turn of phrase then WHY does Mance Rayder describe Mel's ruby glamor charm as being warm against my skin, even through the iron. Soft as a woman's kiss. Your kiss. But sometimes in my dreams it starts to burn, and your lips turn into teeth. Well?? Sure, GRRM can be romantic sometimes but that's not my point, my point is highlighting parallels in these seemingly opposite human/horror relationships. The Night's King fell in love with the Corpse Queen because he had no fear, while Melisandre found R'hllor because as a child slave all she had was fear & she needed to be able to locate dangers against her person. One brave, one afraid.

Now this has to do with Bran because of ASOIAF's general ice/fire dichotomy that throughout the text functions as metaphor for a dozen other dichotomies. The concept of dichotomous balance (presented in the harmonic title a song of ice and fire) is explicitly presented in the convergence Ned teaches Bran about: bravery or fear? Bravery and fear. Now a song of bravery and fear doesn't quite roll off the tongue but regardless, I bring this up because there's a lot of Dany = fire, Starks = ice, Jon = [redacted] going on which is absolutely a Thing and Important. Thematically crucial. Let it not be said that I said otherwise! Rather, I am tying it into what I see as the specific philosophical underpinning of BRAN. Of HIS motivations, which began forming in his very first scene which is the execution of a Night's Watch deserter, presented in it's social context as proper and civilized, but nonetheless being a ritual human sacrifice (to law & order). Bran has always had an element of defying exactitudes, which is why I personally don't think his TWOW storyline will be as simple as ally with my (good) siblings against our (bad) enemies. The wight called Coldhands is a Bran B-plot, and he is another case of complicating black and white--literally, he's black and white. Coldhands' extremities and eyes are "black as pudding" but the rest of him is "white as milk." He kills members of the Night's Watch who are technically his brothers in oath, except readers know they're the mutineers that murdered their commander which makes it okay. When Bran reduces him to being "[a] monster," Coldhands counters that he is "your monster, Brandon Stark." Jojen and Meera's oaths to Bran highlight dichotomies that converge as well: by earth and water, bronze and iron, ice and fire. The risk is yours Bran, as is the gift. The choice should be yours, too.

Speaking of Meera. She does this post the favor of connecting the importance of lessons in paradox Bran was taught in Winterfell with his future plotline:

"Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice. So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you."

"I'll remember," he promised.