A Song of the Earth

This blog is a growing series of connected essays suggesting solutions for the "Big Mysteries" of A Song of Ice and Fire . This post is a summary of the suggested solutions, with links to the essays explaining the rationale behind them. Spoiler note: This blog includes unmarked spoilers for all published material related to A Song of Ice and Fire  (including secondary works and GRRM quotes) and all released episodes of the show Game of Thrones , as well as possible spoilers for the final season . Read at your own peril. The "Big Mysteries" Those are some big questions about the nature and history of the world that have been left unanswered since the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire : Why are the seasons so uneven and so unpredictable? What caused the Doom of Valyria ? What do the Others want? There are some other events and places about which both the books and secondary works have been conspicuously silent, even while repeatedly hinting at th...

The Children of the Forest call themselves "Those who sing the song of the earth". In a series called A Song of Ice and Fire , this seems significant. Some things we know about the Children: They were the original inhabitants of Westeros (and possibly of Essos) before the First Men (i.e. humans) came along. They fought the advance of humans with strong magic, including breaking the Arm of Dorne to sever the land bridge to Essos, sinking a part of Westeros ("the Bite") to make the north of Westeros harder to get to, and finally creating the Others (at least in the TV show). They (or some of them) occasionally work together with humans, e.g. by giving Jojen and Bran green dreams or turning Bloodraven into the Three-Eyed Crow. They are still here.  All of these are significant. Let's begin with that last one, because it is often underestimated. The Children of the Forest are still here. The only contemporary Children we have met (in the show or the boo...

Three arguments for why the tragedy at Summerhall is probably significant in the grand scheme of things: The argument from elision; The argument from publication history; The argument from symbolism. The argument from elision Every educated person in Westeros probably knows about the tragedy at Summerhall. It's a comparatively recent dramatic event that affected the fate of House Targaryen (King Aegon V. and his heir were killed there; Prince Rhaegar was born there); there is at least one popular song about it (Jenny's song); and there are even characters in the books that were alive at the time (e.g. Maester Aemon). Yet all we hear about it, in a series that revels in memories of the past, are a few tantalizing hints: Alester Florent lamenting "Did we learn nothing from Summerhall ?" (ASoS, Davos III), the Ghost of High Heart saying she "gorged on grief at Summerhall" (ASoS, Arya VIII), and Daenerys musing about the "shadow of Summerhall...

Before the Doom came to Valyria, it came to Asshai. We learn about Asshai early on. In A Game of Thrones , the dragon eggs gifted to Daenerys are said to be from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. We learn that Maester Marwyn was there once. Jorah wants to take Dany there. Bran, in a vision, sees dragons stirring there. Stannis is said to have brought a shadowbinder, Melisandre, from there. Asshai clearly has a central place in the mythology of the series. For the most part, it could be written off as "a random faraway place associated with magic"; but there may well be more to it. Asshai is repeatedly associated with fire and dragons. Melisandre of Asshai serves the Red God; there may be living dragons there (according to Bran's vision in A Game of Thrones and to the sailor's tales in the prologue to A Feast for Crows ); and in Qarth, Daenerys receives a gift of dragonglass from Asshai.  The World of Ice and Fire  tells us that king Aegon V sent men to Asshai in ...

From the very first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire , and the very first episode of the TV show  A Game of Thrones , we have been told that  Winter Is Coming . What we have not been told is -- why? This, I would argue, is the central mystery of the world George R.R. Martin is building. Astonishingly, most readers and viewers accept it simply as a given fact about the world that demands no further explanation. In-universe, that would be an obvious position; but looking at the story from outside, creating a world with apparently-unpredictable seasons is a marked and unlikely choice that demands an explanation. In this world of ice and fire (note how the series title itself can be read as referring to climate and/or weather), the meta-seasons are not just longer than our real-world seasons -- with summers and winters lasting for years or generations -- but they are also entirely unpredictable, even by the Maesters of the Citadel. Despite generations of study by an order de...

One of the qualities of A Song of Ice and Fire  that almost everyone remarks upon is that there are no monolithic, one-dimensional groups. Yes, there is conflict between House Lannister and House Stark; but there is also conflict within those houses, and group membership is not a sign that anyone is good or bad. This comes up so often, and with such emphasis, that the Others stand out like a sore thumb: here, it seems, we suddenly have a group that is one-dimensional, ahistorical, and simply evil. This demands an explanation. In season 7 of the TV show, Bran has a vision in which a group of Children creates the first Other. If we assume that this is at least roughly what George R.R. Martin intended as the origin of the Others, the problem is shifted: the Others become a weapon rather than a group, and we should be asking about those who wield this weapon: the Children of the Forest . These, too, might seem like a one-dimensional, even clichéd group at first glance. Elf-like ...

Predictions that follow from the theories outlined here: We will see Children of the Forest belonging to different factions.  It has been noted, even by critics not familiar with the book series, that the Others seem out of place in the narrative because they do not seem to have comprehensible motivations other than "being evil", and because there do not seem to be any factions in their ranks. It seems unlikely that we will see a developed and complex "Other culture" in the final season, judging from the lack of build-up to that; but if the Others are merely tools of one faction of the Children , whose motivation in stemming the tide of humans is entirely comprehensible, that reintroduces the moral complexity we have come to expect of this story. In fact, we have already seen Children of different factions: those that created the Others in Bran's vision were clearly on a different side than those protecting Bloodraven in the Heart of Winter. Dany's drag...