Difference between revisions of "Dreams and prophecies"

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=== Moqorro ===
 
=== Moqorro ===
{{quote|"Dragons," Moqorro said in the Common Tongue of Westeros... "Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all."{{ref|adwd|33}}}}
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When asked by [[Tyrion Lannister]] what he sees in the flames of his night fire, the [[red priest]] [[Moqorro]] states that he sees "''Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all.''"{{ref|adwd|33}} Moqorro’s claim appears to foreshadow that Tyrion Lannister will play an important role in the conflicts to come involving dragons, whether literal dragons, or figurative dragons. The possible identities of the "old dragon", "young dragon", "true dragon", "false dragon", "bright dragon", and "dark dragon" have been a heavily debated topic in the fandom.
- [[Moqorro]] to [[Tyrion Lannister]]
 
  
This foreshadows that Tyrion Lannister will play an important role in the future, involving [[dragons]] and the [[House Targaryen|Targaryens]]. Possible candidates for the "old dragon" are [[Brynden Rivers]] and maester [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]], candidates for the "young dragons" may include [[Daenerys Targaryen]]'s  dragons, Daenerys herself, [[Aegon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar)|Aegon Targaryen]], or even possibly others.<ref>A popular, well-supported fan theory is that Jon Snow is the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Should this theory be correct, Jon Snow would also be a candidate for the young dragons.</ref> Candidates for the true dragon might include Daenerys, Aegon and Jon Snow, whereas popular guesses for candidates for the false dragon include Aegon Targaryen, the eunuch Varys, or Illyrio Mopatis.<ref>There are fans who believe that Aegon Targaryen is not truly Prince Rhaegar's son. There are also those who believe that either Varys, or Illyrio, or both, are (distant) descendants of either House Targaryen, through Prince [[Aerion Targaryen]], or of House Blackfyre.</ref> Especially for the identity of the false dragon, the opinions amongst fans differ, and as of yet, the identity of the false dragon cannot be stated with certainty.
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Moqorro further claims to have seen other people in his flames who are searching for [[Daenerys Targaryen]] and although he has seen only their shadows, he identifies one more clearly, describing this person as "''A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood.''"{{ref|adwd|33}} Many readers have identified this person as [[Euron Greyjoy]], based on the fact that the [[kraken]] is the sigil of [[House Greyjoy]], and on the fact that Euron wears an eye-patch over his left eye,{{fact}} which according to Euron's nephew, [[Theon Greyjoy]], is a "black eye shining with malice".<ref>''[[The Winds of Winter]]'', [[Theon I (The Winds of Winter)|Theon I]]</ref> Euron indeed eventually sends out his brother [[Victarion Greyjoy|Victario]] to find Daenerys and bring her to Westeros.{{fact}}
 
 
{{quote|"Have you seen these others in your fires?" he asked, warily.
 
"Only their shadows," Moqorro said. "One most of all. A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood."{{ref|adwd|33}}}}
 
- [[Moqorro]] to [[Tyrion Lannister]]  
 
This vision of the one eyed [[kraken]] on a bloody sea shows that [[Euron Greyjoy]] will have an important part to play in the future.
 
 
   
 
   
{{quote| The black priest bowed his head. "There is no need. The Lord of Light has shown me your worth, lord Captain. Every night in my fires I glimpse the glory that awaits you."{{ref|adwd|67}}}}
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Moqorro later encounters Victarion, and claims to him that he has seen Victarion and "the glory that awaits you" every night in his fires.{{ref|adwd|67}}
- [[Moqorro]] to [[Victarion Greyjoy]]
 
Moqorro knows what will happen to Victarion, though what will happen exactly is not shared with the reader.
 
  
 
=== Patchface===
 
=== Patchface===

Revision as of 16:52, 9 March 2018

Dany knew how it went with prophecies. They were made of words, and words were wind.[1] © Morgainelefee.

Prophecies, visions and prophetic dreams are featured prominently in A Song of Ice and Fire. They may deal with either the past, the present, or the future.

Types of prophetic dreams

The wise men of the children of the forest were called greenseers, and their powers included having the greensight: the ability to have prophetic dreams.[2] They were marked with eyes "as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest".[3] Beside the children's wise men, at least one crannogman, Jojen Reed, and one northman, Bran Stark, is known to have the greensight.[2][3]

Some members of House Targaryen, as well as House Blackfyre,[4] are known to have dragon dreams.

History

Ancient prophecy

Azor Ahai

According to prophecy as written down in ancient books of Asshai[5] from over five thousand years ago, the legendary hero Azor Ahai] is to be reborn again as a champion sent by R'hllor.[6] The prophecy claims that Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt,[7][8] to wake dragons out of stone.[9] This will occur after a long summer when an evil, cold darkness descends upon the world[5] and the red star bleeds.[7] It is said that wielding Lightbringer once again, Azor Ahai will stand against the Others,[5] and deliver the world from darkness.[10]

The red priestess Melisandre used the name Azor Ahai and the term "the prince that was promised"[11] interchangeably, although she tends to use the name Azor Ahai far more often.

Century of Blood

Daenys Targaryen

Daenys Targaryen, also called "Daenys the Dreamer", was the daughter of Lord Aenar Targaryen of Dragonstone. Daenys is reputed to have had a gift of prophecy; She wrote the book Signs and Portents in which she detailed her visions.[12] Aenar and his family survived the Doom of Valyria because they sold all of their holdings and belongings twelve years before the Doom and left Valyria, moving instead to the island of Dragonstone where they claimed the castle by the same name. It is believed by scholars that Aenar's decision to relocate his family was based on one of Daenys's visions, in which she predicted the Doom.[13][14]

High Septon during Aegon's Conquest

During the Conquest of Aegon I Targaryen, the High Septon of Oldtown locked himself within the Starry Sept. He prayed for seven days and nights, and took only bread and water for nourishment. When he emerged from the sept seven days later, he announced that the Faith of the Seven would not oppose Aegon and his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys. The High Septon stated that the Crone had show him that, if Oldtown were to take up arms against the Targaryens, the city would burn and be destroyed. After hearing this prophecy, Lord Manfred Hightower refused to march out with his strength, and even opened his gates to Aegon at Aegon's approach. The city was subsequently spared.[15]

After Aegon's Conquest

Children of Maekar I Targaryen

King Maekar I Targaryen had six children with his wife, Lady Dyanna Dayne: Aerion, Daeron, Aemon, Daella, Aegon, and Rhae. Of these six, at least one son was known to have had prophetic dreams,[16] although all four brothers might have had the ability.

Prince Daeron claimed to consistently dream of events that indeed came to pass. In 209 AC, he confronted Ser Duncan the Tall at the tourney at Ashford Meadow before he was to battle Duncan with his father and brother in a trial of seven, and claimed that "I dreamed of you and a dead dragon, you see. A great beast, huge, with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive and the dragon was dead." Daeron, considering the possibility that this dream was a prediction of his own death, feared Duncan for it and promised to stay on the ground if struck down during the trial.[16] While Daeron, Aerion, and Maekar survived the trial, Daeron's dream came true when Maekar's brother Baelor, who had fought on Duncan's side, removed his helm following the battle and revealed parts of his skull missing due to a blow given to him during the battle. As in Daeron's dream ("[the dragon] had fallen on top of you"), Baelor (the dragon) towered over Duncan and fell down, with the hedge knight catching him.[16]

According to Daeron's brother Aemon, all four brothers dreamt of dragons one time or another.

"The last dragon died before you were born," said Sam. "How could you remember them?"
"I see them in my dreams, Sam. I see a red star bleeding in the sky. I still remember red. I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathern wings, feel their hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one."[17]

Although Daeron died from a pox caught from a whore,[18] his dreams have been implied[N 1] to have influenced his life-style[16] (e.g., alcoholism). His brother Aerion died after drinking a cup of wildfire, believing that doing so would transform him into a dragon,[citation needed] while the youngest sibling Aegon died in a fire at Summerhall which Maester Yandel has linked to Aegon's dream of having dragons fly over Westeros once again.[19]

Although Aegon's dreams of dragons might not have been prophetic, Daeron at least is known to have dreamed that one day the dragons, who at the time had been extinct for almost sixty years, would someday return.[4] King Aerys I Targaryen read a prophecy stating the same thing.[4] Although Daeron did not live to see it, nearly a hundred and fifty years after the death of the last dragons, three dragon eggs were hatched in the Dothraki Sea by Daenerys Targaryen.[20] Aemon's believe that dreaming of dragons is what killed his brothers offer the possibility that Aerion, Aegon, or both, might have had a prophetic dream.

House Blackfyre

Daemon II Blackfyre, the third-born son of Daemon I Blackfyre, had prophetic dreams that he considered to be completely reliable. He predicted the deaths of his two older brothers, Aegon and Aemon, in his dreams, although they did not believe him. He further dreamt about the future membership of Ser Duncan the Tall in the Kingsguard, and the hatching of a dragon's egg at a white castle that he believed to be House Butterwell's Whitewalls.[4]

Although Daemon was correct about his brothers, who both died during the First Blackfyre Rebellion at the Redgrass Field, and about Duncan becoming a knight of the Kingsguard later in life, his interpretation of the hatching of a dragon's egg at Whitewalls was false. Daemon had been convinced that his dream meant that an actual egg would hatch, and thus expected to soon have a real dragon. Lord Brynden Rivers, however, offered a different interpretation, stating that the dream referred to Prince Aegon Targaryen, who had accompanied Ser Duncan the Tall to Whitewalls disguised as the squire Egg and who had taken out a ring with his father's sigil on it when troubles began, thereby announcing his identity.[4]

Maggy

In 276 AC, during the tourney for King Aerys II at Lannisport, the maegi Maggy, also called Maggy the Frog, prophecized the futures of Cersei Lannister and Melara Hetherspoon. Both girls were allowed to ask three questions, with Cersei going first. In response to Cersei's first question ("When will I wed the prince"), Maggy replied that she would never be wed to the prince, but instead be wed to "the king". Although Cersei believed this to mean that she would wed "the prince", Rhaegar Targaryen, only after he had ascended the Iron Throne following the death of his father, King Aerys II Targaryen, in fact Maggy's first prophecy came true when Cersei was wed in 284 AC to King Robert I Baratheon, who had won the throne during a war in which both Aerys and Rhaegar had been killed. Cersei's second question was a confirmation ("I will be queen, though?"), which Maggy confirmed before warning her that she would one day be replaced by a younger, more beautiful queen who would "cast you down and take all that you hold dear". Cersei's last question was whether she and the king would have children, to which Maggy replied that the king would have sixteen children, while Cersei would have three.[21] Maggy's prediction on Cersei's children has thus far proven correct. Cersei has given birth to three children during her marriage (none of them fathered by King Robert).[22] The one time Cersei became pregnant by Robert, she had her brother Jaime find a woman to cleanse her, refusing to give birth to Robert's child.[23] With regards to Cersei's children, Maggy further prophecized that "gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds" and claimed that "when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you".[21] Maggy's prediction on Robert's children is still unclear. Robert is known to have fathered many bastards throughout the realm, although only seven bastard children have thus far been identified in A Song of Ice and Fire, while Lord Varys, the master of whisperers, claims to have knowledge of eight.[24] Regardless, it is generally believed by the fandom that Maggy's prediction is indeed correct, and that Robert has had, in total, sixteen children.

When Melara asked whether she would someday marry Cersei's brother Jaime, Maggy prophecized that she would wed no one, going as far as to say that "Your death is here tonight, little one. Can you smell her breath? She is very close.".[21] According to Cersei, this prophecy of Maggy's quickly came true. She tells Taena of Myr that Melara drowned in a well.[21] It has been implied that Cersei herself was responsible for Melara's death by pushing her into the well and leaving her there to drown.[25]

Recent Events

Bran Stark

While in a coma after he has been thrown from a tower by Jaime Lannister, Bran Stark begins to experience a prescient dream. The dream depicts both current events (Lady Catelyn Stark's journey to King's Landing by ship with with Ser Rodrik Cassel, Lord [[Edward Stark pleading with King Robert I Baratheon, Sansa and Arya Stark reacting to the deaths of the direwolf Lady and the boy Mycah), as well as more prophetic elements, including the "gathering storm" resulting from Catelyn's visit to the south, shadows around Sansa and Arya (one as dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound, one armoured like the sun, golden and beautiful, and one a giant in armour made of stone with only darkness and thick black blood in his visor looming over them).[26]

Bran's dream ends with a view of the Wall, his bastard brother Jon Snow, and the lands north of the Wall, and the three-eyed crow telling Bran that he now knows why he has to survive his coma.[26]

Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen's first known experience with a prophetic dream happens a few days before her wedding to Khal Drogo. The dream starts off with Viserys Targaryen hitting her, but quickly turns prophetic as she witnesses the hatching of a dragon.

Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon.[27]

Later, when Daenerys is pregnant with her child from Drogo, the dosh khaleen crones predict her to be the eventual mother of the stallion who mounts the world.[28]

Mirri Maz Duur

Upon the stillbirth of her child, Mirri Maz Duur advised Daenerys that Drogo will return from his apallic state.

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before.[29]

Quaithe

Quaithe has also makes prophecies to Daenerys on two separate occasions. The first is essentially a demand, so far unattended, for Daenerys to go to Asshai:

"To go north, you must go south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow." Asshai, Dany thought. She would have me go to Asshai. "Will the Asshai'i give me an army?" she demanded. "Will there be gold for me in Asshai? Will there be ships? What is there in Asshai that I will not find in Qarth?"
"Truth," said the woman in the mask.[30]

Following her departure from Meereen on Drogon's back,[31] Daenerys considers staying in his lair in the Dothraki sea, but remembers Quaithe's words ("to go forward you must go back"), which provides her with the resolve to walk back towards Meereen.[32]

The second is an accurate warning of the dangers she comes to face in the near future. This second prophecy seems, however, to involve a vision of Quaithe as opposed to her own person, and may originate in Daenerys herself:

"No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal."[33]

Later, she also gives a warning in Daenerys's hallucinations:

“To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.” “Quaithe?” Dany called. “Where are you, Quaithe?” Then she saw. Her mask is made of starlight. “Remember who you are, Daenerys,” the stars whispered in a woman’s voice. “The dragons know. Do you?”[32]

House of the Undying

Daenerys experiences prophecies herself when she enters the House of the Undying. While apparently legitimate, including omens of the Red Wedding, those visions are fairly cryptic. Also, since the Undying Ones are hostile towards her, it is conceivable that parts of the visions are adulterated.

"Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Savaged limbs clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. On a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a sceptre, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal."[34]

  1. A beautiful, naked woman being ravished by four of the dwarfs who serve the house. This appears to foretell the War of the Five Kings.
  2. A feast of slaughtered corpses holding cups, spoons, and food, with a dead man with a wolf's head sitting on a throne wearing an iron crown, apparently foreshadowing the Red Wedding.
  3. Daenerys's childhood home with the red door in Braavos.
  4. A throne room with dragon skulls on the walls where a king resembling Aerys II Targaryen sits on a barbed throne and appears to give the order to burn the Red Keep during the Sack of King's Landing.
  5. A room where a silver-haired man (presumably Rhaegar Targaryen) names his son Aegon, says the child is "the prince that was promised", then plays a harp.
  6. A "splendor of wizards" who falsely claim to be the Undying of Qarth and offer to teach Daenerys Targaryen the secret speech of dragonkind.

Upon reaching the chamber of the Undying, Daenerys is spoken to in a barely perceptible whisper. The Undying call her "mother of dragons" and "child of three" and tell her some prophesies, saying "three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love..."

The Undying show Daenerys many more visions before attacking her and being slain by Drogon:[34]

  1. Viserys's gruesome death.
  2. A tall lord with copper-skin and silver-gold hair beneath a banner of a fiery stallion, with a burning city in the background. This may be a glimpse at what Rhaego's future would have been.
  3. A dying prince (likely Rhaegar Targaryen at the ruby ford) with rubies flying from his chest, mutters a woman's name with his last breath.
  4. A blue-eyed king who casts no shadow raises a red sword in his hand. This may represent Stannis Baratheon with his sword, Lightbringer.
  5. A cloth dragon sways on poles amidst a cheering crowd.
  6. A great stone beast takes wing from a smoking tower, breathing shadows.
  7. Daenerys's silver trots through grass to a darkling stream under a sea of stars.
  8. A corpse standing at the prow of a ship with bright eyes and grey smiling lips.
  9. A blue flower growing from a chink in a wall of ice, filling the air with sweetness.

Jojen Reed

Jojen Reed has prophetic green dreams, and maintains that his visions always come true. He claims to know the date of his death. So far he has not been proven wrong, although some of his visions are loaded with significant symbolism and usually poor on specific details. For instance, his dream about the Frey cousins, Big Walder and Little Walder Frey, in Winterfell uses a meal as a symbol for the news about their family.[2][35]

In A Clash of Kings, Jojen relays a mysterious and unsettling dream of his to Bran:

I dreamed that the sea was lapping all around Winterfell. I saw black waves crashing against the gates and towers, and then the salt water came flowing over the walls and filled the castle. Drowned men were floating in the yard. When I first dreamed the dream, back at Greywater, I didn’t know their faces, but now I do. That Alebelly is one, the guard who called our names at the feast. Your septon’s another. Your smith as well.[36]

The dream apparently foresees the capture of Winterfell by Theon Greyjoy's ironborn. Bran tries in vain to warn the victims of their inevitable deaths, but the dream is dismissed, as Meera correctly predicts. In turn, each of the men comes to die by the hand of the ironborn.

Jojen then tells Bran of a dream in which Reek — apparently having killed the Stark boys—is skinning their bodies:

I dreamed of the man who came today, the one they call Reek. You and your brother lay dead at his feet, and he was skinning off your faces with a long red blade.[36]

Reek is actually Ramsay Snow. Following the advice of "Reek", Theon kills two boys around the same age from the Acorn Water mill and presents their preserved corpses as the Starks'.

The Ghost of High Heart

The ghost of High Heart, a mysterious dwarf woman, sometimes tells of the future to the brotherhood without banners. She has shown knowledge of the deaths of Renly Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy and Catelyn Tully, and even of the coming of Lady Stoneheart.[37]

"I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief," the dwarf woman was saying. "I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells."[38]

- This is a vision of the Red Wedding, include Aegon Frey (Jinglebell).

Melisandre

Melisandre claims to be able to see the future by watching flames. The accuracy of her visions is unclear, in part because Melisandre herself seems to misrepresent her precognitions as if they were active sorceries[39][11][40], as well as the reverse.[41][42]

In any case, while impressive,[7] her future-telling capabilities are not supreme; Davos manages to take Edric Storm away from Dragonstone without her knowledge and against her will, for instance.[40] Melisandre is also duped by Jon Snow’s switching of Mace and Dalla’s son with Gilly’s son thereby allowing the wildling prince to escape Melisandre’s clutches. And, based on news of Ramsay Bolton's wedding to Arya, she interprets Alys Karstark's flight to the wall as Arya Stark's flight, telling Jon Snow his sister is coming from a loveless marriage. While she is right about the marriage, she has the wrong girl. Alys Karstark arrives at the Wall to speak with Jon after fleeing her cousin Cregan Karstark.

Azor Ahai

According to prophesy, in ancient books of Asshai from over 5,000 years ago, Azor Ahai is to be reborn again to challenge the re-emergence of the Others. This will occur after a long summer when an evil, cold darkness descends upon the world.[5] It is said that Azor Ahai, wielding Lightbringer once again, will stand against the Others and if he fails, the world fails with him.

There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him.[5]

When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt.[7]

She has interpreted this to mean that Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai and gave him a flaming sword.

I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R’hllor shows me only Snow.[43]

This seems to show that Jon Snow rather than Stannis is Azor Ahai, though she can not get this interpretation.

Jon Snow

Jon Snow seems to have a dream foreshadowing a search of his identity, where he is walking through an empty hall, calling out, but unable to find anyone. Jon has this dream on multiple nights, and says that most of those nights, he's searching for Eddard Stark in his dream, though during others, he's looking for Robb Stark, or Arya Stark, or even his uncle, Benjen Stark.

The castle is always empty… Even the ravens are gone from the rookery, and the stables are full of bones. That always scares me. I start to run then, throwing open doors, climbing the tower three steps at a time, screaming for someone, for anyone. And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It’s black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don’t want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it’s not them I’m afraid of. I scream that I’m not a Stark, that this isn’t my place, but it’s no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream.”[44]

Jon also has a dream about his younger brother, Bran Stark, who is speaking to him as a weirwood tree:

Jon?

The call came from behind him, softer than a whisper, but strong too. Can a shout be silent? He turned his head, searching for his brother, for a glimpse of a lean grey shape moving beneath the trees, but there was nothing, only ...

A weirwood.

It seemed to sprout from solid rock, its pale roots twisting up from a myriad of fissures and hairline cracks. The tree was slender compared to other weirwoods he had seen, no more than a sapling, yet it was growing as he watched, its limbs thickening as they reached for the sky. Wary, he circled the smooth white trunk until he came to the face. Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother’s face. Had his brother always had three eyes? Not always, came the silent shout. Not before the crow. He sniffed at the bark, smelled wolf and tree and boy, but behind that there were other scents, the rich brown smell of warm earth and the hard grey smell of stone and something else, something terrible. Death, he knew. He was smelling death. He cringed back, his hair bristling, and bared his fangs.

Don’t be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him.

[45]

This dream may not actually be prophetic, as Bran Stark would later actually learn to connect his being to weirwood trees, and learn to speak to others in the past.[3] It is as of yet unknown whether Bran would be able to connect with people in their dreams as well, even if those dreams occurred in the past.

Moqorro

When asked by Tyrion Lannister what he sees in the flames of his night fire, the red priest Moqorro states that he sees "Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all."[46] Moqorro’s claim appears to foreshadow that Tyrion Lannister will play an important role in the conflicts to come involving dragons, whether literal dragons, or figurative dragons. The possible identities of the "old dragon", "young dragon", "true dragon", "false dragon", "bright dragon", and "dark dragon" have been a heavily debated topic in the fandom.

Moqorro further claims to have seen other people in his flames who are searching for Daenerys Targaryen and although he has seen only their shadows, he identifies one more clearly, describing this person as "A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood."[46] Many readers have identified this person as Euron Greyjoy, based on the fact that the kraken is the sigil of House Greyjoy, and on the fact that Euron wears an eye-patch over his left eye,[citation needed] which according to Euron's nephew, Theon Greyjoy, is a "black eye shining with malice".[47] Euron indeed eventually sends out his brother Victario to find Daenerys and bring her to Westeros.[citation needed]

Moqorro later encounters Victarion, and claims to him that he has seen Victarion and "the glory that awaits you" every night in his fires.[48]

Patchface

See also: Patchface/Theories

The fool Patchface recites cryptic jingles that seem to often have prophetic meaning.

It is always summer under the sea. The merwives wear nennymoans in their hair and weave gowns of silver seaweed. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.[49]

This seems to predict Sansa at Joffrey's wedding to Margaery Tyrell. On the day of the royal wedding, Sansa wears a gown of silvery satin, and has a delicate silver net with dark purple gemstones in her hair.[50] The "nennymoans" that Patchface refers to seem to be a corruption of "anemone", which is a purple flower. Sea anemones, which are named after the flower, are poisonous water-dwelling animals.

The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord," he sang, hopping from one foot to the other and back again. "The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord.[49]

This seems to foreshadow Melisandre's shadowbinding abilities and the use of shadow assassins at the siege of Storm's End to kill Renly Baratheon[51] and Ser Cortnay Penrose.[42]

Fool’s blood, king’s blood, blood on the maiden’s thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye.[52]

This foreshadows the Red Wedding.

Tyrion Lannister

While travelling in the litter with Illyrio on their way to the Rhoyne, Tyrion Lannister has a peculiar dream:

That night Tyrion Lannister dreamed of a battle that turned the hills of Westeros as red as blood. He was in the midst of it, dealing death with an axe as big as he was, fighting side by side with Barristan the Bold and Bittersteel as dragons wheeled across the sky above them. In the dream he had two heads, both noseless. His father led the enemy, so he slew him once again. Then he killed his brother Jaime, hacking at his face until it was a red ruin, laughing every time he struck a blow. Only when the fight was finished did he realise that his second head was weeping.[53]

This appears to foretell a battle where Daenerys Targaryen's forces, led by Barristan and the Golden Company, assault Westeros.

Jaime Lannister

Jaime Lannister has the first of his dreams asleep on a weirwood stump after he has left Harrenhal, which causes him to return in order to rescue Brienne of Tarth. He dreams how he is in the deepness of Casterly Rock, and is whole again, with both hands, despite being naked and alone. A dozen tall dark figures in cowled robes, who are hiding their faces, hold spears, and refuse to answer Jaime when he demands to know who they are. Instead, with their spears, they force him to descent into the deepness.

Below the earth his doom awaited, he knew with the certainty of dream; something dark and terrible lurked there, something that wanted him. Jaime tried to halt, but their spears prodded him on. If only I had my sword, nothing could harm me.

Jaime eventually finds himself in a deep, watery cavern deep below Casterly Rock. It is a place that he doesn't know. When he wonders out loud where he is, the voices of all Lannisters answer him "your place". Jaime sees his father, his sister, and his eldest son.

This is your place, Brother. This is your darkness." Her torch was the only light in the cavern. Her torch was the only light in the world. She turned to go.

"Stay with me," Jaime pleaded. "Don't leave me here alone." But they were leaving. "Don't leave me in the dark!" Something terrible lived down here. "Give me a sword, at least."

"I gave you a sword," Lord Tywin said.

It was at his feet. Jaime groped under the water until his hand closed upon the hilt. Nothing can hurt me so long as I have a sword. As he raised the sword a finger of pale flame flickered at the point and crept up along the edge, stopping a hand's breath from the hilt. The fire took on the color of the steel itself so it burned with a silvery-blue light, and the gloom pulled back. Crouching, listening, Jaime moved in a circle, ready for anything that might come out of the darkness. The water flowed into his boots, ankle deep and bitterly cold. Beware the water, he told himself. There may be creatures living in it, hidden deeps...

Brienne appears from the darkness, her hands bound in chains. She is also naked, and asks Jaime to undo her chains. When she asks, a sword appears. Both Brienne's sword and Jaime's are aflame.

"The flames will burn so long as you live," he heard Cersei call. "When they die, so must you."

Then, Cersei leaves, and Jaime and Brienne are left alone.

"Do they keep a bear down here?" Brienne was moving, slow and wary, sword to hand; step, turn, and listen. Each step made a little splash. "A cave lion? Direwolves? Some bear? Tell me, Jaime. What lives here? What lives in the darkness?" "Doom." No bear, he knew. No lion. "Only doom."

This part of the dream foreshadows Brienne's encounter with the bear at Harrenhal, from which Jaime will later save her.

Jaime and Brienne are pondering what they should do when shadows appear in the darkness. Jaime knows them all too well: they are Oswell Whent, Jon Darry, Lewyn Martell, Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne and Rhaegar Targaryen. During the dream, Brienne repeats a few times how she swore to keep Jaime safe. It is the shadow of Ser Arthur Dayne who tells that they all swore an oath, and the shadows blame Jaime for the deaths of Aerys, Elia, Rhaenys and Aegon. That is when the fire of Jaime´s sword starts going out. [54]}}


Jaime's second dream occurs after Riverrun has been handed over to his aunt, Genna Lannister, and uncle, Emmon Frey. He dreams of Lady Joanna, though at first he does not recognize her.

She raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back. “Have you forgotten me?”

Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He did know her, but it had been so long…

“Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.” Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She climbed the steps to stand above the bier. “He could never abide being laughed at. That was the thing he hated most.”

“Who are you?” He had to hear her say it.

“The question is, who are you?”

“This is a dream.”

“Is it?... We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.”

“I am a knight,’ he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor. Don’t leave me, he wanted to call, but of course she’d left them long ago.

Quotes

Prophecy can be a tricky business. [55]

- George R. R. Martin


Prophecies are, you know, a double edge sword. You have to handle them very carefully; I mean, they can add depth and interest to a book, but you don’t want to be too literal or too easy ... [56]

- George R. R. Martin


Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time.[57]

- Marwyn to Samwell Tarly


Prophecy is like a half-trained mule. It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head.[58]

- Tyrion Lannister to Jorah Mormont

See Also

Notes

  1. "Never you mind that one, ser. All he does is drink and talk about his dreams."

References

  1. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 23, Daenerys IV.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 28, Bran IV.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 34, Bran III.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The Mystery Knight.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.
  6. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 10, Jon III.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 25, Davos III.
  8. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 22, Tyrion VI.
  9. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 49, Jon X.
  10. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 27, Tyrion VII.
  11. 11.0 11.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
  12. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 11, The Kraken's Daughter.
  13. The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria.
  14. The World of Ice & Fire, The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest.
  15. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 The Hedge Knight.
  17. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 35, Samwell IV.
  18. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 6, Jon I.
  19. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
  20. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 72, Daenerys X.
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 36, Cersei VIII.
  22. A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
  23. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 45, Eddard XII.
  24. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 15, Tyrion III.
  25. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 39, Cersei IX.
  26. 26.0 26.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 17, Bran III.
  27. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
  28. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 46, Daenerys V.
  29. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 68, Daenerys IX.
  30. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 40, Daenerys III.
  31. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 52, Daenerys IX.
  32. 32.0 32.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 71, Daenerys X.
  33. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
  34. 34.0 34.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
  35. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 46, Bran VI.
  36. 36.0 36.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 35, Bran V.
  37. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 22, Arya IV.
  38. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
  39. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.
  40. 40.0 40.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 63, Davos VI.
  41. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33, Catelyn IV.
  42. 42.0 42.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42, Davos II.
  43. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 31, Melisandre I.
  44. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 26, Jon IV.
  45. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 51, Jon VI.
  46. 46.0 46.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 33, Tyrion VIII.
  47. The Winds of Winter, Theon I
  48. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.
  49. 49.0 49.1 A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
  50. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
  51. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31, Catelyn III.
  52. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 10, Davos II.
  53. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
  54. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI.
  55. So Spake Martin: Numerous Questions (February 28, 2002)
  56. George R. R. Martin: "Trying to please everyone is a horrible mistake" Adria's News
  57. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
  58. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 40, Tyrion IX.