Saturday 22 December 2018

Aerys, Tywin and a Bride for Rhaegar

We know Aerys II Targaryen earned his title of "The Mad King". He thought everyone was out to get him. But just because your paranoid, doesn't mean you're wrong.

The friendship between Aerys and his Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister started in King's Landing when both were just boys,


Aerys and Tywin had known each other since childhood. As a boy, Tywin Lannister had served as a royal page at King's Landing. He and Prince Aerys, together with a younger page, the prince's cousin Steffon Baratheon of Storm's End, had become inseparable. During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, the three friends had fought together, Tywin as a new-made knight, Steffon and Prince Aerys as squires.    The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II


When Aerys became king, he declared he wished to be the greatest king in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. His first wise act was to make some major changes to his small council,


His father's court had been made up largely of older, seasoned men, many of whom had also served during the reign of King Aegon V. Aerys II dismissed them one and all, replacing them with lords of his own generation. Most notably, he retired the aged and exceedingly cautious Hand, Edgar Sloane, and named in his place Ser Tywin Lannister, the heir to Casterly Rock. At twenty years of age, Ser Tywin thus became the youngest Hand in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. 
Many maesters to this day insist that his appointment was the wisest thing that "Aerys the Wise" ever did.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

With Tywin as Hand, trade flourished in the Seven Kingdoms.

Tywin won the approbation of many great lords by repealing what remained of the laws Aegon V had enacted to curb their powers. Tywin reduced tariffs and taxes on shipping going in and out of the cities of King's Landing, Lannisport, and Oldtown, winning the support of many wealthy merchants. Tywin built new roads and repaired old ones, held many splendid tournaments about the realm to the delight of knights and commons both, cultivated trade with the Free Cities, and sternly punished bakers found guilty of adding sawdust to their bread and butchers selling horsemeat as beef.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

He focused on trade and infrastructure. In the Volantene sense, Tywin was an Elephant.

By the time they turned to history, Young Griff was growing restive. "We were discussing the history of Volantis," Haldon said to him. "Can you tell Yollo the difference between a tiger and an elephant?"
"Volantis is the oldest of the Nine Free Cities, first daughter of Valyria," the lad replied, in a bored tone. "After the Doom it pleased the Volantenes to consider themselves the heirs of the Freehold and rightful rulers of the world, but they were divided as to how dominion might best be achieved. The Old Blood favored the sword, while the merchants and moneylenders advocated trade. As they contended for rule of the city, the factions became known as the tigers and elephants, respectively.  A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV


Aerys's  jealousy of Tywin is well known.  Where Tywin was a man of action, Aerys was full of grand schemes for the realm that never panned out.


His Grace was full of grand schemes as well. Not long after his coronation, he announced his intent to conquer the Stepstones and make them a part of his realm for all time. In 264 AC, a visit to King's Landing by Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell awakened his interest in the North, and he hatched a plan to build a new Wall a hundred leagues north of the existing one and claim all the lands between. In 265 AC, offended by "the stink of King's Landing," he spoke of building a "white city" entirely of marble on the south bank of the Blackwater Rush. In 267 AC, after a dispute with the Iron Bank of Braavos regarding certain monies borrowed by his father, he announced that he would build the largest war fleet in the history of the world "to bring the Titan to his knees." In 270 AC, during a visit to Sunspear, he told the Princess of Dorne that he would "make the Dornish deserts bloom" by digging a great underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down from the rainwood.
None of these grandiose plans ever came to fruition; most, indeed, were forgotten within a moon's turn, for Aerys II seemed to grow bored with his royal enthusiasms as quickly as he did his royal paramours
And yet the Seven Kingdoms prospered greatly during the first decade of his reign, for the King's Hand was all that the king himself was not—diligent, decisive, tireless, fiercely intelligent, just, and stern. "The gods made and shaped this man to rule," Grand Maester Pycelle wrote of Tywin Lannister in a letter to the Citadel after serving with him on the small council for two years.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

Aerys real jealousy of Tywin started with Joanna.

"As you command." The white knight chose his words with care. "Prince Aerys … as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the … the liberties your father took during the bedding." His face reddened. "I have said too much, Your Grace. I—"   A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys VII


Aerys showed this jealousy in many ways,

Aerys had Ser Ilyn Payne's tongue torn out just for boasting that it was the Hand who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms.  A Storm of Swords - Jaime II

He began to go against any advice Tywin offered,

Where previously Aerys had sided with Tywin Lannister on most matters of substance, now the two men began to disagree. During a trade war between the Free Cities of Myr and Tyrosh on the one hand and Volantis on the other, Lord Tywin advocated a policy of neutrality; King Aerys saw more advantage in providing gold and arms to the Volantenes. When Lord Tywin adjudicated a border dispute between House Blackwood and House Bracken in favor of the Blackwoods, His Grace overruled him and gave the disputed mill to Lord Bracken.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

He started to undo the work Tywin had done, sometimes blaming Tywin for these changes,

Over his Hand's strenuous objections, the king doubled the port fees at King's Landing and Oldtown, and tripled them for Lannisport and the realm's other ports and harbors. When a delegation of small lords and rich merchants came before the Iron Throne to complain, however, Aerys blamed the Hand for the exactions, saying, "Lord Tywin shits gold, but of late he has been constipated and had to find some other way to fill our coffers." Whereupon His Grace restored port fees and tariffs to their previous levels, earning much acclaim for himself and leaving Tywin Lannister the opprobrium.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

After the War of the Ninepenny Kings and the tragedy of Summerhall, Tywin had helped  Aerys "heal" the realm. For his efforts, he recieved nothing but scorn and jealousy from his King.

At the great Anniversary Tourney of 272 AC, held to commemorate Aerys's tenth year upon the Iron Throne, Joanna Lannister brought her six-year-old twins Jaime and Cersei from Casterly Rock to present before the court. The king (very much in his cups) asked her if giving suck to them had "ruined your breasts, which were so high and proud." The question greatly amused Lord Tywin's rivals, who were always pleased to see the Hand slighted or made mock of, but Lady Joanna was humiliated. Tywin Lannister attempted to return his chain of office the next morning, but the king refused to accept his resignation.
Aerys II could, of course, have dismissed Tywin Lannister at any time and named his own man as Hand of the King, but instead, for whatever reason, the king chose to keep his boyhood friend close by him, laboring on his behalf, even as he began to undermine him in ways both great and small. Slights and gibes became ever more numerous; courtiers hoping for advancement soon learned that the quickest way to catch the king's eye was by making mock of his solemn, humorless Hand. Yet through all this, Tywin Lannister suffered in silence.
In 273 AC, however, Lady Joanna was taken to childbed once again at Casterly Rock, where she died delivering Lord Tywin's second son. Tyrion, as the babe was named, was a malformed, dwarfish babe born with stunted legs, an oversized head, and mismatched, demonic eyes (some reports also suggested he had a tail, which was lopped off at his lord father's command). Lord Tywin's Doom, the smallfolk called this ill-made creature, and Lord Tywin's Bane. Upon hearing of his birth, King Aerys infamously said, "The gods cannot abide such arrogance. They have plucked a fair flower from his hand and given him a monster in her place, to teach him some humility at last."  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings:
Aerys II

When Tywin heard this, he was at Casterly Rock in mourning but the memory of his father being openly mocked  and taken advatage of by his bannermen must have been in his mind.  Aerys, his childhood friend. A squire who he himself had knighted was making mock of him.

 Tywin seems a hard man to you, I know, but he is no harder than he's had to be. Our own father was gentle and amiable, but so weak his bannermen mocked him in their cups. Some saw fit to defy him openly. Other lords borrowed our gold and never troubled to repay it. At court they japed of toothless lions. Even his mistress stole from him. A woman scarcely one step above a whore, and she helped herself to my mother's jewels! It fell to Tywin to restore House Lannister to its proper place. Just as it fell to him to rule this realm, when he was no more than twenty. He bore that heavy burden for twenty years, and all it earned him was a mad king's envy. Instead of the honor he deserved, he was made to suffer slights beyond count, yet he gave the Seven Kingdoms peace, plenty, and justice. He is a just man. You would be wise to trust him."  A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

So why did Tywin stay on as hand?

 When she was just a little girl, her father had promised her that she would marry Rhaegar. She could not have been more than six or seven. "Never speak of it, child," he had told her, smiling his secret smile that only Cersei ever saw. "Not until His Grace agrees to the betrothal. It must remain our secret for now." And so it had, though once she had drawn a picture of herself flying behind Rhaegar on a dragon, her arms wrapped tight about his chest. When Jaime had discovered it she told him it was Queen Alysanne and King Jaehaerys.
She was ten when she finally saw her prince in the flesh, at the tourney her lord father had thrown to welcome King Aerys to the west. Viewing stands had been raised beneath the walls of Lannisport, and the cheers of the smallfolk had echoed off Casterly Rock like rolling thunder. They cheered Father twice as loudly as they cheered the king, the queen recalled, but only half as loudly as they cheered Prince Rhaegar.  A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Even with all his gold, Tywin could never be King. In fact i dont think he wanted to be. But he could be Father to a Queen and Grandfather to a king.

Cersei recalls her father telling her she is to be betrothed to Rhaegar and will one day become queen.  Tywin must have been pretty certain of this to tell Cersei about it. Did Tywin expect this as a"natural" betrothal because he was Hand of the King? Or did he have assurances from Aerys that this would happen?

Cersei had been so happy that day. Elsewise she would never have dared visit the tent of Maggy the Frog. She had only done it to show Jeyne and Melara that the lioness fears nothing. I was going to be a queen. Why should a queen be afraid of some hideous old woman? The memory of that foretelling still made her flesh crawl a lifetime later. Jeyne ran shrieking from the tent in fear, the queen remembered, but Melara stayed and so did I. We let her taste our blood, and laughed at her stupid prophecies. None of them made the least bit of sense. She was going to be Prince Rhaegar's wife, no matter what the woman said. Her father had promised it, and Tywin Lannister's word was gold. A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

In preperation for this betrothal, Tywin held a tourney to honor the birth of Prince Viserys. Many viewed the Tourney as a reconcilliation between King and Hand.

Her laughter died at tourney's end. There had been no final feast, no toasts to celebrate her betrothal to Prince Rhaegar. Only cold silences and chilly looks between the king and her father. Later, when Aerys and his son and all his gallant knights had departed for King's Landing, the girl had gone to her aunt in tears, not understanding. "Your father proposed the match," Lady Genna told her, "but Aerys refused to hear of it. 'You are my most able servant, Tywin,' the king said, 'but a man does not marry his heir to his servant's daughter.' A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Instead Aerys wanted Rhaegar to be married to someone more "appropriate".

When Aerys was captured and held at Duskendale, Tywin saw a way to bypass the King's rejection and wed Cersei to Rhaegar.


Most of the small council were with the Hand outside Duskendale at this juncture, and several of them argued against Lord Tywin's plan on the grounds that such an attack would almost certainly goad Lord Darklyn into putting King Aerys to death. "He may or he may not," Tywin Lannister reportedly replied, "but if he does, we have a better king right here." Whereupon he raised a hand to indicate Prince Rhaegar.  
Scholars have debated ever since as to Lord Tywin's intent. Did he believe Lord Darklyn would back down? Or was he, in truth, willing, and perhaps even eager, to see Aerys die so that Prince Rhaegar might take the Iron Throne? The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II


 Aerys was rescued by ser Barristan Selmy, but he was suspicious that Tywin wanted him dead so Rhaegar could ascend the throne and take Cercei as queen.


Once safely returned to King's Landing, His Grace refused to leave the Red Keep for any cause and remained a virtual prisoner in his own castle for the next four years, during which time he grew ever more wary of those around him, Tywin Lannister in particular. His suspicions extended even to his own son and heir. Prince Rhaegar, he was convinced, had conspired with Tywin Lannister to have him slain at Duskendale. They had planned to storm the town walls so that Lord Darklyn would put him to death, opening the way for Rhaegar to mount the Iron Throne and marry Lord Tywin's daughter.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II


Aerys' Paranoia now extended to Tywin conspiring with his son and heir Rhaegar.

Determined to prevent that from happening, King Aerys turned to another friend of his childhood, summoning Steffon Baratheon from Storm's End and naming him to the small council.



The king—the old king, Aerys II Targaryen, who had not been quite so mad in those days—had sent his lordship to seek a bride for Prince Rhaegar, who had no sisters to wed.  A Clash of Kings - Prologue

Aerys wish to marry Rhaegar to a Volantene bride has many implications if successful, for many people including Tywin.  It would end any conspiracy between Tywin and Rhaegar.
 Steffon Baratheon being chosen to find this bride looked to many, as a sign that Tywin's time as Hand was over and Steffon would be his replacement.


 In 278 AC, the king sent Lord Steffon across the narrow sea on a mission to Old Volantis, to seek a suitable bride for Prince Rhaegar, "a maid of noble birth from an old Valyrian bloodline." That His Grace entrusted this task to the Lord of Storm's End rather than his Hand, or Rhaegar himself, speaks volumes. The rumors were rife that Aerys meant to make Lord Steffon his new Hand upon the successful completion of this mission, that Tywin Lannister was about to be removed from office, arrested, and tried for high treason. And there was many a lord who took delight in that prospect.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II




If  the old blood of Volantis married the Iron Throne it(Volantis) would have the power to challenge the rest of the Free Cities. The Tiger faction who originate from the "old blood" and favor war and conquest of the Free Cities, would have the power to challenge the ruling Elephant faction who favor trade. Tywin had advised Aerys in the past to stay neutral in Volantis' war with Myr and Tyrosh. Aegon himself flew Balerion against Volantis.



Near the end, even the future Conqueror, the still-young Aegon Targaryen, became involved in the struggle. His ancestors had long looked east, but his attention from an early age had been turned westward. Still, when Pentos and Tyrosh approached him, inviting him to join a grand alliance against Volantis, he listened. And for reasons unknown to this day, he chose to heed their call...to a point. Mounting the Black Dread, it is said that he flew to the east, meeting with the Prince of Pentos and the magisters of the Free City, and from there flew Balerion to Lys in time to set ablaze a Volantene fleet that was preparing to invade that Free City.  The World of Ice and Fire - Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria

Whatever these "unknown reasons" were,  Aegon's alliance with Pentos and Tyrosh 300 years ago meant that Volantis has been ruled by the Elephant faction ever since and trade flourished.

"The tigers held sway for almost a century after the Doom of Valyria. For a time they were successful. A Volantene fleet took Lys and a Volantene army captured Myr, and for two generations all three cities were ruled from within the Black Walls. That ended when the tigers tried to swallow Tyrosh. Pentos came into the war on the Tyroshi side, along with the Westerosi Storm King. Braavos provided a Lyseni exile with a hundred warships, Aegon Targaryen flew forth from Dragonstone on the Black Dread, and Myr and Lys rose up in rebellion. The war left the Disputed Lands a waste, and freed Lys and Myr from the yoke. The tigers suffered other defeats as well. The fleet they sent to reclaim Valyria vanished in the Smoking Sea. Qohor and Norvos broke their power on the Rhoyne when the fire galleys fought on Dagger Lake. Out of the east came the Dothraki, driving smallfolk from their hovels and nobles from their estates, until only grass and ruins remained from the forest of Qohor to the headwaters of the Selhoru. After a century of war, Volantis found herself broken, bankrupt, and depopulated. It was then that the elephants rose up. They have held sway ever since. Some years the tigers elect a triarch, and some years they do not, but never more than one, so the elephants have ruled the city for three hundred years."  A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV

For Tywin and the Free Cities, Steffon Baratheon(of cherished memory) could not be allowed to find a Volantene bride for Rhaegar. But who could stop him?



The greatest, richest, and most powerful of the Nine Free cities are Braavos and Volantis. And there is a curious connection between the two, for in many ways they stand in opposition to one another. Braavos lies in the far north of Essos, and Volantis to the far south; Volantis is the oldest of the Free Cities, and Braavos the youngest; Braavos was founded by slaves, whilst Volantis is built upon their bones; Braavos's greatest might is at sea, whilst that of Volantis is upon the land. Yet both remain formidable powers, their histories deeply marked by the Freehold of Valyria.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Volantis

Braavos.

 The Volantenes were fond of boasting that the hundred isles of Braavos could be dropped into their deep harbor and drowned. A Dance with Dragons - The Merchants Man

Braavos may be small but it is mighty.

The youngest of the Nine Free Cities, Braavos is also the wealthiest, and in all likelihood the most powerful. Originally founded by escaped slaves, its humble beginnings were rooted in nothing more than a desire to be free. For a great part of its early history, its secret status made it of little consequence in the wider world. But in time it grew, eventually emerging as a power almost without rival.   
Neither prince nor king commands in Braavos, where the rule belongs to the Sealord, chosen by the city's magisters and keyholders from amongst the citizenry by a process as convoluted as it is arcane. From his vast waterside palace, the Sealord commands a fleet of warships second to none and a mercantile fleet whose purple hulls and purple sails have become a common sight throughout the known world.
Braavos was founded by fugitives from a large convoy of slave ships on its way from Valyria to a newly established colony in Sothoryos, who rose in a bloody rebellion, seized control of the ships on which they were being transported, and fled to "the far ends of the earth" to escape their erstwhile masters. Knowing they would be hunted, the slaves turned away from their intended destination and sailed north instead of south, seeking a refuge as far from Valyria and her vengeance as could be found.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


The wealth of Braavos comes from many sources

Today Braavos is one of the world's greatest ports and welcomes trading ships of all nations (save for slavers). Within the vast lagoon, Braavosi ships dock at the splendid Purple Harbor, located near the Sealord's Palace. Other vessels must use the port called the Ragman's Harbor, a poorer and rougher port by all accounts. Still, there is so much wealth to be had in Braavos that ships come from as far as Qarth and the Summer Isles to trade there. The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


But its true wealth and its true power comes from the Iron Bank

Braavos is also home to one of the most powerful banks in the world, whose roots stretch back to the beginnings of the city, when a few of the fugitives took to hiding such valuables as they had in an abandoned iron mine to keep them safe from thieves and pirates. As the city grew and prospered, the shafts and chambers of the mine began to fill. Rather than let their treasure sit idle in the earth, the wealthier Braavosi began to make loans to their less fortunate brethren.
Thus was born the Iron Bank of Braavos, whose renown (or infamy, to hear some tell it) now extends to every corner of the known world. Kings, princes, archons, triarchs, and merchants beyond count travel from the ends of the earth to seek loans from the heavily guarded vaults of the Iron Bank.
The Iron Bank will have its due, it is said. Those who borrow from the Braavosi and fail to repay their debts oft have cause to rue such folly, for the Bank has been known to topple lords and princes and has also been rumored to send assassins against those it cannot remove (though this has never been conclusively proved).   The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Braavos


As well as lending money to "Kings, princes archons, triarchs and merchants beyond count",The Iron Bank has the wealth and power to "topple lords and princes" if they dont have their due. If you do pay your debts in the agreed upon time and in the agreed upon amounts, the Iron bank can be a good friend to have...and a Lannister always pays his debts.

It was Tywin Lannister who settled the crown's dispute with the Braavosi (though without "making the Titan kneel," to the king's displeasure), by repaying the monies lent to Jaehaerys II with gold from Casterly Rock, thereby taking the debts upon himself.   The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

When Tywin payed the Crown's debt to the Iron Bank, he avoided  a lot of trouble on both sides of the dispute.

When the bank backed Stannis's claim, it was on the condition that Stannis pay the Crown's debt when he won the throne. It actually cost the Iron bank to claim back the money it was owed.

When Tywin payed back the crowns debt himself he may have gained some influence with the Iron Bank. That influence, together with a shared interest in stopping a Volantis/ Iron Throne alliance that would certainly upset the trade that Tywin had cultivated with the Free Cities at the begining of Aerys reign (and possibly add to the slave trade) could have been enough to sway the Iron Bank to stop any betrothal that Steffon sought for Rhaegar.

This could be easily done. The Iron bank lend money to everyone and no doubt many nobles in Volantis have debts with the bank. Calling in the debts of anyone considering the betrothal would be a subtle message that this was a mistake.


When he raised his head to look at her, his dark eyes were clouded with pain. Is that the gout? Arianne wondered. Or is it me? "A strange and subtle folk, the Volantenes," he muttered, as he put the elephant aside.   A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower.



 Steffon's mission to find a bride for Rhaegar ended in tragedy and only led Aerys to deeper madness and paranoia,

The gods had other notions, however. Steffon Baratheon's mission ended in failure, and on his return from Volantis, his ship foundered and sank in Shipbreaker Bay, within sight of Storm's End. Lord Steffon and his wife were both drowned as their two elder sons watched from the castle walls. When word of their deaths reached King's Landing, King Aerys flew into a rage and told Grand Maester Pycelle that Tywin Lannister had somehow divined his royal intentions and arranged for Lord Baratheon's murder. "If I dismiss him as Hand, he will kill me, too," the king told the grand maester.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II

But just because your paranoid doesn't mean your wrong all of the time. The circumstances in which Lord Steffon's ship went down are suspicious.

Why was Lord Steffon's ship in Shipbreaker bay?

Storm's End itself, looming over the great cliffs of Durran's Point and the treacherous rocks of Shipbreaker Bay, offers no safe anchorage for either warship or merchant craft...... The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands

The landing beneath Storm's End is described in A Clash Of Kings,

A mouth yawned in the cliff, and it was that Davos steered for, as he had sixteen years before. The tunnel opened on a cavern under the castle, where the storm lords of old had built their landing. The passage was navigable only during high tide, and was never less than treacherous, but his smuggler ’s skills had not deserted him. Davos threaded their way deftly between the jagged rocks until the cave mouth loomed up before them. He let the waves carry them inside. They crashed around him, slamming the boat this way and that and soaking them to the skin. A half-seen finger of rock came rushing up out of the gloom, snarling foam, and Davos barely kept them off it with an oar Clash of Kings Davos II

This seems like an unnecessary risk to take for the Lord and Lady of Storm's End.

  Daemon Sand stepped up beside her. "Shipbreaker Bay can be perilous even on a fair summer's day. The safer way to Storm's End is overland."  - Arianne II The Winds Of Winter

There are safer places to land when returning to the Stormlands,

 South, beyond Shipbreaker Bay with its wild waters and treacherous rocks, lies Cape Wrath. The moist green tangle of the rainwood dominates the northern two-thirds of the cape. Farther south a broad plain opens up, rolling gently down to the Sea of Dorne, where numerous small fishing villages dot the shoreline. A thriving port and market, the Weeping Town (as it came to be known because it was where the body of the slain hero King Daeron I Targaryen returned to his kingdom after his murder in Dorne), stands here, and much of the region's trade passes through its harbor. - The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands

After Lord Steffon's failed mission to find a bride for Rhaegar, should he not have returned to King's Landing to tell the King why? Instead he seems to have been returning to Storm's End to bring home a fool he bought in Volantis.

The ship that sailed to Volantis, bore a name that should give pause when thinking of Aerys' mad ravings about Tywin arranging the murder of Steffon Baratheon.

 The storm came up suddenly, howling, and Shipbreaker Bay proved the truth of its name. The lord's two-masted galley Windproud broke up within sight of his castle. From its parapets his two eldest sons had watched as their father's ship was smashed against the rocks and swallowed by the waters. A hundred oarsmen and sailors went down with Lord Steffon Baratheon and his lady wife, and for days thereafter every tide left a fresh crop of swollen corpses on the strand below Storm's End.  A Clash of Kings - Prologue

And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?


Swords Of Ice And Fire

Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn

Davos's Thumb

Aerys,Tywin And A Bride For Rhaegar

The Trident Has Three Heads

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?

Coin Well Spent

Valonqar - High Valyrian Or Bastard Valyrian?

Brandon's Bastards































Sunday 16 December 2018

The Trident Has Three Heads.

Could "The dragon has three heads" be a reference to someone born of three bloodlines? 
One parent carrying two bloodlines and the other parent carrying only one. Joining to birth a child that would carry  three 'special' abilities.

A child that has pure dragon blood(blue), Warg blood (red) and Green dreamer blood
(green).

A Greenseer and a Dragonlord

This may be mirrored in the three forks of the Trident- Blue, Red and Green, flowing together to form the
main River Trident.


The three branches of the Trident give the riverlands their name: the Red Fork, colored by the mud and silt that tumbles down from the western mountains; the Green Fork, whose mossy waters emerge from the swamps of the Neck; and the Blue Fork, named for the purity of its sparkling, spring-fed flow. The World of Ice and Fire - The Riverlands




Blue fork- Blue blood - Pure bloodline

...the Blue Fork, named for the purity of its sparkling, spring-fed flow.  The World of Ice and Fire - The Riverlands

 First Bloodline - A child of Aerys and Rhaella-  Being brother and sister, would have pure Targaryen blood. The potential to hatch and control dragons along with potential "Dragon dreams"


Ser Barristan went on. “I saw your father and your mother wed as well. Forgive me, but
there was no fondness there, and the realm paid dearly for that, my queen.”
“Why did they wed if they did not love each other?”
“Your grandsire commanded it. A woods witch had told him that the prince was promised would be born of their line.” A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys IV



The Green Fork - Greensight/Greendreamer Bloodline (not a greenseer)






"My brother dreams as other boys do, and those dreams might mean anything," Meera said, "but the green dreams are different."

"You're a greenseer."
"No," said Jojen, "only a boy who dreams. The greenseers were more than that. They were wargs as well, as you are, and the greatest of them could wear the skins of any beast that flies or swims or crawls, and could look through the eyes of the weirwoods as well, and see the truth that lies beneath the world.



Red Fork-  Skinchanger/Warg bloodline - 

Some of the children born to Rickard Stark were said to have "the wolfblood". 

 "Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. 'The wolf blood,' my father used to call it. 
Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave."  A Game of Thrones - Arya II

Some have it more than others

The Walders might be scared of them, but the Starks had wolf blood. Old Nan told him so. 
"Though it is stronger in some than in others," she warnedA Clash of Kings - Bran I



Descendents of the marriage between Rickard and Lyarra would potentially  be wargs or potentially have prophetic green dreams or potentially both.  A Greenseer

"Only one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger," Lord Brynden said one day, after Bran had learned to fly, "and only one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer."
"I thought the greenseers were the wizards of the children," Bran said. "The singers, I mean."
"In a sense. Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. 
A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers." 
A Dance with Dragons - Bran III



Some mention of Greenseer blood or Green blood in a prophecy could have been mistaken for the
Greenblood river in Dorne and could be the reason Rhaegar was married to Elia Martell .


Realizing this mistake, Rhaegar would need someone born from a known (or alleged)
Skinchanger and Green dreamer bloodline. Lyanna Stark's blood was a mixture of the second
and third heads of the dragon.



The Targaryen ability to ride (and hatch) dragons is augmented with prophetic "Dragon
dreams" similar to greendreams.

 Children born to Rhaegar and Lyanna would potentially have any of these abilities. Or all of
them.
A dragon with three heads.  A Dragon rider and a Greenseer

"He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire." A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV


The legends of Azor Ahai being reborn and The Prince that was Promised seem to be the same legend. Or at least the are interpreted by some as the same. 

Bran is a "byproduct" of one of the bloodlines that produced Jon Snow. The same blood that combined to birth the greenseeer potential in the Starks also produced Bran.

Could the Prince that was Promised be a byproduct of the rebirth of Azor Ahai?   A Harbinger?

Melisandre believes or at least claims that Stannis is Azor Ahai reborn. The promised prince.


 "It is the war for the dawn you speak of, my lady. But where is the prince that was promised?"


But Stannis is a king not a prince.  It just so happens that the same comet did herald the "birth"of a prince.

"MY LORDS!" he shouted, his voice booming off the rafters. "Here is what I say to these two kings!" He spat. "Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine, from some flowery seat in Highgarden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the wolfswood or the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong. The Others take the Lannisters too, I've had a bellyful of them." He reached back over his shoulder and drew his immense two-handed greatsword. "Why shouldn't we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!" He pointed at Robb with the blade. "There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m'lords," he thundered. "The King in the North!A Game of Thrones - Catelyn XI



Near the end of A Game of Thrones,the final Catelyn chapter, Robb is declared the King in the North. This means Bran became a prince.

In the final Bran chapter, the comet is mentioned for the first time

"For a certainty," Maester Luwin agreed with a deep sigh. The maester was peering through his big Myrish lens tube, measuring shadows and noting the position of the comet that hung low in the morning sky. A Game of Thrones - Bran VII


We dont know what the real prophecy of Azor Ahai is. We only know how the characters interpret the prophecy.


"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. Sam, we tremble on the cusp of half-remembered prophecies, of wonders and terrors that no man now living could hope to comprehend . . . or . . ."
"Or?" said Sam. A Feast for Crows - Samwell III

This prophecy or a version of it, may have been misinterpreted in Westeros before the Targaryens arrived.

If there was something that was interpreted as "Blue blood" or "pure blood" This may be why Craster "weds" his daughters and "gifts" his sons to the Others.

Blue blood is associated with the others

When he opened his eyes the Other's armor was running down its legs in rivulets as pale blue blood hissed and steamed around the black dragonglass dagger in its throat. It reached down with two bone-white hands to pull out the knife, but where its fingers touched the obsidian they smoked.  A Storm of Swords - Samwell I

 Night's King  was possibly (among others) a Flint or a Stark. Or a mixture of both.

"Some say he was a Bolton," Old Nan would always end. "Some say a Magnar out of Skagos, some say Umber, Flint, or Norrey. Some would have you think he was a Woodfoot, from them who ruled Bear Island before the ironmen came. He never was. He was a Stark, the brother of the man who brought him down." She always pinched Bran on the nose then, he would never forget it. "He was a Stark of Winterfell, and who can say? Mayhaps his name was Brandon. Mayhaps he slept in this very bed in this very room.A Storm of Swords - Bran IV


Was Night's King a Greenseer trying to fulfill an interpretation of this or a similar prophecy when he spied his Corpse Queen from atop the Wall?

A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.  A Storm of Swords - Bran IV

Was he a Greenseer trying to birth a child with this blue-eyed, blue-blooded woman?

 I know the prophecy." Marwyn turned his head and spat a gob of red phlegm onto the floor. "Not that I would trust it. 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." He chewed a bit. "Still . . ."  A Feast for Crows - Samwell V



When Aemon hears about Dany and her dragons he has a revelation about the prophecy. 

 On Braavos, it had seemed possible that Aemon might recover. Xhondo's talk of dragons had almost seemed to restore the old man to himself. That night he ate every bite Sam put before him. "No one ever looked for a girl," he said. "It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought . . . the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King's Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise!  A Feast for Crows - Samwell IV









the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. Feast for Crows - Samwell IV

Salt-

They called her Salty, since she'd come aboard at Saltpans, near the mouth of the Trident. It was as good a name as any, she supposed. A Feast for Crows - Arya I

Smoke-

 The next day, outside the smoking ruins of Harrenhal, King Aegon accepted an oath of fealty from Edmyn Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and named him Lord Paramount of the Trident. The World of Ice and Fire - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest



Born amidst Salt and Smoke 

The three forks of the Trident merge into one to form the main river. The River Trident flows out to sea between Saltpans  and Harrenhal. A castle that Aegon I left a smoking ruin.

"No one ever looked for a girl," he said.  A Feast for Crows - Samwell IV


"No one," she would answer, she who had been Arya of House Stark, Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface. She had been Arry and Weasel too, and Squab and Salty, Nan the cupbearer, a grey mouse, a sheep, the ghost of Harrenhal . . . but not for true, not in her heart of hearts. In there she was Arya of Winterfell, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn, who had once had brothers named Robb and Bran and Rickon, a sister named Sansa, a direwolf called Nymeria, a half brother named Jon Snow. In there she was someone . . . but that was not the answer that he wanted. A Feast for Crows - Arya II


"It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. A Feast for Crows - Samwell IV

When  the comet was sighted and Robb was declared King in the North, as well as Bran becoming a prince,

 Arya became a princess.

(Unknowingly, Arya is the princess betrothed to the Elmar Frey.)
"My princess," he sobbed. "We've been dishonored, Aenys says. There was a bird from the Twins. My lord father says I'll need to marry someone else, or be a septon."
A stupid princess, she thought, that's nothing to cry over. "My brothers might be dead," she confided.  A Clash of Kings - Arya X

Swords Of Ice And Fire

Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?

Aerys,Tywin And A Bride For Rhaegar

Davos's Thumb

Coin Well Spent

Valonqar - High Valyrian Or Bastard Valyrian?

Brandon's Bastards









Saturday 4 August 2018

Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?

I've read theories that the weirwood face on the Black Gate is Bran's and the drop of salty water is a tear shed at seeing himself and his companions and what may or may not happen to them north of the Wall.
I like the idea that If future Bran is in control of the gate he still has to let them through because Sam says the words.  If he can control who goes through despite the words being said, he has to let them through despite knowing whats going to happen.


The tear itself is interesting because it's salt water. The other weirwood face that looks as if it had been crying, had tears of the tree's red sap. 



The face carved into the bone pale trunk was long and sad; red tears of dried sap leaked from its eyes. Was that how it looked when we came north? Sam couldn't recall. A Storm of Swords - Samwell III


The droplet of water being salty could be seawater, although the ice the Wall is made from is said to come from lakes in the Haunted Forest


Once, it was said, they had quarried immense blocks of ice from frozen lakes deep in the haunted forest, dragging them south on sledges so the Wall might be raised ever higher. A Game of Thrones - Jon V


What the Wall is made of and what keeps it frozen is another discussion entirely. So sticking to the Gate.....

The Black Gate is obviously different. 

Its glows


....A glow, came from the wood, like milk and moonlight, so faint it scarcely seemed to touch anything beyond the door itself, not even Sam standing right before it. A Storm of Swords Bran IV


it talks,
...."Who are you?" the door asked, and the well whispered, "Who-who-who-who-who-who-who." A Storm of Swords Bran IV

and of course it can open its mouth....very wide



...."Then pass," the door said. Its lips opened, wide and wider and wider still, until nothing at all remained but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles....A Storm of Swords Bran IV




Bran describes the face on the Gate as...


 The face was old and pale, wrinkled and shrunken. It looks dead. Its mouth was closed, and its eyes; its cheeks were sunken, its brow withered, its chin sagging. If a man could live for a thousand years and never die but just grow older, his face might come to look like that. A Storm of Swords - Bran IV




If a weirwood face takes on the likeness of the person looking through it, is it the same for the gate?  


And is there anyone who looks like this in the story?


The description of the face could be Future Bran...maybe. We obviously dont know what he will look like when he is an old man or if he will be alive at the age the face seems to be. If he is still in Bloodraven's cave, resting in the roots of a weirwood i think he would resemble what Bloodraven looks like now with roots growing through his body. 

If Bloodraven controls the Black Gate, i think it would have a much scarier face than the old man's face Bran describes.

The face Bran describes is more like Maester Aemon...



"Aye."

"Aemon Targaryen?"


"Once. Most just called him Maester Aemon. He died during our voyage south. How is it that you know of him?"


"How not? He was more than just the oldest living maester. He was the oldest man in Westeros, and lived through more history than Archmaester Perestan has ever learned. He could have told us much and more about his father's reign, and his uncle's. How old was he, do you know?"


"One hundred and two." A Feast for Crows Samwell V



"Nonetheless," Maester Aemon said as his clouded, milk-white eyes moved to Tyrion's face, "I think it is true."
For once, Tyrion Lannister found himself at a loss for words. He could only bow his head politely and say, "You are too kind, Maester Aemon."
The blind man smiled. He was a tiny thing, wrinkled and hairless, shrunken beneath the weight of a hundred years so his maester's collar with its links of many metals hung loose about his throat. "I have been called many things, my lord," he said, "but kind is seldom one of them." This time Tyrion himself led the laughter. Tyrion III AGOT



Maester Aemon had counted more than a hundred name days, Jon knew. Frail, shrunken, wizened, and blind, it was hard to imagine him as a little boy no older than Arya. A Clash of Kings - Jon I


The face on the gate is blind,


.....The door opened its eyes.

They were white too, and blind. "Who are you?" the door asked, and the well whispered, "Who-who-who-who-who-who-who."ASOS-Bran IV


So is there any evidence for Aemon being able to do this ?


Bran's third eye powers go up a level from wolfdreams to warging when he is hiding in the darkness of the crypts.

He remembered who he was all too well; Bran the boy, Bran the broken. Better Bran the beastling. Was it any wonder he would sooner dream his Summer dreams, his wolf dreams? Here in the chill damp darkness of the tomb his third eye had finally opened. He could reach Summer whenever he wanted, and once he had even touched Ghost and talked to Jon. A Clash of Kings - Bran VII

Arya's powers go up when her eye's are taken by the House of Black and White
I saw you. "I gave you three. I don't need to give you four." Maybe on the morrow she would tell him about the cat that had followed her home last night from Pynto's, the cat that was hiding in the rafters, looking down on them. Or maybe not. If he could have secrets, so could she. A Dance with Dragons - The Blind Girl

Bloodraven tells Bran,

"Never fear the darkness, Bran." The lord's words were accompanied by a faint rustling of wood and leaf, a slight twisting of his head. "The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong." A Dance with Dragons- Bran III


Aemon's Blindness may have awoken power's he already had. The Stark's have Wolf dreams,Targaryen's have Dragon dreams. If Aemon's "power" did awaken when he lost his sight,it's more than likely that it would be raven's eye's he would see through.


Aemon does mention spending his night's with Ghost's

"I am sorry to have woken you, Maester," Jon Snow said.

"You did not wake me," Maester Aemon replied. "I find I need less sleep as I grow older, and I am grown very old. I often spend half the night with ghosts, remembering times fifty years past as if they were yesterday. The mystery of a midnight visitor is a welcome diversion. So tell me, Jon Snow, why have you come calling at this strange hour?A Game of Thrones - Jon V

Despite being blind he is able to  work on Jon's wound's when he comes back from his time with the Free Folk


A fire was burning in the hearth, and the room was almost stuffy. The warmth made Jon sleepy. As soon as Noye eased him down onto his back, he closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning. He could hear the ravens quorking and complaining in the rookery above."Snow," one bird was saying. "Snow, snow, snow." That was Sam's doing, Jon remembered. Had Samwell Tarly made it home safely, he wondered, or only the birds?

Maester Aemon was not long in coming. He moved slowly, one spotted hand on Clydas's arm as he shuffled forward with small careful steps. Around his thin neck his chain hung heavy, gold and silver links glinting amongst iron, lead, tin, and other base metals. "Jon Snow," he said, "you must tell me all you've seen and done when you are stronger. Donal, put a kettle of wine on the fire, and my irons as well. I will want them red-hot. Clydas, I shall need that good sharp knife of yours." The maester was more than a hundred years old; shrunken, frail, hairless, and quite blind. But if his milky eyes saw nothing, his wits were still as sharp as they had ever been. A Storm of Swords- Jon VI


There have been a few times that Maester Aemon seems to see things despite being blind




"I … ah … Maester Aemon wants to see you."

It was not time for his bandages to be changed. Jon frowned suspiciously. "Why?" he demanded. Sam looked miserable. That was answer enough. "You told him, didn't you?" Jon said angrily. "You told him that you told me."


"I … he … Jon, I didn't want to … he asked … I mean … I think he knew, he sees things no one else sees …"


"He's blind," Jon pointed out forcefully, disgusted. "I can find the way myself." He left Sam standing there, openmouthed and quivering. A Game of Thrones - Jon VIII



Jon goes to see Maester Aemon in the rookery. His Ravens seem very hungry...

Jon shifted the bucket to his right hand and thrust his left down into the bloody bits. The ravens began to scream noisily and fly at the bars, beating at the metal with night-black wings. The meat had been chopped into pieces no larger than a finger joint. He filled his fist and tossed the raw red morsels into the cage, and the squawking and squabbling grew hotter. Feathers flew as two of the larger birds fought over a choice piece. Quickly Jon grabbed a second handful and threw it in after the first. "Lord Mormont's raven likes fruit and corn."
"He is a rare bird," the maester said. "Most ravens will eat grain, but they prefer flesh. It makes them strong, and I fear they relish the taste of blood. In that they are like men … and like men, not all ravens are alike."A Game of Thrones - Jon VIII



...but when Aemon tells Jon he must choose,some seem to stop eating and have a look at Jon, or is it Aemon that's having a look?

..."A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man's life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose."
Some of the ravens were still eating, long stringy bits of meat dangling from their beaks. The rest seemed to be watching him. Jon could feel the weight of all those tiny black eyes. "And this is my day … is that what you're saying?"
Maester Aemon turned his head and looked at him with those dead white eyes. It was as if he were seeing right into his heart. Jon felt naked and exposed. He took the bucket in both hands and flung the rest of the slops through the bars. Strings of meat and blood flew everywhere, scattering the ravens. They took to the air, shrieking wildly. The quicker birds snatched morsels on the wing and gulped them down greedily. Jon let the empty bucket clang to the floor.A Game of Thrones - Jon VIII


After Maester Aemon sent two letters to King's Landing, both of which are ignored...



 "Perhaps they never got my letter. Aemon sent two copies, with his best birds, but who can say? More like, Pycelle did not deign to reply. It would not be the first time, nor the last. I fear we count for less than nothing in King's Landing. They tell us what they want us to know, and that's little enough."  A Game of Thrones Jon VIII



...Mormont sends ser Alliser Thorne to King's Landing with the wight's hand... 



Mormont snorted. "Because I sent him, why do you think? He's bringing the hand your Ghost tore off the end of Jafer Flowers's wrist. I have commanded him to take ship to King's Landing and lay it before this boy king. That should get young Joffrey's attention, I'd think … and Ser Alliser's a knight, highborn, anointed, with old friends at court, altogether harder to ignore than a glorified crow."


"Crow." Jon thought the raven sounded faintly indignant.   A Game of Thrones Jon VIII

Mormont's raven seems to take offence when the Lord Commander refers to Maester Aemon as a 'glorified crow'.


When the Night's Watch make cap on the Fist of the First Men Mormont asks Jon a question,

Mormont dug into a sack and offered his raven a handful of
corn. “You think I’m wrong to keep the rangers close?”
“That’s not for me to say, my lord.”
“It is if you’re asked.”
“If the rangers must stay in sight of the Fist, I don’t see how they can hope to find my uncle,”
Jon admitted.
“They can’t.” The raven pecked at the kernels in the Old Bear ’s palm. “Two hundred men or
ten thousand, the country is too vast.” The corn gone, Mormont turned his hand over.
“You would not give up the search?”
Maester Aemon thinks you clever.” Mormont moved the raven to his shoulder. The bird tilted
its head to one side, little eyes a-glitter.
The answer was there. “Is it… it seems to me that it might be easier for one man to find two
hundred than for two hundred to find one.”
The raven gave a cackling scream, but the Old Bear smiled through the grey of his beard.
“This many men and horses leave a trail even Aemon could follow. On this hill, our fires ought to
be visible as far off as the foothills of the Frostfangs. If Ben Stark is alive and free, he will come to
us, I have no doubt.”
“Yes,” said Jon, “but… what if…”
“…he’s dead?” Mormont asked, not unkindly.
Jon nodded, reluctantly.
“Dead,” the raven said. “Dead. Dead.”
“He may come to us anyway,” the Old Bear said. “As Othor did, and Jafer Flowers. I dread that
as much as you, Jon, but we must admit the possibility.”
“Dead,” his raven cawed, ruffling its wings. Its voice grew louder and more shrill. “Dead.” A Clash of Kings Jon IV



Could Maester Aemon be skinchanging  Mormont's raven and the others to see whats going on at Castle Black? Is this how  "....he sees things no one else sees …" ?


If Aemon has the ability to see through the eyes of the ravens at Castle Black, could he be controlling the Black Gate?   
Maybe.  
The description of Aemon  and the Black Gate in these two passages are similar-

What could I have done, old, blind, frail? I was helpless as a suckling babe, yet still it grieved me to sit forgotten as they cut down my brother's poor grandson, and his son, and even the little children …"

Jon was shocked to see the shine of tears in the old man's eyes. "Who are you?" he asked quietly, almost in dread.

A toothless smile quivered on the ancient lips. "Only a maester of the Citadel, bound in service to Castle Black and the Night's Watch. In my order, we put aside our house names when we take our vows and don the collar."   A Game of Thrones Jon VIII


....The door opened its eyes.

They were white too, and blind. "Who are you?" the door asked, and the well whispered, "Who-who-who-who-who-who-who."


"I am the sword in the darkness," Samwell Tarly said. "I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men."


"Then pass," the door said. Its lips opened, wide and wider and wider still, until nothing at all remained but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles. Sam stepped aside and waved Jojen through ahead of him. Summer followed, sniffing as he went, and then it was Bran's turn. Hodor ducked, but not low enough. The door's upper lip brushed softly against the top of Bran's head, and a drop of water fell on him and ran slowly down his nose. It was strangely warm, and salty as a tear.  A Storm of Swords - Bran IV



When the door asks "who are you and the well whispered,"Who-who-who-who-who-who-who." it reminded me of Mormont's Raven 

"The Long Night has come before. Oh, eight thousand years is a good while, to be sure … yet if the Night's Watch does not remember, who will?"
"Who will," chimed the talkative raven. "Who will."   A Game of Thrones Jon VIII




The description of the gate and how it works is still unclear because we only see one side of it.



Sam and Gilly come through the Black Gate from the north side to the south side and arrive under the Nightfort.




"How did you get through the Wall?" Jojen demanded as Sam struggled to his feet. "Does the well lead to an underground river, is that where you came from? You're not even wet . . ." "There's a gate," said fat Sam. "A hidden gate, as old as the Wall itself. The Black Gate, he called it."ASOS Bran IV

Then Sam leads Bran and co down the well to the gate,



The Black Gate, Sam had called it, but it wasn't black at all. It was white weirwood, and there was a face on it.

Its mouth was closed, and its eyes; its cheeks were sunken, its brow withered, its chin sagging. If a man could live for a thousand years and never die but just grow older, his face might come to look like that. 
ASOS Bran IV


Did the gate look and work the same way when Sam came to it from the north side? 
Did Sam say the words (on the north side) and the weirwood face opened its mouth for him and Gilly to walk through? If so does this mean there is a face carved on both sides of the gate or does it open on one side then close behind to open again on the other side?

This whole process reminded me of the three headed god Trios.




"One time, the girl remembered, the Sailor's Wife had walked her rounds with her and told her tales of the city's stranger gods. "That is the house of the Great Shepherd. Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don't know what the middle head's supposed to do."
A Dance With Dragons- The Ugly Little Girl

When someone goes through the Gate, it must look like it's devouring them like Trios devours the dead only to emerge on the other side reborn. And just like the Sailor's Wife, we don't know what happens on the journey inbetween.

"Allow me to give my lord one last piece of counsel," the old man had said, "the same counsel that I once gave my brother when we parted for the last time. He was three-and-thirty when the Great Council chose him to mount the Iron Throne. A man grown with sons of his own, yet in some ways still a boy. Egg had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved. Kill the boy within you, I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born." The old man felt Jon's face. "You are half the age that Egg was, and your own burden is a crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born." A Dance with Dragons - Jon II