I think Mondays will be my Game of Thrones blog day. There's just so much stuff to talk about when it comes to Westeros. Today I'm going to focus on The Wall and what I think will happen next season. But first a little history.
I have read almost all of the books associated with The Song of Ice & Fire, and all of my information is coming from The World of Ice & Fire written by George R.R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, and Linda Antonsson. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking it up. It's a wonderful reference book that tells the history of Westeros and Essos as well as deeper stories connected to Game of Thrones. It is written in the point of view of a Maester of the Citadel in Oldtown.
If you are only a show watcher, or even a book reader that hasn't looked any further into the history of Westeros then here is some info about the Wall. I have to start several centuries before it's construction.
Thousands of years before the events of the first book (or first season) of Game of Thrones, there was what was known as the Dawn Age. Before men came to Westeros, it was full of a race of magical creatures called the Children of the Forest. They lived peacefully throughout Westeros, worshipping the Old Gods and Weirwood trees. Then the First Men landed and began to conquer the land. The Children fought back against the First Men for years and years, but they were overpowered by the weapons and strength of men. The Dawn Age ended with The Pact. A peace agreement between the Children and the Men on the Isle of Faces. The Pact simply ended the war and began the Age of Heroes.
The Age of Heroes lasted for thousands of years. Many kingdoms rose and fell, and over time the strong houses that would become the 7 Kingdoms arose. During this time names like Bran the Builder, Garth Greenhand, Lann the Clever; and Durran Godsgrief came out and their legends were forged. However, as time tends to do, the actual facts to these legends have become muddled to the point where no one actually knows the real truth to these stories. There is one story that cannot be contested that it actually happened, and that is the story of the Long Night.
During the Age of Heroes, the First Men lived mostly peacefully, with very little to bother them. Then a Winter arrived that lasted an entire generation. By generation I mean, that during this Winter, children were born, grew up and died before it was over. It's during this winter that stories of a hero who fought against the darkness and the cold to win back the dawn were born. The legend began in the East, in Essos in a city called Asshai, where the followers of the Lord of Light R'hllor told the tale of a hero named Azor Ahai and his sword Lightbringer who won the Battle for the Dawn. They would go on to prophesize his return.
So a hero was named that saved the winter? That's it? That's all you are talking about? No. No no no no. As show watchers and book readers you should all know what comes from the darkness and the cold of the Long Night.
The Others. The White Walkers.
According to tales, they came down from the Lands of Always Winter, bringing the snow and cold with them as they tried to extinguish all light and warmth from the world. These same tales claim to have witnessed the Others riding giant Ice Spiders and the horses of the dead resurrected to serve them just as the resurrected corpses rose to fight for them.
The most grand tale that is told of this time is that of the Battle for the Dawn. Which is said to have been the turning point of the war against the White Walkers and the end of the Long Night. The tales tell of a hero that sought help from the Children of the Forest and together with the First Men of the Night's Watch fought back against the White Walkers and sent them fleeing back North to the Land of Always Winter. Now, six thousand years later, or eight thousand depending on who in Westeros you talk to, the Wall is still manned by the sworn brothers of the Night's Watch. And neither the children nor the Others have been seen for centuries.
Now the Wall itself has many tales of it's own. Since the end of the Long Night, the Watchers on the Wall haven't had to defend against the White Walkers or treat with the Children of the Forest for thousands of years. Their new fight has been with the Wildlings or the Free Folk (depending on which side of the Wall you are from), people that live beyond the Wall. So why was the Wall built?
Some believe that was built to keep the Others out of Westeros, and thus protecting the 7 Kingdoms. Other people believe that the Wall was built by the White Walkers themselves, in order to keep themselves safe from men. History seems to favor the construction of the Wall to men and specifically Bran the Builder. From what I have read, it seems as though a peace was made between the Night's Watch, Wildlings, Giants, and the Children of the Forest; who all came together to build a 700 foot wall made of ice, stone, and magic. Some say the foundation is made of stone, but that the Wall is made of mostly ice and bound by very powerful magic spells literally built into the Wall. On the South side of the Wall, the men of the Night's Watch built nineteen strongholds. The greatest and oldest of these strongholds is the Nightfort. And from there we get our next great story.
The 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is said to be a man of the North. Eithera Flint, or Norrey, or Bolton or possibly even a Stark of Winterfell, although there are no real facts that can back up any claim to a Northern house. He was known as the Night's King, who was said to have fallen in love with a sorceress of the North with blue eyes and had skin as pale as a corpse. For thirteen years the Night's King and his "Corpse Bride" ruled the Wall as if it were their own kingdom. Until the King of Winter Brandon the Breaker (a Stark) teamed up with the then King Beyond the Wall, King Joramun to take down the Night's King. They succeeded and now nearly all memory of the Night's King has been wiped from memory. The tv show has led us to believe that the Night's King and the leader of the White Walkers are the same person and that he was created by the Children of the Forest to be a weapon against the First Men. A weapon that they lost control of.
Since Jon Snow's resurecction, and departure from the Night's Watch. The show has shifted focus from the Wall and has moved a bit South to Winterfell. We can't forget though that Bran is still North of the Wall and that the White Walkers are still coming. The questions are; when will they make it to the Wall? Will it stop them? Will Bran have anything to do with the Others moving South passed the Wall?
Well here are my predictions for Season 7. The whole idea of the Wall (one of several wonders of the world) coming down is far too dramatic to think that it will not happen. Think of the spectacle! I predict that the Wall will fall in one of the last two episodes of season 7. Now, I know you're asking, how will it fall?
Well, I think that may actually have something to do with Samwell Tarley and not Bran. Let me clarify. A lot of people speculate that it will be Bran's fault that the Whites will be able to pass through the Wall. But does that sound like a way the Others would use? We've seen the army of the dead hurl themselves off of cliffs, and climb the walls at Hardhome (towards the end of season 5). If, because Bran was touched and branded by the Night's King, and the army of the dead are able to get through the Wall, why would they use a tunnel like the Wildlings had to do? That doesn't make sense. We've seen them crawling on walls and ceilings, so why would they need to pass through a tunnel? Why not climb the Wall? Besides, the Night's Watch would be trying to fight them off. So an assault on the Wall by the White Walkers is inevitable. So how does Sam become involved especially if he's all the way in Oldtown?
Well, I think as happy as Sam is to be studying to be a Maester. That happiness will be short lived. I believe Sam is about to start his own quest that will focus on weapons that can defeat the White Walkers. He's already taken Heartsbane, the ancestral Valeryian steel sword of his family, and knows that Valeryian steel (or dragonsteel) and dragon glass (obsidian) can kill White Walkers. He'll learn to forge dragonsteel from obsidian and where to find more obsidian in Westeros. This will be the first link on his Maester's chain. Then he'll begin his quest to find the other Valeryian steel swords that are in Westeros. This quest will lead him back North to the front lines in the new War for the Dawn.
But you still haven't said how Sam will be responsible for bringing down the Wall. Well, if you can remember back to season 1, or back to the first book when Sam and Jon went beyond the Wall for their first ranging; while encamped at the Fist of the First Men (a landmark used by the Night's Watch that's located beyond the Wall), Sam, Grenn and Pip found a cache of dragonglass and something else. In the book, Sam and the others show Jon what they've found. Jon knows it's dragonglass and hands out the daggers, spearheads, and arrowheads to his brothers. To Sam he gives the last object. A broken horn, bound in gold with runes written all over the bands. I believe this to be the Horn of Winter.
A brief history on the horn. Also called Joramun's Horn, the Horn of Winter was said to have magical properties. When Joramun first blew the horn, "it woke Giants from the earth". The current claim is that if the horn is blown, it will destroy the Wall. In the books Mance Rayder claims to have found it high up in the Frost Fangs, and uses it to attempt to move the Wildlings South of the Wall by threatening the Night's Watch with the destruction of the Wall. This plan was shortlived when Stannis Baratheon arrived and defeated the Wildling army. Also in the books, the horn that Mance has is huge, made of "old gold that looks more brown then yellow", and Jon believes is made from an aurochs, "the biggest aurochs he's ever seen." Melisandre, however, burns this horn along with Rattleshirt (who she's made to look like Mance). In the show, Mance claims that he never found the horn. So clues point to Sam having it.
But why would Sam blow the horn and bring down the Wall? Wouldn't that make the path to the South easier for the White Walkers? Yes, of course it would. I don't think Sam has any idea what horn he has in his possession. I think that Sam will be overconfident because of the success he has had on his recent personal quest. He'll have successfully found a weapon his brothers can use, and in attempt to unify the forces of men he will blow the horn that he fixed himself and the Wall will fall before their eyes.
Of course I could be partially or even completely wrong here. I just don't know why the producers would go through the trouble of filmming a scene involving a broken horn all the way back in season 1 and it not be important. The entire last season referenced clues that were mentioned in seasons 1 and 2. So I have no doubt that the horn will come up next season. Whether or not it will bring down the Wall is still up for discussion. Maybe it won't destroy the Wall, but do something similar to what's described when Joramun first used it. What if blowing the horn awakens something ancient that is buried in the Wall? Part of the prophesy of Azor Ahai says that "he will return and awaken dragons from stone." So what if there is a dragon buried in the Wall? That's been a theory, supported by the fact that George R.R. Martin wrote an entire book before he began a Song of Ice & Fire called THE ICE DRAGON. It's a long shot, but there's rumors that there was a dragon in the crypts of Winterfell too, and that it was let loose when Theon burned the castle. There is also the possibility that Jon is the reborn Azor Ahai and he blows the horn and awakens the stone dragons at Dragonstone. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES, I LOVE IT!
So, no matter what happens, the probability of the Wall coming down in season 7 is strong. Again I say, think of the spectacle! What a scene that would be!
That's it for this time. Next Monday I'm going get into detail about the ancestral swords of the major houses in Westeros. Like Heartsbane, Ice, and Dawn.
I also added a new weekly feature for Fridays called Friday Night Fights. If you have any hero vs. hero combo you would like to see analyzed with character breakdowns, and a detailed description of the fight, tweet at me @SuperNerdyNews or leave me a comment on the Super Nerdy News blog Facebook page. Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!
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