The Undying Prophecy: Daenerys

Daenerys IV - ACoK

The House of the Undying



SUMMARY


We begin the chapter with Dany’s arrival at the House of the Undying. After trying and failing to gather support from the Pureborn and Xaro she now seeks the help of the Undying in order to help her conquer Westeros. The House is nothing like Dany imagined instead of encountering a beautiful building to match the spenders of Qarth, she encounters a decaying ruin. The House is so rounded by black trees with blue leaves, from these trees the Undying make the shades of the evening drink that turns their lips blue.


She is warned by Xaro, Jorah, and her blood riders not to go in and even Drogon is disquieted by the place. However, Dany dismisses there concerns, she know that the only way she can speak to the Undying is if she enters the House by herself. Pyat Pree appears and leads Dany towards the HOTU. When they reach the entrance they turn towards the back, Pyat tells her the the front entrance only allows people in, not out. As they walk towards the back door he gives her strict instructions and a warning she must follow, should she ever wish to ever leave the HOTU. She can only ever take the first door to the right and can only ever go up.


Pyat tells her what she might see through the open doors which she cannot enter: “Sights and sounds of days gone by and days to come and days that never were. Dwellers and servitors may speak to you as you go.” Once they reach the back door she is met there by a tiny dwarf who offers Dany a glass of shades of the evening, the warlock says she must drink it in order to open her mind to what she will see. Once she finishes drinking the wizards wine she enter the HOTU. While in there she experiences many visions she then enters the audience chamber where the Undying are, they try to take her and keep her there. She is able to escape with the help of Drogon and the HOTU is set on fire. As she makes her way out Pyat tries to attack her but is stopped by Drogon and Jhogo.



OBSERVATIONS


Dany refers to herself as a khal: “Some places even a khal must walk alone,” Dany said.
Jorah’s possessiveness of Dany is growing. He becomes very irritated when Xaro mentions the pleasure barge.
Dany prays to both the Seven and the Horse God: “The blood of the dragon must not be afraid. Dany said a quick prayer, begging the Warrior for courage and the Dothraki horse god for strength.”
Shades of the evening is referred to as the warlocks wine this made me think of Euron and what unknown powers might he have.
The magic we see in the HOTU is different from what we had previously seen (i.e. MMD).
Day is given answer but she doesn’t have the appropriate knowledge to understand what the visions mean.


ANALYSIS


The Nature of Magic


“Ser Jorah Mormont gave the merchant prince a sour look. “Your Grace, remember Mirri Maz Duur.”


Dany is warned by her bloodriders, Xaro and Ser Jorah of the danger of entering the House of the Undying. After what happened with Mirri, Dany doesn’t exactly trust the Undying, however, she feels like she needs their knowledge in order to guide her on her journey. She did exhaust her other options and in reality this was the last option left to her. Her resolve seems intuitive, she is being guided by instincts once again.


Even with Dany's need to find direction, I do wonder why she would decide to go into the HOTU, as her first encounter with magic and maegi did not go well. Could it be perhaps that she sees the birth of her dragons as her conquering over the magic that was done against her?


Rotten on the Outside, Rotten ow the Inside


“The mold-eaten carpet under her feet had once been gorgeously colored, and whorls of gold could still be seen in the fabric, glinting broken amidst the faded grey and mottled green.”


The facade of the HOTU is a true representation of what the Undying have become. From the descriptions we get from the inside they must have been once a very powerful and wealthily group, the decorations were once beautiful and expensive yet now they are decaying just like their House.


Reading the descriptions of the now decaying glory of the HOTU, I wonder if their fate was tied to that of the dragons / fire magic. If the dragons have been gone for 150 years that would explain the amount of decay we see in the HOTU. If the birth of the dragons then brought the magic back full force it would explain why they were so interested in Dany and her dragons.


Drogon


“Drogon lashed against her back, urging her on, and Dany ran until she could run no more.”


Dany brining Drogon with her was a very good idea. From the beginning he does not trust the Undying, hissing at the house. He manages to keep Dany on track as well as saving her life. He demonstrates and intelligence and intuition greater than expected for a dragon, I think.


After she hatched her dragons this is the first time we see Dany and Drogon's bond at work. His understands the threat against her and does everything he can to guide her and later save her life.


Ebony & Weirwood


“To her right , a set of wide wooden doors had been thrown open. They were fashioned of ebony and weirwood, the black and white grains swirling and twisting in strange interwoven patterns. They were very beautiful, yet somehow frightening.”



The is the second time we’ve encountered the combination of ebony and weirwood in doors, the first time was in the home of Tobbo Mott the blacksmith:


“The double doors showed a hunting scene carved in ebony and weirwood. A pair of stone knights stood sentry at the entrance, armored in fanciful suits of polished red steel that transformed them into griffin and unicorn.”


The third time in in the House of Black and White:


“At the top she found a set of carved wooden doors twelve feet high. The left-hand door was made of weirwood pale as bone, the right of gleaming ebony. In their center was a carved moon face; ebony on the weirwood side, weirwood on the ebony. The look of it reminded her somehow of the heart tree in the godswood at Winterfell.”


An interesting combination, it makes me wonder what kind of magical properties are brought together by combining these two woods. Later in the series will see Dany seated in an ebony bench which she uses as a throne, her magical counterpart a Bran will later sit in a weirwood throne.


The Blue Heart


“Above it floated a human heart, swollen and blue with corruption, yet still alive. It beat, a deep ponderous throb of sound, and each pulse sent out a wash of indigo light.”

Could this heart be the only remaining source of the power and life left of the Undying? The color blue has a very prominent role in this chapter. It is used to representative the Undying. It’s funny because the color blue can also be considered representative of the Others (ice) and the WW (blue eyes). and perhaps the Heart of Winter. However, like with most things in the series there are two sides to it. We have the ice dragons the skies which helps guide those in the North, and the blue roses which Lyanna loved.


They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them …


“…the fire, the life..” This must be the true reason they wanted Dany, they are cold and dying and Dany has the fire and the life within her. The dragons might be a representation (manifestation?) of this.


“Then indigo turned to orange, and whispers turned to screams. Her heart was pounding, racing, the hands and mouths were gone, heat washed over her skin, and Dany blinked at a sudden glare. Perched above her, the dragon spread his wings and tore at the terrible dark heart, ripping the rotten flesh to ribbons, and when his head snapped forward, fire flew from his open jaws, bright and hot.”


“the indigo turned to organ” Ice turned to Fire (ASoIaF!). Here we see again that fire is life, what the Undying crave the most (life & Fire) is what eventually destroys them.


Shades of the Evening & Weirwood Paste


“Dany raised the glass to her lips. The first sip tasted like ink and spoiled meat, foul, but when she swallowed, it seemed to come to life within her. She could feel tendrils spreading through her chest, like fingers of fire coiling around her heart, and on her tongue the taste was like honey and anise and cream, like mother's milk and Drogo's seed, like red meat and hot blood and molten gold. It was like all the tastes she had ever known, and none of them . . . and then the glass was empty.”


“It had a bitter taste, though not so bitter as the acorn paste. The first spoonful was the hardest to get down. He almost retched it right back up. The second tasted better. The third was almost sweet. The rest he spooned up eagerly. Why had he thought that it was bitter? It tasted of honey, of new-fallen snow, of pepper and cinnamon and the last kiss his mother gave him. The empty bowl slipped from his fingers and clattered on the floor.”


I just wanted to point out how similar these descriptions are. What at firs tasted bitter and spoiled becomes rich and sweet enough to taste like honey. Both of these substances are meant to allow both Dany and Bran to expand their sensesin order to understand what they are about to see and experience.


The Visions


Now to discuss the meaty part of the chapter.



“In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing…”


Many believe this is a representation of the four remaining kings of Westeros savaging the land in order to get the Throne. Balon crowned himself after Renly died so there were only ever four kings vying for the throne at any one time.


“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. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons , roast fowl, heels of bread. In 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 scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal.”


This is foreshadowing of the Red Wedding. I wondered why would Dany be shown this particular vision as she has no connection to what happened. At first I thought GRRM was putting the scene there to give the readers the foreshadowing. However, after reading the chapter again the last sentence caught my eye: “… and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal.” what is he appealing to her for? Might Dany help the Starks right that wrong?


She fled from him, but only as far as the next open door. I know this room, she thought. She remembered those great wooden beams and the carved animal faces that adorned them. And there outside the window, a lemon tree! The sight of it made her heart ache with longing. It is the house with the red door, the house in Braavos. No sooner had she thought it than old Ser Willem came into the room, leaning heavily on his stick. “Little princess, there you are,” he said in his gruff kind voice. “Come,” he said, “come to me, my lady, you’re home now, you’re safe now.” His big wrinkled hand reached for her, soft as old leather, and Dany wanted to take it and hold it and kiss it, she wanted that as much as she had ever wanted anything. Her foot edged forward, and then she thought, He’s dead, he’s dead , the sweet old bear, he died a long time ago. She backed away and ran.


This is a vision of Dany;s time in Braavos, in the House with the Red Doors. More than a vision of the past it most like was temptation by the Undying in order for Dany to forget the rules. Dany, however, remembers that Darry is dead and is able to keep herself on track.


The skulls of dead dragons looked down from its walls. Upon a towering barbed throne sat an old man in rich robes, an old man with dark eyes and long silver-grey hair. “Let him be king over charred bones and cooked meat,” he said to a man below him. “Let him be the king of ashes.” Drogon shrieked , his claws digging through silk and skin, but the king on his throne never heard, and Dany moved on.”


Here we see King Aerys (Dany’s father) in King’s Landing, the war has been lost and it looks like he is plotting to blow up King’s Landing. I think the “he” King Aerys is speaking of is Robert.


Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. “Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?” “Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked. “He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door. “There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.”


Here we see what is apparently a vision of Dany’s oldest brother Rhaegar, his wife Elia and their newborn son Aegon. For the first time we hear the title of the series and we hear for the first time the phrase the dragon has three heads.


At this point in her journey through the HOTU the vision become more vague in nature. We know the characters in this scene, however, we are introduced to concepts that as of now we don’t quite understand. The Song of Ice and Fire we’re told has many meaning, some we have been able to decipher others not so much. Rhaegar was obsessed with the Prince that was Promise prophecy and seemed to want to replicate the trio of Aegon the Conqueror. Perhaps believing or interpreting something in the text that it would be a “union” or “partnership” that would represent the idea of the dragon has three heads.


Rhaegar looks at Dany when he says “there must be one more” as part of the instructions given to her by Pyat Pree he said that some of the vision will interact with her, it seems like Rhaegar was indeed interacting with her. I believe it will be Dany’s job to assemble the three heads of the dragon.


The number three plays a prominent role in this chapter as well as in Dany’s arc, GRRM has associate the number with Dany throughout the series and, I imagine that her her arc might be divided in three acts.


“… mother of dragons … came a voice, part whisper and part moan … dragons … dragons … dragons … other voices echoed in the gloom. Some were male and some female. One spoke with the timbre of a child.”


Male, female, child, hmmm….


“… the shape of shadows … morrows not yet made … drink from the cup of ice … drink from the cup of fire … … mother of dragons … child of three … “Three?” She did not understand. … three heads has the dragon …"


Again we see the concept of ice and fire mentioned in unison. The Undying tell Dany that she must drink from both of them, this gives me the impression that to drink from both cups is to find balance. The Undying call her “mother of dragons…child of three…” when Dany tells them she doesn’t understand they repeat the phrase she had just heard Rhaegar say “…three head has the dragon…” I think this clearly indicates that Dany is part of the “three heads of the dragons” she is after all the “child of three”.


"… 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…”


Some of these I believe have come to pass, some I don’t believe we have seen yet. They are all on whole quite vague.


Fires: The fire for life I believe was the lighting of the pyre where the dragons were born. For death, I’m unsure if we have already seen this one come to pass, however, it could be the sacking of Astapor although I’m unsure of that. The fire to love seems to indicate that it my be a fire that will guide her to love.


Mounts: These can either be literal or metaphorical, I’m not sure we can tell either way. If they are literal mounts, then the first one was her silver who she rode to her wedding consummation, The second one was Drogon who is often compared to Balerion the Black Dread. I don’t think we know what / who the third mount will be although I’m include to believe it’s Ghost. Her silver (gray), Drogon (black) and Ghost (white).


Treasons: The treason for blood I believe it was Mirri, whether you believe Mirri was justified in her revenge, Dany felt breathed. As for the other two treasons I’m not sure we have seen either of them happen. Dany herself speculated it might have been Jorah who betrayed her for gold, but Jorah didn’t betray her for gold, he did it for a pardon.


“I don’t understand,” she said, more loudly. Why was it so hard to talk here? “Help me. Show me.” … help her … the whispers mocked. … show her …"


Dany doesn’t understand, the oh so obvious words (/sarcasm) they have spoken to her. She asked for clarification and the Undying oblige. I think there is a connection between what they have just told her and what they are about to show her. She asked for clarification and they are giving it to her. However, I don’t know how the two might be connected.


"Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth. A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him. Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman’s name. … mother of dragons, daughter of death …"


The first vision is the death of Viserys at the hands of Khal Drogo, the second vision seems to be of her son Rhaego, this of course will never come to pass, the third vision is the death of her brother Rhaegar at the Trident, the name he murmured was Lyanna (I’m told this is confirm in the app). At the end they call her “daughter of death” all three of these deaths played an important role in Dany’s life, shaping the woman she has and will become.


"Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. … mother of dragons, slayer of lies …"


The first vision is almost surely a representation of Stannis, he has blue eyes, he has no shadow, and his sword has been described as being as bright as the sun. The second vision seems to either indicate Aegon and/or Varys/Illyrio. The third vision is a bit harder to decipher, I’m inclined to believe it must be another kind of pretender. At the end of the set the Undying call Dany “slayer of lies”, Stannis is pretending to be Azor Ahai, Aegon and Varys/Illyrio are pretending that Aegon is the true born son of Rhaegar Targaryen. Some believe that the third vision might be Jon, however, I don’t believe it is. When Dany slays the first two lies it will be a fall from grace for both Stannis and Aegon (Varys & Illyrio), I believe that whoever is being represented int he third vision will also fall from grace when Dany slays their lie.


"Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. … mother of dragons, bride of fire …”


The final set of three pared visions seem to represent Dany’s husbands. The first vision describes her first night with Drogo on her wedding day. The second and third vision are a bit more tricky. There is a lot of debate about who the second vision represents, some believe it might be Victarion, I however, believe it is Hizface. I think that what we are seeing is Hizface being tied to a Greyjoy ship as a figurehead by Victarion who we know wants to kill Hizface. The third and final vision is most likely a representation of Jon as his mother (if R+L=J is true) loved blue winter roses, and his father once gave her a crowned of them.


The “filled the air with sweetness” indicates that this will be a source of happiness for Dany. If we look at the vision as a whole we can see that it symbolizes hope and perseverance. The imagine of a flower growing out of concrete or any harsh environment is commonly used to represent perseverance against the odds, as well as hope. Another interpretation could be the coming of Spring, a blower growing after the long, harsh winter finally making it’s way out onto the surface. As this is the last vision Dany sees from the large grouping it makes me think of the finally title of the series A Dream of Spring. Surviving after the Long Night, persevering, seeing signs that spring might come, giving hope, that indeed would be sweet.


Now, I’m inclined to believe in a Dany and Jon union, however, I would not be surprised if this merely means Dany will find happiness in having found a member of her family.


“Faster and faster the visions came, one after the other , until it seemed as if the very air had come alive. Shadows whirled and danced inside a tent, boneless and terrible."


These are the final vision Dany receives from the Undying. This is of the night Mirri worked her magic in the tent with Drogo.



"A little girl ran barefoot toward a big house with a red door. "


A vision of Dany’s past.


"Mirri Maz Duur shrieked in the flames, a dragon bursting from her brow. "


A vision of the pyre when Dany burned Mirri and the dragon hatched.


"Behind a silver horse the bloody corpse of a naked man bounced and dragged."


When Drogo tied the wine seller to Dnay’s silver after the wine seller tried to poison Dany.


"A white lion ran through grass taller than a man."


Some think this might be representing a Lanister, although, it could be a representation of the lion Drogo hunts for Dany.


"Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed. "


If Dany is names the Stallion who Mounts the World (as I suspect) this would show us the crones bowing down to her and accepting her as the Khal of Khals.


“Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind. “Mother!” they cried. “Mother, mother!” They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them …”


This is a vision of the slaves of Yunkai after Dany frees them.


CONCLUSION


This is a jam-packed chapter with all kinds of foreshadowing and symbolism. it’s probably my favorite chapter in the book, closely followed by the birth of the dragons. Dany and the readers receive a lot of information and we are left with more questions than answers. GRRM gives us the information but like Dany we don’t have the key to understanding what it really means.