House Arryn Explained | Livestream

[@Levacque]

1:11:20 I'm sad to have missed this stream! I'd have loved to discuss my thoughts that the Arryn family as a whole represents weak fertility. A combination of symbols for both fertility and death are rife throughout their house. The recent catastrophic losses of heirs illustrates it in a very broad and figurative sense, but nothing sums it up more literally than the Moon Door - the moon being an ancient symbol of female fertility being carved into petrified weirwood and together being used as a means of execution.

[@willma2625]

Discuss! 😁 I'm sure we'd all like to read your thoughts

[@Levacque]

@@willma2625 ok so, my first thing is that the colours in the Eyrie relate to things that have been aged - at different times, Cat and Sansa compare the blue-veined marble to bleu cheese and varicose veins in a crone's legs. So either bacterial development or elderly infirmity are foremost in their minds when visiting the Eyrie. They can't get a weirwood to grow, but they have two pieces of dead weirwood in their high hall - the throne and the Moon Door. It undermines the longevity that defines weirwoods in other locations. The Moon Door itself, as said, combines many things. The Moon for fertility, weirwood for wisdom, and both are subverted by its use as a threat of death. Jon Arryn just keeps losing heirs, and he isn't the only Arryn to have issues with issue. It's a recurring theme even beyond the usual birth risks in Westeros. Aemma Arryn and her mother both died giving birth, Aemma in particular struggling through each pregnancy. Jon was paired with a woman whose reproductive organs had been damaged by an early abortion, but then when he does conceive, the boy is unhealthy. Speaking of boys, more commonly than any other great house, the Arryns will have only one child who survives and re-starts the line. Three times in 300 years they were ruled by a boy lord with his mother as a regent - and while I'm not sexist, the Westerosi certainly are, and they would see that as an unstable way to govern. They are the only great house to be descended from extended family when the first Lord Arryn post-conquest was thrown from the Moon Door and his usurping brother was killed by Maegor. Despite their high lordship, the Arryns are often a source of instability. And speaking of high lordship, the Eyrie is basically the platonic ideal of excess and conspicuous consumption. It's completely pointless as a castle and only serves as a symbol. It was likely the deadliest castle-building project except for the Red Keep or Harrenhal with their makers' cruelty. It's completely impractical and siphons resources from the land even though it can't be inhabited for half the time. It is, I believe, a symbol of hubris. I think we are supposed to take the hint that this castle and its inhabitants are decrepit and past their prime, their time of usefulness. Nothing sums up the pointlessness of the Eyrie better than Ronnel and Visenya's meeting. Virility surrounds Jon Arryn from a literary perspective - it's the crux of Ned's plot in book one, investigating children's parentage got them both killed. I'll say that again: Jon's death was the direct result of asking about fertility and parentage. His last words, his sickly son, his dead heirs, they all layer over him so that his entire character (for us, the audience) relates to reproduction. Add in the Moon symbolism and we are supposed to think of fertility (or rather, infertility)when we think of the Arryns. The direct contrast between the stated ideals of lordship and the reality of dynastic decay within House Arryn are drastic. Jon was everything a lord should be, but without a son it means nothing, because continuity is the most valuable thing in this society. When strength is followed by sickliness, however, there isn't the possibility for continuation. Jon's life is marred by death - his son, his brother, his nephews, his cousins, a civil war - and only in old age does he have an infirm son. It's a huge juxtaposition between the martial, strong, capable, elderly Jon and, well, everything Robert Arryn is. And even though the juxtaposition is strong, there is mutual weakness because Jon is old and Robert is sickly. So yeah, I don't have a solid conclusion, but I think that the symbolism is absolutely everywhere. House Arryn represents decay, decline, and death.

[@AndrewK23777]

Great stream IDG , look forward to wrapping up this Vale arc on our next stream in two weeks. Congrats and all the best on the new house. Hope the move goes smoothly for you and Dan. Look forward to the next stream in two weeks.

[@ImGriim]

Whose Dan?

[@AndrewK23777]

@@ImGriim his dog , he's made a few cameos on IDG's streams over the years ; believe Dan is a Greyhound.

[@richardtabor8686]

Nice. Ty for the content.

[@briansamuel5846]

Littlefinger will give robin some wings and say they are magic wings and he can fly with them like the winged knight and so robin will try and he will be found dead with the wings on

[@mckyd6565]

I think he was a great hand robert attended 3 council meetings in 15 years, 15 years of relative peace and prosperity, all of which had to be run by Jon ayrrn

[@charlotteglen7896]

Petition for Robert to become the new audio book narrator for asoiaf

[@JenksAnro]

I think Jon Arryn is a good Hand of the King in a tough situation I think the Tyrion point is a good one, Jon was there for longer but it seems like Hands of the King don't have a clear view into the money side of things, and Littlefinger wouldn't want him to anyway.

[@kaleanaking5292]

Jon Arryn was at the tourney of Harrenhal. He didn’t participate in anything though

[@ThommyofThenn]

I want to see this video* fly! (Through the algorithim that is)😊 thank you IDG!

[@willybiggs-rj6qt]

4 out of 5 falcons for jon arryn has hand

[@lokenontherange]

One of the weakest plot points in the books is that Robyn is so clearly a bastard and his mother should have no rights to power but everyone just goes along with it. I genuinely do not understand why anyone would complain if the Royces or any of the other houses came in and put as stop the whole farce. It works when Baelish is paying people off but for all the time prior to that it's just weird.

[@Levacque]

I think that if they suspect he's a bastard, it's way more important for them to uphold the institution of Arryn lordship for what it represents to them, which is stability and wealth and justice and all the other things that makes a good overlord. It's a sort of collective madness, because if they expose him as a bastard, they lose stability, but if they uphold him, they undermine everybody's honor and the situation could eventually become even more unstable. Incidentally, with Littlefinger's re-appearance in the Vale, that's exactly what happened. Oh btw, I agree that he's Littlefinger's son, but even if he is legitimate, he is still destabilizing the Vale simply by being allowed to be lord. So it's kind of neat that we can believe this and it doesn't make any literary difference.

[@willma2625]

I just came to the comments to say "Sweet Robin" is clearly Little Finger's bastard - imo!

[@jimmchugh4923]

Mistaking a dragon as a falcon lol

[@data00entity]

This video is more like Jon Arryn explained its not really about the house