Winterfell Crypts - The Statues will come to life!

[@mryoungandbrave1]

George Martin's language about the storm around Winterfell seem as though the magic of the Kings of Winter is trying to protect the Crypt, burying the door in the snow. It now seems like the Kings of Winter will rise to defend Winterfell from the Long Night. "Piertotum Locomotor".

[@matthewbuscher9318]

I've always wanted to use that spell!

[@ryanshort6072]

@@matthewbuscher9318goosebumps when she says that. Love our Maggie smith 😂

[@wknight8111]

We know a couple things: there's a huge weirwood tree there at Winterfell with deep roots. The Starks (at least some of them) have warg and greenseer powers in their bloodline. Wargs and greenseers can go into the weirwood trees and their souls can live there after death. Bran as a greenseer can peer out of the carved faces on the weirwood trees. I don't see any reason why a soul trapped in the weirwood roots of Winterfell shouldn't be able to peer out of the carved stone faces of the statues. I would just be careful about saying that the statues are physically going to move. That would be far too literal a take. Instead I think the souls down there are going to be active, in some metaphysical kind of way.

[@nif82]

Didnt blood raven tell him he wouldn't need the trees as he got stronger?

[@Bhez7]

I agree, I can't think of another instance where something inanimate becomes animate. It feels like the magic in Asoiaf world doesn't work like that

[@ManDuderGuy]

​@@Bhez7 It would be heckin' rad if they go full animated statue mode...titan of Bravos battling Whatshisface Greyjoy's Kraken and whatnot.

[@Gruesome-Twosum]

IIRC, the dead starks are all buried with iron swords, so they can "keep their souls". I'm almost sure that The Night King is going to use his raise dead ability within the walls of winterfell, and then suddenly have to contend with thousands of years of pissed off starks coming out to defend their home. Remember Benjen? Dead, but himself. That was forshadowing I think.

[@Dani_1012]

This is it

[@matthewmoser1284]

As an alternative theory, I've always felt like the stone statues/spirits of the dead Lords of Winterfell were actually there to protect Winterfell from THEMSELVES. As in their own reanimated bones. This was touched on in previous videos in the series, but i think if a Stark dies or is killed, but then their body is brought back to life or their corpse reanimated, the SECOND they cross wards like those protecting the Wall or Winterfell, all the magic protecting those places is destroyed or negated. The Starks are so obsessed with recovering the bones of their members (including Brandon and Lyanna, who were NOT Lords of Winterfell remember) because if ANY Stark wight, good or bad, enters Winterfell proper, it will destroy the wards protecting it. The Lords of Winterfell are bound to the Crypts to protect their bones from being used by the Others to break the wards defending the castle. Unfortunately, theres one Stark who will be resurrected BEFORE he has a chance to be interred in the Crypts... Jon Snow. Edit: as an aside, i think this is why Coldhands (who is almost certainly SOME kind of Stark) and/or Benjen refuses to cross the Wall. Its not that they CANT cross the Wall; its that they're Wights who know that if they try, the wards defending the Wall will break.

[@angellacoffee1542]

@@matthewmoser1284 I think this is a really interesting theory! Makes me wonder where Ned Stark's bones are...

[@minecraftfox4384]

Cold hands is older than benjen, so, it can't be him. I'd say he's likely to be Walton if he is a Stark.

[@FlorentPlacide]

@@minecraftfox4384 Robert made a video about it and his main idea is that Coldhands was one of Bloodraven's Teeth, who came to the Wall with him, then followed him north of the Wall, to finally be reanimated upon his death to continue serving Bloodraven. The theory above still holds, as this Tooth would have been taught about magic by Bloodraven.

[@FixinTwo]

Perhaps the vengeful spirits aren't the Starks. The swords are there to be used by the Stark's spirits against vengeful spirits from the far North. The others. Over time the meaning of the swords being passed down from generation to generation ends up with Eddard thinking the swords are to keep the Stark spirits in the crypts, but that wasn't the original meaning.

[@beskamir5977]

I thought the exact same thing when the video mentioned not getting too hung up on specific details. The general idea is the foreshadowing GRRM wanted to plant in the minds of the readers for when the dead either rise against the Others, or the lack of swords being there to protect the dead from the Others results in the dead rising to fight for the Others.

[@lyarrastark6254]

Thank you, Robert. The Winterfell Crypts are very intriguing.

[@dudeat1320]

2:48 That cut between the images was perfect!

[@phillipbeckpinborg6456]

I've always thought of them a bit like "Holger Danske" who is a statue of a warrior in the crypts of Krongborg Castle. The legend goes that when the nation is really in trouble he will awaken and defend the country. Similar setting and looks of the winterfell statues

[@annelange349]

I thought the same thing exactly. I don't know of any other "real world" examples, but I'm sure it's not the only one.

[@mcgeethetree3858]

Its a common trope in European fiction of kings sleeping in caves or mountains to rescue their country in times of need. Arthur in some legends slumbers until England is at its utmost need, as do the Cheshire knights. Fionn Mac Cumhaill for Ireland and Barbarossa for Germany. Its appeared prominently in modern fantasy too. Martin has read the Once and Future King, which describes the Arthurian Prophecy, and the Wyrdstone of Brisingamen, where the Cheshire knights are statues that will awaken in order to save the world when a great apocalypse approaches. Likewise the army of the dead in the Lord of the Rings who await the command of Isildur's heir

[@ashstolley]

Lets not forget the very direct and obvious connection between the starks spirits being brought to and kept in winterfell and their connection to the old gods, Arya talks to Ned in the Harrenhall God's wood, its the whole reason she get the courage to leave and make for the trident.

[@Levacque]

When did that happen? I just looked at her Harrenhal chapters and there isn't anything about her speaking to Ned in the godswood, just her raging over her list in there. I'm pretty sure she decided to leave because the Northmen were leaving and the Bloody Mummers were set to take over the castle.

[@ashstolley]

@ I may be miss remembering, but I’m fairly certain that the night she chose to leave (or perhaps another night) when she was practicing her needle work she and Ned had some sort of conversation.

[@thelateescapist8266]

​@@Levacque Read Arya's 10th ACOK chapter again. There's a scene where Arya goes to the Harrenhal godswood and prays to the heart tree. She specifically asked the old gods what she should do, and then she hears a wolf howl in the distance followed by the sound of her father's voice on the wind telling her "When the snows fall, and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives." Which inspires her to recruit Gendry, and Hotpie, so they can escape Harrenhal together.

[@SecondSince]

When you mentioned Mellisandre looking for stone dragons or a stone dragon i just had a thought. With Jon being dead in the books afaik, what if he was got entombed in the Stark crypts, statue and all? Would his Targaryen half make him a stone dragon then? Of course the truth about his lineage would have to be revealed and who knows what problems that will bring. I don't think it will happen, but it's a fun thought brought on by that 'stone dragon' description.

[@caniblmolstr452]

He not dead in the books. It's implied at the end that he will rise from the dead

[@thefifthhobbit2092]

​@@caniblmolstr452Jon was killed at the end of a dance with dragons. And this would be him rising from the dead if a stone dragon came to life.

[@SecondSince]

@@caniblmolstr452 And how would one rise from the dead when they haven't died? That's right, they can't. So he is dead where the story is now.

[@dragonwarg]

Probably the most anticipated video on this channel for me! Thanks Maester Robert!

[@4943melody]

Eldric Stoneskin has a very well done multi part series on the “Greystone Kings” under winterfell, I recommend for anyone to take a look at it!

[@BehuraStudio]

Those statues gonna be like the army of the Dead in LOTR Except more noble (hopefully)

[@ashstolley]

i also love the idea that the starks have been amasing an army of the dead themselves over thousands of years, an army of the dead to be controlled not by the White King, but by the old gods, to fight not for the darkness but for the light. A careful plan schemed millenia ago by bran the builder and the 3 eyed raaven or perhaps the children of the forest. I also love the representation of religion in this series as it feels so clear and obvious to me any way that all of the gods are referring to the same power. Perhaps a fickle power that wishes to be worshipped in different ways at different times, but one god 'R'hllor' or the Seven that are One. Or at the very least it seems that there are many good gods, and one evil one.

[@craigethewight1605]

8000 years since the Long Night... if you class a medieval generation as lasting 20yrs, that's 400 generations of Starks... 400 Lords/Kings (plus their families, if they rise too?) To fight against the army of the dead

[@ashstolley]

@ there is power in king’s blood.

[@8Hshan]

I'd definitely wouldn't call the old gods "the light". Certainly, definitely and absolutely not. They are dark and... pretty grim, if you look closely at the details. There's a high chance that weirwoods feed on blood, for example. And I don't think any gods in the ASOIAF universe are truly good - the Seven seem the most passive, but I don't think that makes them good by default.

[@WillowGardener]

I think the statues are a relic of an ancient tradition. I think it used to be that the Starks were placed in the crypts so that they could be joined with the roots of Winterfell's heart tree, just as Bloodraven is being joined with the weirwood atop his cave. I don't think the stone men will come to life exactly--but I think Bran will be able to access their memories when he returns to Winterfell and makes his throne there.

[@Skuggan84]

The dead will fight the dead.

[@craigethewight1605]

I think at some point during the Long Night the Stark projenitors learned the magic of the Others as a means of using their powers against them. The Stark dead will rise to defend the living from the Others... The original sword Ice was literally a sword belonging to the Others and used against them. The problem will be that fighting Ice with Ice is not a permanent solution, hence the Others' impending return

[@Cdfaw]

I feel a kinship to the Northern people in GoT as a Northerner myself. SO I really enjoyed your stark and Winterfell videos

[@willieboynation]

Where do you live? Alaska?

[@katleinzimmerman8783]

@@willieboynationmy guess is northern england

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

We've got a fondness for the Northerners here in Canada, too.

[@AnyaAnnika67]

Me too where in the North of England are you from? Liverpool here but my ancestry is Scottish so firmly north of the wall lol

[@AnyaAnnika67]

@@thing_under_the_stairsI don't know if you mean northern England where I'm from but much like the Starks we're a feisty noble bunch. Ironically I'm the same cognitive type as Dany though. Always had a great respect for Canadians. I met quite a lot in Mexico - it peaved them off to no end being confused with Americans well those from the USA but culturally they're a very different breed (not that you can boil everyone down to one monolith mind you).

[@RianHagebeuk]

I agree with them coming to 'life' Aragorn going into the mountain style (❤️). I also think the oldest, caved in part of the crypt is because it has already happened once before, and that's why they're caved in and inaccessible

[@angellacoffee1542]

I've always thought that is why there always needs to be a Stark in Winterfell. To command the statues. I also think that is why Lyanna wanted her bones brought back there.

[@philiphambley7787]

How could Lyanna know this?

[@angellacoffee1542]

@philiphambley7787 Rhaegar was well read and I believe he saw truth where others saw only legends, myths, and made up profecies. I think he found this and other information and shared it with Lyanna. He convinced her that their child would be important during the long night. Perhaps it wasn't difficult for her to believe if she was having her own dreams that supported that? I recognize that there is not a lot of evidence in the books to support this, it's just what I imagined while reading.

[@Wiz_and_Pippy]

Hell yeah, thanks for making this, I feel validated! Sending it to the group chat now to say, I told you so! 😂 In Deep Geek said it so it must be true!

[@exharkhun5605]

Sean Bean may be somewhat irritated to learn that those HBO guys cheated him out of his character coming out of a story -alive- moving.

[@Krullio]

Underrated comment!

[@errantwinds-up8uu]

I've only read the books, but I know I would NOT want to be trying to mess with Winterfell.

[@akechijubeimitsuhide]

Statues coming to life? PLEASE I need this. A certain statue coming to life and showing up for supper is one of the coolest moments in my favourite genre.

[@SelphieTheNutter]

Another brilliant video Robert, i think you are definitely on the right track with this, and im looking forward to the next video in this series, thank you

[@avonbarksdale2506]

this is blowing my mind and i've read all the books and watched the show hundreds of times

[@mayasoley4847]

I’ve never considered before… but why are the spirits “vengeful?” What happened to make them so?

[@reaganrambles1951]

Maybe because the children of the forest made ice zombies and forced the Starks to guard the realm of the living in their afterlife? I’d be pretty bitter, at least, although the first men certainly aren’t innocent in this whole mess, either.

[@Ccamero123]

Thank you for this video. As usual you did a fantastic job!❤️

[@pranavpallekhi]

12 likes and 5 comments in 1 minute! 😅 Love this channel, btw. The effort and research you put into your work is amazing.

[@alexstewart9747]

Even George doesn’t know. He won’t tell us either………..

[@420BulletSponge]

The family line that would eventually bear forth the new Three Eyed Raven would probably have powerful souls/spirits that needed to be restrained through the burial rites until it was time.

[@anticensorshipsociety1063]

You and David Lightbringer bring just that much more to ASOIAF content. Much appreciated IDG.

[@daniell1483]

No, the Bran chapter in the crypt is NOT the same day as Ned dies. Bran is in the crypt on the day word REACHES Winterfell via raven. There are many magic-related characters who could have seen Ned's death and beaten a raven to Winterfell.

[@jga3958]

Maybe Ned was still really pissed.

[@Levacque]

That's right. And we know that a magic entity got to Winterfell first, because Bran had been having that dream about Ned's tomb for a while before the raven arrived with the news.

[@daniell1483]

@@Levacque My point exactly. The show made it seem as if Ned died on the same day shenanigans went on in the crypts, so it kinda blew my mind when I realized I made the same mistake the video made. Now anytime I see it, it bugs me.

[@noahadams8305]

I think there’s something buried in the deepest parts of the crypts from the original long night. The name of winterfell suggests is the location where “winter” (the first long night) “fell” (ended). So maybe the original white walker is down there? The nights king story refers to a female white walker maybe the “mother of winter” to compete with the “mother of dragons” (ice and fire). The reason I’m convinced of this is just the way the starts are buried. Most crypts are continuously dug deeper to make room for more graves. But the starks are buried from the deepest parts of the crypts outward almost as if the keep those with knowledge of what their protecting closer to it. There’s also a lot to suggest that maybe the crypts themselves are the hollowed out roots of godswood weirwood tree feeding on the bodies of dead starks. Maybe that’s what gives them their strong old gods abilities?

[@kekero540]

The gods live in white worms, crawling through the flesh of kings. They sit there silent, but always knowing always aware. Gods live in hills and within the white worms underneath.

[@naemndzima5592]

If the Starks are the designated kings of winter I don't think its a major stretch to think the Starks are the bloodline most likely to have the most greenseers, that being said why would the old gods agree to keeping the souls of the bloodline with the most greenseers in a stone crypt and not in the weirwoods? Or are the crypts connected to the weirwood in the winterfell godswood in such a way that inside the crypts is also inside the weirwood network?

[@taureansynner6993]

I love the idea of the Stark ancestors coming back to fight alongside their living descendants/relatives (King Robb and Ned coming back to stand with Jon and the others) against the Wights and other threats against Winterfell and The North/The Starks. It's a shame we never got this in the show, it would have been fantastic to see the Stark dead returning just as everyone believes the battle is lost and the Starks getting to say their Goodbyes to their loved ones before they leave post-conflict.

[@willu842]

Fantastic theory. Well done.

[@AmyCat71]

Really enjoying this series. Thank you so much.

[@harrykelly4665]

There’s a lot going on beneath the castle. The crypts built by Brandon the builder, the deep roots for the godswoods weirwood, the source of the hot springs that warms the castle

[@eric2500]

On the other hand, Mya Stone is a practical but sweet natured hardworking young woman.

[@bokakev]

Martin,"don't get hung up on the details" In deep geek[proceeds to get hung up on the details for ten years straight] 😂

[@reaganrambles1951]

Very relatable impulse, honestly

[@dustinhaas8538]

Hey, Eldric Stoneskin has a whole series of this…

[@VelverosaVelaryon]

Very good series!~

[@SavagesInMyTown]

just a coincidence im sure lol

[@IagoDeVille]

I think several things are to consider regarding the whole legendarium around the Starks, the Wall, the Others and Winterfell. 1. George is a pacifist at heart. A solution to the Army of the dead led by the Others (the bad side) are not gonna be an army of dead Stark-Ghosts in Stonestatues (the good side) 2. George takes great care from the beginning to make all stories told from a specific point of view and make them in this manner unreliable. The same is true with the legends of the North. Their inital message has probably been lost or changed on purpose to fit different agendas. When it is repeated again and again that the North remembers it becomes clear it remembers that it had to remember something but has forgotten what exactly that was at least south of the wall 3. The Starks are the bloodline of the first men and the Nightking, that were used by the children of the forest to produce the Others. I think the Others can be stopped by the Starks at Winterfell but probably by freeing generations of enslaved spirits who became the Others, not by hitting em with a valyrian steel sword or dagger. The becoming/beeing alive of the statues is only described as if they are condemned to passivly observe and wait for their vengence or deliverance. Almost like a greenseer can watch through the weirwoodtrees they watch through their statues eyes but are unable to comunicate to the living Starks what kind of tradition they perpetuate with their funeral practices.

[@troperhghar9898]

My question, are the statues hallow, and they serve as a bone box for the starks? Or do the stark statues just sit over the stark coffin?

[@violator7964]

That artist under-direwolfed I’m afraid. More German shepherd really.

[@markpjf85]

It is worth considering the implications of the statues within the Winterfell Crypt. There appears to be movement among them, suggesting a potential reanimation of the spirits contained therein. This phenomenon resonates with the concept of the fractured wall and its resemblance to Lord of the Rings The Return of King. The parallels between these two instances warrant further exploration regarding their symbolic and narrative significance within the broader context.

[@AnyaAnnika67]

Great comment thanks for this I'd never considered that before

[@markpjf85]

@@AnyaAnnika67no worry 😊👌

[@romainguegan5280]

So you're telling us that, the serie denied us a fight between the (stone) dead and the (ice) dead?!

[@Giovypotens]

Thank you

[@Jacob-W-5570]

What about the part of the tumb that is collapsed? the only part of all the buildings of Bran the builder that has failed. or is it sealed? what is behind that? more starks? something from BEFORE the starks?

[@Levacque]

His going theory is that the Starks called their dead to arms sometime in the distant past, maybe during the uprising of the Night King. But there's no way to know.

[@Zach-sx8cm]

What if the reason the kings are vengeful is BECAUSE they are trapped in the statues instead of moving on? To me that’s a clue that the spirits really are trapped there.

[@edhaworth8151]

It’s heart breaking that we will almost certainly never get to read this. I do think TWOW will eventually be published but ADOS?

[@codyp5889]

We're gonna get a three part world building/lore book that explains in painfully great detail how the dragons fuck before we get Winds of Winter. But im still here for the ride.

[@gabriellynch2764]

"George needs to sort out his priorities." -Ron

[@nightcitypunk8517]

I'm starting to think George will never finish writting the book, and we'll never now.

[@Vailya_]

here’s my asoiaf theory : martin doesn’t remember all the pieces of the story anymore, and instead waits for in deep geek to upload so he can sit down just like us and watch it. eventually, in deep geek will reveal, through pure analysis of past material, the full story of the winds of winter, and only then will martin release it to the world.

[@Arterexius]

Given how powerful a singular king of winter is upon the lands of the north, I would seriously not want to be on the wrong side of an entire, immortal, undead army of kings of winter!

[@Scientist_Salarian]

GRRM watching this like, “Ohhhh, that’s a good idea”.

[@cameronlapp9306]

The direwolf statues get glossed over but there's a long history in myth of canines as guardians of the world of the dead (Cerberus or Anubis for example) in addition to the cold iron swords being a ward against magic. Odin's wolves are specifically eaters of the dead (which we also see in the Song of Ice & Fire story) and parallel the raven imagery taken from Odin's ravens. Thinking of the carrion eating - only the bones of the Starks are buried here, and we know that they are wargs, could it be that the original custom having their second life as wolf eating their original body? The original wolf statues would then also be another statue of the King of Winter. The element of the bones would also seem to be another contrast of the Kings of Winter versus the Red Kings of the Boltons who are obsessed with the flesh.

[@DragonsAndDragons777]

Gotta put an ice dragon statue in there

[@sirsplintfastthepungent1373]

Settle down, Adara.

[@animesempai0]

My favorite scene in the books has to be one dealing with the crips, Jon coming out with flower on him scaring the other Stark children, really foreshadows his death and rebirth. Thank you for reminding me with Another great video in deep geek.

[@JohnMoore-qv4vn]

Flour vice flower, I think.

[@jmlm8]

i always thought the Starks would be Bloods

[@AbsolutelyNerdy]

The Crips already in Winterfell? The Bloods really need to up their expansion game.

[@Levacque]

​@@jmlm8 nah that's a Targ gang, for obvious reasons

[@harrykelly4665]

I just read that passage, it’s a really nice memory of the starks all together

[@JenksAnro]

My favourite Robert theory!

[@chaz9808]

I think Martin was just using descriptive words to describe how creepy the crypts were and best way to do that is say how lifelike the statues are simple as that no need to read more into it than that

[@FrizziExRose]

Vaguely related question: Could it be possible that there are unhatched dragon eggs on Dragonstone like Dany's eggs? Or did Aegon Dragonsbane ensure they were all destroyed?

[@antalonampreel861]

Oh Ned, How I miss you :(

[@mattvanlandingham8034]

Too bad, we'll never know. GRR Martin will never finish the story.

[@ASaund-qb6wy]

Just like you're pretending Martin is actually going to finish his books, you should pretend he's still young by showing pictures of him from back when he published his last book.

[@ShadeoftheEvening]

Why are they "vengeful" spirits? Because they're trapped? Why Are they trapped? Looking forward to next one❄️

[@yc1094]

"Some time in the next couple of books" Unlikely!

[@TheKadanz]

Maybe it's not so much about keeping things out of the crypts, maybe it's about keeping something inside.

[@BeteBlanc]

I find the various idea put forth intriguing. Eldric has a fairly interesting theory as well. I really like the ideas, but I always wonder if there's an issue with taking them too literally. Is that level of blatant magic something we should expect, or is there a figurative way to understand this?

[@reaganrambles1951]

My favorite narrative ideas in this story are ones that have immediate figurative explanations that are rich enough on first read through, but have even bigger payoff upon reveal of their greater, secondary interpretation/double meaning later in the story. We don’t have to stop the search upon untangling a single interpretation of the clues.

[@BeteBlanc]

@reaganrambles1951 Indeed. I am rather fond of Eldric's take on it. I'm less fond of theories that support Jon. A lot of the suggestions, such as a woman kissing the Grey Lord seem to suggest that it will be Arya or Sansa. Both are mermaids of a sort being Tully, which draws on the Grey King version. Sansa will definitely return from Stone in a figurative rebirth as it's the name she's using. Arya on the other hand has a more direct mermaid theme, with her description upon reaching Braavos.

[@SHARKVADERS]

I D G !!!!!

[@jerryfrost9710]

I fully expect the statues to come alive once the night king attacks winterfell

[@thebashar]

I wonder if having a Stark at Winterfell is a component of keeping the long night at bay. As though the winter the white walkers need can't happen as long as the Starks are in Winterfell

[@Admiralmeriweather]

I’d forgotten that this is the pose in which Robb Stark “greets” Tyrion Lannister in the second book

[@JG-vy7et]

Having a catalogue of wisdom from millennia of Stark lords, accessible via the Weirwood, mirrors the genetic memory of the Reverend Mother's in Dune, and seems more in keeping with the lore of ASOIAF than a literal army of reanimated statues.

[@minecraftfox4384]

Could be both, though. Some Starks were warriors through and through, I'm sure they'd prefer to fight.

[@craigethewight1605]

Could it be that the statues are carved from petrified weirwood? The bodies within the crypt would then be connected to the heart tree by the root system running through the caves/crypts and the 'stone' statue would be the physical link to the world

[@howlin.wolf.murphy]

At that point in the books arnt they the next two characters to die and therefore closest to death ….. Theon and Jon both remain close to death after those chapters …… IDK

[@conors4430]

I wonder if the bodies in the crypt will be triggered by the others getting past the wall

[@Levacque]

From what we can tell, all the recent remains are boxes of bones and nothing more. The Westerosi sometimes boil the bones of the dead to transport the remains to their final resting place, and all of Ned's immediate family died in the South, so their bones were boiled clean. Additionally, we don't know for sure what the traditional funeral practices were for the Starks because family rites vary significantly. Tullys and Targaryens burn their dead, some Ironborn bury at sea, other houses have a wide variety of tomb types. It's possible the Starks interred intact corpses, and it's equally possible they always boiled the bones due to the practicality of moving a dry box of bones as opposed to moving a stinking corpse.

[@88COR88]

Robert, who do you think they should get to finish the Game of Thrones books? Martin won't live long enough at his pace so wondered who you think would be best?

[@ezrafriesner8370]

I say his wife. Chances are their house is full of random notes written on napkins and all sorts else. Someone may have to compile them Christopher Tolkien style

[@VelverosaVelaryon]

This sound like it's lifted from Eldric stoneskin's script

[@tylerbarrett6652]

I keep coming back to how the Others are described - white shadows.... as opposed to black shadows. white shadows cast by ice and darkness as opposed to black shadows cast by light and warmth (fire)? ... and I have to wonder if the Starks - those with the wolf blood in them - can somehow cast a white shadow at or after death... IDK - the theory is missing a few pieces.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Funny you post this today. Last night i had a great vision in my greendreams. I saw into the bleached bones of the world and realised something with horror. The entire planet is a ball of roots, thick, unfathomably ancient roots. Soil gradually formed from meteor impacts over eons because that's totally how planetary formation works

[@kaj413]

Great video! Yesterday, I watched a video from Nameless Singer 'The Erdtree is a tree of memories'. As you know, George R.R. Martin helped write the story of Elden Ring. In the video, she discusses cognates and, towards the end, talks about the Weirwood trees and the fact that the sap is human blood and, similarly, that the dead are wrapped in the roots of the Erdtree. You should definitely give it watch. It makes me wonder if burying the Starks beneath the Weirwood has not infused the network with the blood of the Starks? Curious to hear your thoughts.

[@Jon-xw9om]

It's curious that Hodor senses something within the crypt, but Bran, the future Three Eyed Raven doesn't.

[@Tinkerbe11]

I think the dead Starks will rise - either to fight against the army of the dead, and a living Stark must be there to initiate them. Or they will fight with the army of the dead, and only a Star being present can stop them.

[@CatBuchanan]

What does everyone think about the news GRRM has stated he may not finish WoW much less ADoS?

[@hectech]

So the Starks were building a future dead army by keeping their connection to the old gods strong thru the crypts. Knowing some day that winter will come and the Stark dead will be resistant to the Other's magic raising wights.

[@jga3958]

Will Jon meet his mother?

[@carlrood4457]

Maybe that's the real meaning of "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell". It could mean their spirits must go there, rather than whatever afterlife followers of the Old Gods believe in.

[@naemndzima5592]

Maybe it won't be the statues that rise up it will be the spirits of the old kings, and maybe these spirits will recapture some white walkers so that theres undead fighters for both good and evil

[@daniell1483]

Arya talks about the dragon skulls in a similar way, feeling that the empty eye sockets are following her. Should we then assume the dragons are going to come back to life? That's the exact same logic at use here, and it seems pretty weak to me.

[@mukke9728]

Well, we know of a people that resurrect dead things, don’t we?

[@mryoungandbrave1]

It's more likely for the statues to be able to move than for a dragon skull to somehow acquire a body and take flight.

[@mukke9728]

@@mryoungandbrave1 I agree on the likeliness, even moreso because if the Others would get in close proximity to these skulls, they would already be in Kings Landing. I think they will be defeated in Winterfell, just like in the series. My point was just to the extent that the Others probably possess the power to manipulate dead things to become alive again - unless they are protected by something else. The specific stones atop their bones for example? Very interesting what GRRM will do with this and how he explains it - should he ever finish one of the supposedly two books he still needs to write (he won’t)

[@mryoungandbrave1]

@mukke9728 I understood it as George Martin's way of foreshadowing just how powerful and important the Crypts of Winterfell will be in The Long Night. He describes them in the same way as the Dragons, the greatest power in the world, and while everyone knows about the dragons, only the Starks know about the hidden power in the North.

[@mukke9728]

@@mryoungandbrave1 completely agree!

[@perendinatorian]

reminds my a lot of the stone dragons from the Farseer trilogy.

[@VRILL-MASTER369.]

[ this theory originally comes from Eldric Stoneskin and he has this more thoroughly explained ]

[@0llowain968]

You forgot the most obvious instance of people coming back to life: A huge part of the sorry evolves around a army of literal undead 😂 Also Benjen Stark

[@MarkoBotsaris]

I don’t have any trouble believing that in that universe the spirits of the living or dead can see out of special statues. What I have trouble with is the idea that Others could reanimate just any old pile of bones. In the TV series we see the bones of corpses in the Stark crypt that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years jump out of their graves and go medieval on the living. I don’t have a hard magic system worked out to explain why this is wrong, I just feel like a corpse has to be at least a little fresh for this type of thing to work. It seems like there has to be a point where, as Miracle Max would put it, a corpse goes from “mostly dead” to all dead, inert matter. 😂

[@Ebroglio2]

what about the hot water system though?

[@Oximb]

" The Statues will come to life! " > Nah, that would be ridiculous. The living will fight the dead not magical ghost robot statues.

[@Ash.Crow.Goddess]

Isn't gathering ghost armies a part of the Hero's Journey, now? Or the Hero's Quest, maybe? Everybody gets a dead Army, these days.

[@TanisMercer]

Gods, I wish they would not have scrapped the spin off centred on the North.

[@emarti3853]

I hope you're right but not too sure we'll get more than Preston Jacob's fan fiction

[@jmr1415]

Are the Starks Necromancers?

[@cadewilliams3857]

Off topic thought. Is it possible that different Targaryen dreamers dream different parts of the timeline and how that affects their actions. Specifically thinking of Balor the blessed and how he was anti dragon and anti Targaryen marriage. Could his actions been driven from dreaming about season 8 episode 6 and wanting to steer the throne away from that.

[@naemndzima5592]

Balors father(Aegon III) and uncle(Viserys II) among many other people were very traumatized by the dance of the dragons, the more likely reason is that Balor was anti dragon because of things he heard about from the past rather than things he saw related to the future. Balor also ends up wanting to revive dragons near the end of his reign, he even goes as far as to pray over 7 eggs