Words said by "Fire", "Waves" and "Wind/Trees"

Background

One thing that GRRM does quite often is use things in the background for emphasis such as animals screaming during "magical" events or ravens and the word "Die". In this post I thought it would be interesting to look into some of the different things that we hear "whispered" by fire, waves and the wind/trees.

Note: There are plenty of times where the flames/wind/trees speak but we don't know what is actually said I am going to try and avoid examples like this and focus on times where actual words are stated as well as avoid just someone talking about what they "see/hear" in the wind/flame/waves, etc.

Note II: A lot of the below is attributed to different deities in world. I do not think gods exist in ASOIAF, moreso they are just whatever people attribute different types of magic to.

If interested: Names Said by Ravens in the Series

Fire/Flame

• "Jon Snow"

When Mel foresees Jon's death and likely resurrection (as well as sees him as AA but doesn't seem to fully recognize it) the flames say Jon's name:

The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again. But the skulls were here as well, the skulls were all around him. Melisandre had seen his danger before, had tried to warn the boy of it. Enemies all around him, daggers in the dark. He would not listen. -ADWD, Melinsandre I

• Unknown Language to Varys

When Varys tells his story about how he lost his manhood, the flames speak, Varys just can't understand the words that are said:

"One day at Myr, a certain man came to our folly. After the performance, he made an offer for me that my master found too tempting to refuse. I was in terror. I feared the man meant to use me as I had heard men used small boys, but in truth the only part of me he had need of was my manhood. He gave me a potion that made me powerless to move or speak, yet did nothing to dull my senses. With a long hooked blade, he sliced me root and stem, chanting all the while. I watched him burn my manly parts on a brazier. The flames turned blue, and **I heard a voice answer his call, though I did not understand the words they spoke. -**ACOK, Tyrion X

The Wind/Waves

• "The Mother" Speaking to Davos

After the Blackwater, when Davos is quite delirious (even he questions if it is real or not), the Mother answers him as through the wind/"'waves":

In his dreams the river was still aflame and demons danced upon the waters with fiery whips in their hands, while men blackened and burned beneath the lash. "Mother, have mercy," Davos prayed. "Save me, gentle Mother, save us all. My luck is gone, and my sons." He was weeping freely now, salt tears streaming down his cheeks. "The fire took it all . . . the fire . . ."

Perhaps it was only wind blowing against the rock, or the sound of the sea on the shore, but for an instant Davos Seaworth heard her answer. "You called the fire," she whispered, her voice as faint as the sound of waves in a seashell, sad and soft. "You burned us . . . burned us . . . burrrrned usssssss." -ASOS, Davos I

If interested: Even (Fever) Dreams Can Lie

• Aeron Greyjoy and the Drowned God

This is somewhat of the opposite of the others I have listed. Aeron is forsaken by his god, who doesn't answer him when he asks for guidance:

“Aeron, my good and faithful servant, you must tell the Ironborn that the Crow’s Eye is no true king, that the Seastone Chair by rights belongs to … to … to …” -TWOW, The Forsaken

If interested: A Man Meeting His God: Thoros and R'hllor (The Exact Opposite Happens to Thoros)

The Trees

• "Theon"/"Bran"

While in the Winterfell Godswood, the heart tree (likely Bran) says Theon's name:

"Theon," a voice seemed to whisper.

His head snapped up. "Who said that?" All he could see were the trees and the fog that covered them. The voice had been as faint as rustling leaves, as cold as hate. A god's voice, or a ghost's. How many died the day that he took Winterfell? How many more the day he lost it? The day that Theon Greyjoy died, to be reborn as Reek. Reek, Reek, it rhymes with shriek. -ADWD, The Prince in Winterfell

and:

The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name. I was Theon of House Greyjoy. I was a ward of Eddard Stark, a friend and brother to his children. "Please." He fell to his knees. "A sword, that's all I ask. Let me die as Theon, not as Reek." Tears trickled down his cheeks, impossibly warm. "I was ironborn. A son … a son of Pyke, of the islands."

A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. "… Bran," the tree murmured.

They know. The gods know. They saw what I did. And for one strange moment it seemed as if it were Bran's face carved into the pale trunk of the weirwood, staring down at him with eyes red and wise and sad. Bran's ghost, he thought, but that was madness. Why should Bran want to haunt him? He had been fond of the boy, had never done him any harm. It was not Bran we killed. It was not Rickon. They were only miller's sons, from the mill by the Acorn Water. "I had to have two heads, else they would have mocked me … laughed at me … they …"

which he remembers later in his first TWoW chapter (and will likely come into play later when Stannis takes him out to the "tree":

The heart tree knew my name. The old gods. Theon, I heard them whisper. There was no wind but the leaves were moving. Theon, they said. My name is Theon." -TWOW, Theon I

If interested: Accessible Weirwood/Heart Trees

TLDR: Just a list of examples where the flames, trees, waves and wind actually speak words. I am sure there might be a few more examples, but GRRM does a great job with this (similar to how he uses ravens in the background for emphasis and foreshadowing).