(Spoilers Extended) The Heart of Winter Fell
"And what lies really north in my books—we haven’t explored that yet, but we will in the last two books." —GRRM
What is at the "heart of winter"? This is a question readers have wondered about ever since Bran's coma dream in AGOT:
Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks.
Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live.
"Why?" Bran said, not understanding, falling, falling.
Because winter is coming. (Bran III, AGOT)
I recently realized that GRRM may be hiding hints about the "heart of winter" through another very similar phrase: "heart of Winterfell." This phrase only appears two times in the text (and "heart of winter" only the once). Look at the potential double meaning and foreshadowing in this first quote:
You can't be the Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born, he heard Robb say again. And the stone kings were growling at him with granite tongues. You do not belong here. This is not your place. When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said . . . but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman's hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods. (Jon XII, ASOS)
"The weirwood was the heart of Winter[fell]." I think this is a possible clue, hidden in plain sight through wordplay, that the "heart of winter" is also a weirwood, probably a very old and massive one. Of course, a weirwood tree by itself would not be all that scary ... but what's connected to it could be. Just as Bran and company traveled north and found a weirwood grove with a greenseer and children of the forest beneath it, even further north may be another weirwood with another greenseer hooked up to its roots -- a greenseer of the children of the forest (similar to that chamber of enthroned children Bran found, who may also be greenseers).
Except this greenseer child in the heart of winter might not regret the decision to create the Others, perhaps being one of the very same children who created them all those years ago, or a successor of the children who did. This greenseer could be the ultimate driving or sustaining force behind the Others, similar to the Others being the driving force behind the wights. So to ensure the Others are permanently defeated, it may be necessary for one or more dragonriders to fly north to the heart of winter (since getting there by land would be virtually impossible) and burn down the weirwood and greenseer there: "Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman's hungry fire god." Jon was thinking of Winterfell's weirwood at the time, but this line could also be foreshadowing for the heart of winter. So Melisandre might not have been too far off with her desire to burn weirwoods; maybe she just didn't have the right tree in mind.
(I am presuming that in the books, like in the show, the children initially made the Others to defend themselves from the First Men -- "Are you sure you stabbed an Other, and not some child's snow knight?" -- but that this had unintended consequences, and now the children in the cave with Bran are trying to help men against the Others. Also, for simplicity I'm referring to this proposed weirwood and greenseer in the singular, but there could be multiple weirwoods and greenseers in the heart of winter; the exact number doesn't particularly matter for this theory.)
Here is the second instance where "heart of Winterfell" appears in the text, which just helps to reinforce the "heart of Winterfell" -> "heart of winter" connection:
Not ten yards from the door, Rowan dropped her empty pail, and her sisters did likewise. The Great Keep was already lost to sight behind them. The yard was a white wilderness, full of half-heard sounds that echoed strangely amidst the storm. The icy trenches rose around them, knee high, then waist high, then higher than their heads. They were in the heart of Winterfell with the castle all around them, but no sign of it could be seen. They might have easily been lost amidst the Land of Always Winter, a thousand leagues beyond the Wall. "It's cold," Jeyne Poole whimpered as she stumbled along at Theon's side. (Theon I, ADWD)
It should be noted that Theon wasn't in the godswood next to the weirwood during this passage, so the phrase "heart of Winterfell" is being used a bit more generally than Eddard's definition above, but I think the connection still holds: The first quote connects the phrase "heart of Winterfell" to a weirwood, and the second quote connects the phrase to the "Land of Always Winter, a thousand leagues beyond the Wall." And Bran saw the "heart of winter" after he looked far, far, far beyond the Wall.
Or to put it another way, I see the chain of connection like this:
"weirwood" -> "heart of Winterfell" -> "Land of Always Winter, a thousand leagues beyond the Wall" -> "heart of winter"
("a thousand leagues" is presumably a figure of speech)
There are other associations as well. Trees worshiped by followers of the old gods are known as "heart trees," often located at the heart of a godswood. These don't have to be weirwoods (the heart tree in the Red Keep's godswood is an oak) but they usually are. The red sap that courses through weirwoods is compared to blood -- appropriate for flowing through a heart. There is also High Heart: a hill topped by the stumps of 31 giant, ancient weirwoods where the children and their greenseers are said to have lived. So if a tree, especially a weirwood, can be described as a heart, then the heart of winter could be the ultimate heart tree (or an entire grove of them).
The idea of a dragonrider heading to the far north is teased in Fire & Blood, when Alysanne attempts to fly Silverwing over the Wall but Silverwing is unable or unwilling to do so. I suspect this is meant to contrast with a future scenario where a dragonrider wants/needs to fly to the far north, but this time they will actually be able to pass; I think the horn that Sam currently possesses will be used to destroy the Wall / the Wall's magic well before any of Dany's dragons get there, solving this issue.
This brings up an interesting point: If a dragonrider heading to the heart of winter has potential to defeat the Others, but the Wall currently prevents dragons from crossing, then the fall of the Wall is as dangerous for the Others as it is for the humans. Because while it would allow the Others and their wights to invade south in full force, it would also allow a dragon to finally head to the far north and possibly end the Others for good. So once the Wall falls, it's almost like a race: Can the Others kill the dragons before the humans bring a dragon to the heart of winter?
(This particular symmetry wouldn't be quite as neat in the show, because flying a dragon over the intact Wall was possible in that canon, and the Night King broke through the Wall using a dragon he killed and resurrected after it was flown to the other side.)
I think these two comments by Lord Varys on Westeros.org offer a pretty good picture of what this heart of winter and the journey there could look like:
But I'm not necessarily saying that the Others are the people directing the Others. There is the Heart of Winter. This seems to be a place deep within the Land of Always Winter which contains some sort of intelligence or presence.
I mean, if it were true that the Children of the Forest did create the Others, then whatever Child/group of Children who did that might be still around. A corrupt greenseer frozen in the ice beneath a frozen weirwood (grove), perhaps. The rage over the holocaust the First Men committed in Westeros forever preserved by eternal ice. That would both work as a great symbol as well as fit with the whole ice-and-fire magic thing.
And it also opens the door for a resolution of the conflict. Perhaps the heart of this creature can be melted if the right person gets through to him or her? Not to mention that dragonfire might be able to literally melt/burn that place, destroying the magic that directs/preserves the Others.
The idea the Others and wights could be defeated as an army sounds pretty much impossible to me. There has to be another way to finally end the conflict. This is a 'realistic fantasy series' - one Other getting away should be enough to start the cycle all over again. There has to be a way to end this once and for all.
[Jon] may have a completely different arc involving his lonely mission on dragonback to the Heart of Winter where he is going to face the true origin of the Others in the books. If he ends up being imbued with fire magic like Mel is he may be the only character capable to withstand the insane cold up there. And a dragon and a burning sword should enable him to cleanse everything with fire that's *living up there. I imagine the power behind the Others is a twisted greenseer who has preserved his or her life beneath a weirwood (grove) covered in ice.* That would be the place where the Others were created.
Another similar comment by Lord Varys.
If the heart of winter is a weirwood, and if all the weirwoods are connected underground through their roots, then in some sense the "heart of winter" would be spread throughout all of Westeros, casting a sinister light on every scene that takes place in front of a weirwood tree. This may also be relevant because Bran could gather more information about this weirwood, greenseer, and their exact location by following the roots north instead of south, and then relay that information to a dragonrider. (I'm not sure how much useful information Bran got from his brief glimpse of the heart of winter during his dream.)
While a dragonrider physically travels to the heart of winter to burn it down, it may be Bran's job to distract the greenseer there by engaging them in a mental battle or something along those lines. Or else the greenseer could potentially do something like skinchange the approaching dragon and simply turn it around or fatally crash it into the ground before it has a chance to do any damage. Another option would be to try negotiating with this being, if possible.
An addition to this theory is that the last Targaryens could end up living in the Lands of Always Winter as a result. Copying a comment I made on the Westeros forums:
That's one reason why I think it'd be appropriate if the last Targaryens ended up living in the far north at the conclusion of the series (or at least headed there once): from the Lands of the Long Summer to the Lands of Always Winter. (It's specifically mentioned that Aenar Targaryen had holdings in the Lands of the Long Summer before he sold them and moved to Dragonstone.) Of course, if the seasons return to normal at the end of the series it might not be "Always Winter" in those lands anymore, but they would still be the lands which used to bear that name.
For example, one way this could happen is that Jon and Dany fly to the heart of winter on dragonback and do whatever they need to do there to help stop the Others / end the Long Night. But if their dragon(s) die in the process then it may not be feasible for them to make the journey back on foot, given the distance, terrain, and weather (even if conditions improve with the changing of the seasons). Combined with personal reasons, like perhaps valuing a simpler life more than a position in royal society, Jon and Dany might just decide to stay up there and live out the rest of their days in the distant north, similar to the free folk, maybe even inhabiting some structures left behind by the Others, if any exist.
To the rest of the realm, Jon and Dany would be missing. Some might presume they died, while others may send out search parties to look for them, but there's no guarantee they would be found so far north. This passage could foreshadow Jon, at least, going missing in the north at the end of the series:
"My uncle is out there," Jon Snow said softly, leaning on his spear as he stared off into the darkness. "The first night they sent me up here, I thought, Uncle Benjen will ride back tonight, and I'll see him first and blow the horn. He never came, though. Not that night and not any night."
"Give him time," Tyrion said.
Far off to the north, a wolf began to howl. Another voice picked up the call, then another. Ghost cocked his head and listened. "If he doesn't come back," Jon Snow promised, "Ghost and I will go find him." He put his hand on the direwolf's head.
"I believe you," Tyrion said, but what he thought was, And who will go find you? He shivered. (Tyrion III, AGOT)
Jon and Dany could go down in legend as the last Targaryens who flew north and sacrificed themselves to end the Long Night. But some might whisper they survived -- "The King and Queen Beyond the Wall" -- and that one day they or their descendants will return...
It almost sounds like one could write a song about it. ;)
TL;DR: The heart of winter might be a weirwood tree with a greenseer of the children of the forest connected to it, and this could be the ultimate force behind the Others. One or more dragonriders may have to fly north to this heart tree of winter and burn it down, possibly sacrificing the dragons / themselves in the process.
Just to be clear, I think the bulk of this theory could happen in both the books and the show.
Posted Feb 5, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC