Visions from the Forsaken (Spoilers Extended)
It was always midnight in the belly of the beast. -TWOW, The Forsaken
The Forsaken is already one of my favorite chapters in the series not only due to the imagery, but the despair that Aeron feels as the Drowned God has "abandoned" him and the mental gymnastics that he goes through.
While some great analysis has been done on the chapter and Euron's goals, I thought this would be a good place for anyone to list their thoughts on the visions and Euron's "legitness".
#Interesting Facts from the Chapter (non vision)
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Euron sexually assaulted both Aeron/Urri (hinted earlier in the series, but confirmed now)
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Euron killed 3 brothers (Robin, Harlon, Balon)
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Euron has been collecting Holy Men
#Vision I
The Vision
“Your god will come for you tonight. Some god, at least.”
And when the Damphair slept, sagging in his chains, he heard the creak of a rusted hinge.
“Urri!” he cried. There is no hinge here, no door, no Urri. His brother Urrigon was long dead, yet there he stood. One arm was black and swollen, stinking with maggots, but he was still Urri, still a boy, no older than the day he died.
“You know what waits below the sea, brother?”
“The Drowned God,” Aeron said, “the watery halls.”
Urri shook his head. “Worms … worms await you, Aeron.”
When he laughed his face sloughed off and the priest saw that it was not Urri but Euron, the smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him.
“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.” Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. “Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.”
“Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!”
“Why would I want that hard black rock? Brother, look again and see where I am seated.”
Aeron Damphair looked. The mound of skulls was gone. Now it was metal underneath the Crow’s Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords, all dripping blood.
Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith … even the Stranger. They hung side by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath.
And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest, seawater still dripping from his hair. Then, Euron Crow’s Eye laughed again, and the priest woke screaming in the bowels of Silence, as piss ran down his leg. It was only a dream, a vision born of foul black wine. -TWOW, The Forsaken
The first vision shows Aeron the following:
Euron's hidden eye is called his "blood eye" as compared to his smiling eye
Euron's, the smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible
Euron wearing valyrian steel as he conquers
Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him
This also possible shows the dwarfs capering ("kings" in westeros) and a burning forest which could be the Kingswood, among others
Euron possibly blow a type of dragonhorn
-Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. “
Debated on if its a true vision or not, could be symbolic but the fact that dragon/krakens/sphinxes are the mentioned is worth noting
The Iron Throne
The mound of skulls was gone. Now it was metal underneath the Crow’s Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords, all dripping blood.
Dead Gods
Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith … even the Stranger. They hung side by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath.
And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest, seawater still dripping from his hair.
It is important to note that the Old Gods are not represented here in this vision. This could be due to the fact that:
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Euron is being used by Bloodraven and/or the Old Gods
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Euron is using their power for his own means
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A personification of the Old Gods doesn't exist (maybe they could have used a tree with a face?)
#Vision II
The Vision
Euron produced a carved stone bottle and a wine cup. “You have a thirsty look about you,” he said as he poured. “You need a drink; a taste of evening’s shade.”
“No.” Aeron turned his face away. “No, I said.”
“And I said yes.” Euron pulled his head back by the hair and forced the vile liquor into his mouth again. >Though Aeron clamped his mouth shut, twisting his head from side to side he fought as best he could, but in the end he had to choke or swallow.
The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea. He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in woman’s form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …
Aeron dreamed of drowning, too. Not of the bliss that would surely follow down in the Drowned God’s watery halls, but of the terror that even the faithful feel as the water fills their mouth and nose and lungs, and they cannot draw a breath. Three times the Damphair woke, and three times it proved no true waking, but only another chapter in a dream. -TWOW, The Forsaken
Battle of Blood
He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea.
Euron King and his "mate"
He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in woman’s form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …
GodKing Euron as a Cthulu type monster with his mate (Mel/Malora/etc.) and the chaos he causes in westeros (Dwarves as kings/queens fighting each other).
Drowning
Aeron dreamed of drowning, too. Not of the bliss that would surely follow down in the Drowned God’s watery halls, but of the terror that even the faithful feel as the water fills their mouth and nose and lungs, and they cannot draw a breath.
Aeron is possibly seeing his own death right here in Euron's attempted blood sacrifice.
Keep in mind that this dream could be referred to again in the next Aeron chapter (GRRM confirmed that there is at least 1 more and probably 2) as this dream is referred to as being woken from 3 times and each waking just being another chapter.
As with anything that has yet to be published, this chapter could still see some revisions.
TLDR: Thoughts/Discussion the Visions in The Forsaken Chapter
Posted Apr 9, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC