The Crown of the King's of Winter (Spoilers Extended)
One amazing thing about the series is the lore and attention to detail, stories for small things that have little to do with the plot. For instance the crown of the kings of winter not only has a background story, but the new one pops up again in numerous POV's.
This has already been discussed before, so its not anything new, I am just admiring how its told in the background.
A series of events regarding the crowns of the Kings of Winter
Ancient Crown
The ancient crown of the Kings of Winter was given up to the dragons:
The ancient crown of the Kings of Winter had been lost three centuries ago, yielded up to Aegon the Conqueror when Torrhen Stark knelt in submission. What Aegon had done with it no man could say. -ACOK, Catelyn I
and:
King Torrhen did send Brandon Snow across the Trident. But he crossed with three maesters by his side, not to kill but to treat. All through the night messages went back and forth. The next morning, Torrhen Stark himself crossed the Trident. There upon the south bank of the Trident, he knelt, laid the ancient crown of the Kings of Winter at Aegon's feet, and swore to be his man. He rose as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, a king no more. From that day to this day, Torrhen Stark is remembered as the King Who Knelt...but no Northman left his burned bones beside the Trident, and the swords Aegon collected from Lord Stark and his vassals were not twisted or melted or bent. -TWOIAF, The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest
and:
After the Conquest and the unification of the Seven Kingdoms, the Starks became Wardens of the North rather than kings, swearing their fealty to the Iron Throne, yet remained supreme within their own domains in all but name. Though Torrhen Stark had given up the ancient crown of the Kings of Winter, his sons were less glad of the Targaryen yoke, and some among them entertained talk of rebelling, and of raising the Stark banner whether Lord Torrhen consented or not. -TWOIAF, The North: The Lords of Winterfell
Remake
Robb has this crown remade:
Lord Hoster's smith had done his work well, and Robb's crown looked much as the other was said to have looked in the tales told of the Stark kings of old; an open circlet of hammered bronze incised with the runes of the First Men, surmounted by nine black iron spikes wrought in the shape of longswords. Of gold and silver and gemstones, it had none; bronze and iron were the metals of winter, dark and strong to fight against the cold. -ACOK, Catelyn I
and Walder Frey comments on it:
Frey sons, daughters, children, grandchildren, husbands, wives and servants crowded the rest of the hall. But it was the old man who spoke. "You will forgive me if I do not kneel, I know. My legs no longer work as they did, though that which hangs between 'em serves well enough, heh." His mouth split in a toothless smile as he eyed Robb's crown. "Some would say it's a poor king who crowns himself with bronze, Your Grace."
"Bronze and iron are stronger than gold and silver," Robb answered. "The old Kings of Winter wore such a sword-crown." -ASOS, Catelyn VI
The Aftermath of the Red Wedding
Rumors of it being place/nailed to Grey Wind's head:
It was not enough, though. He had wrapped his cloak around her shoulders and sworn to protect her, but that was as cruel a jape as the crown the Freys had placed atop the head of Robb Stark's direwolf after they'd sewn it onto his headless corpse. -ASOS, Tyrion VII
and:
"I am not seeing the body, no, Your Kingliness," said Salladhor Saan. "Yet in the city, the lions prance and dance. The Red Wedding, the smallfolk are calling it. They swear Lord Frey had the boy's head hacked off, sewed the head of his direwolf in its place, and nailed a crown about his ears. His lady mother was slain as well, and thrown naked in the river." -ASOS, Davos V
So while its not confirmed that this happened, its also not confirmed if it is the same crown or not.
Siege of Riverrun/Queen of Whores
The crown later appears with Ryman Frey and a camp follower:
Ser Ryman came stomping up the gallows steps in company with a straw-haired slattern as drunk as he was. Her gown laced up the front, but someone had undone the laces to the navel, so her breasts were spilling out. They were large and heavy, with big brown nipples. On her head a circlet of hammered bronze sat askew, graven with runes and ringed with small black swords. When she saw Jaime, she laughed. "Who in seven hells is this one?"
"The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard," Jaime returned with cold courtesy. "I might ask the same of you, my lady."
"Lady? I'm no lady. I'm the queen."
"My sister will be surprised to hear that."
"Lord Ryman crowned me his very self." She gave a shake of her ample hips. "I'm the queen o' whores."
No, Jaime thought, my sweet sister holds that title too. -AFFC, Jaime VII
Who is later killed by the BWB:
The two of them were huddled over a map, arguing heatedly, but they broke off when Jaime entered. "Lord Commander," Rivers said with cold courtesy, but Edwyn blurted out, "My father's blood is on your hands, ser."
That took Jaime a bit aback. "How so?"
"You were the one who sent him home, were you not?"
Someone had to. "Has some ill befallen Ser Ryman?"
"Hanged with all his party," said Walder Rivers. "The outlaws caught them two leagues south of Fairmarket."
"Dondarrion?"
"Him, or Thoros, or this woman Stoneheart."
Jaime frowned. Ryman Frey had been a fool, a craven, and a sot, and no one was like to miss him much, least of all his fellow Freys. If Edwyn's dry eyes were any clue, even his own sons would not mourn him long. Still . . . these outlaws are growing bold, if they dare hang Lord Walder's heir not a day's ride from the Twins.
"How many men did Ser Ryman have with him?" he asked.
"Three knights and a dozen men-at-arms," said Rivers. "It is almost as if they knew that he would be returning to the Twins, and with a small escort." -AFFC, Jaime VII
Now its possible that another Frey (such as Black Walder) had Ryman killed, but due to Tom o' Sevenstrings being located in their camp it seems the BWB is more likely. The fact I am getting at is Ryman had the crown.
Lady Stoneheart
After Brienne is captured by the BWB, we see the crown in her encounter with LSH:
A trestle table had been set up across the cave, in a cleft in the rock. Behind it sat a woman all in grey, cloaked and hooded. In her hands was a crown, a bronze circlet ringed by iron swords. She was studying it, her fingers stroking the blades as if to test their sharpness. Her eyes glimmered under her hood. -AFFC, Brienne VIII
and:
The woman in grey gave no answer. She studied the sword, the parchment, the bronze-and-iron crown. Finally she reached up under her jaw and grasped her neck, as if she meant to throttle herself. Instead she spoke . . . Her voice was halting, broken, tortured. The sound seemed to come from her throat, part croak, part wheeze, part death rattle. The language of the damned, thought Brienne. "I don't understand. What did she say?" -AFFC, Brienne VIII
Not sure why exactly, but I found the detail and possession lineage of the crown to be absolutely fascinating
ETA: Also look at Mance's helm:
A few tents were still standing on the far side of the camp, and it was there they found Mance Rayder. Beneath his slashed cloak of black wool and red silk he wore black ringmail and shaggy fur breeches, and on his head was a great bronze-and-iron helm with raven wings at either temple. -ASOS, Jon II
TLDR: GRRM does an amazing job of telling stories within a story, as we see with what happens with the crown of the Kings of Winter.
Posted Jul 15, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC · edited