The first parts of this series: Kingsblood (on YouTube), Kingsblood II (on YouTube)
It is written in The World of Ice and Fire, when the God-on-earth exited, not stage left but directly to the stars, that:
Dominion over mankind then passed to his eldest son, who was known as the Pearl Emperor and ruled for a thousand years. The Jade Emperor, the Tourmaline Emperor, the Onyx Emperor, the Topaz Emperor, and the Opal Emperor followed in turn, each reigning for centuries…yet every reign was shorter and more troubled than the one preceding it, for wild men and baleful beasts pressed at the borders of the Great Empire, lesser kings grew prideful and rebellious, and the common people gave themselves over to avarice, envy, lust, murder, incest, gluttony, and sloth.
– The World of Ice and Fire – The Bones and Beyond: Yi Ti
I highlight the eldest son bit because it implies that there was at least one younger son. This makes me wonder: How many younger sons were there, and what became of them? I assume that there were many, given that he had a hundred queens / wives. The succession story given to us, as in many history books is neat and orderly, but we know from GRRM’s Fire & Blood, A Song of Ice and fire, HBO’s Game of Thrones, and real life history that succession is messy. Even if it is neat and orderly on paper, we know that there is at least an intriguing story about what went on behind the scenes. Sucession is messy, as Fire and Blood has illustrated for us.
Eyes of Pearl and Eyes of Jade
Given that there is no specific reference of a prior succession dispute, I can only assume that the “blood betrayal,” when the Bloodstone Emperor usurped the Amethyst Empress, was the first notable succession dispute that had lasting consequence to the historical record or altered the line of succession dramatically, so, for now, let’s assume that the line of emperors passed from father to first son up until that point. With that established, let’s assume one more thing, that the “God-on-Earth,” if not truly a god, was, at minimum, the ancient magical equivalent of a greenseer, and that his heir, the Pearl Emperor, who reigned for 1000 years, was, at minimum, also a greenseer.
Now, in my prior kingsblood essay, I suggested that Garth Greenhand, who also seems to have had god-like powers, might be a descendent of the Jade emperor, and that the Grey King, of similarly long life and magical ability, might be a descendent of the pearl emperor. That was wholly supposition based only upon eye color. It could just as easily be that the Grey King was actually a younger brother of the Pearl Emperor, and Garth was a younger brother of the Jade Emperor. Since there is no mention of the second son’s of the gemstone emperors, we really can’t pinpoint it exactly, as we have no way to know the range of eye colors that the children of each emperor had, nor anything about their mothers/wives.
Either way, I am more and more certain that the order of the reigns of the initial gemstone emperors is likely related to the initial first-men incursions into Westeros corresponding to the Grey King and Garth.
Garth also is never actually mentioned as having green eyes, but every other part of his body is speculated to be green, and a plethora of his descendents have green eyes to this day, including fan favorites like Rohanne Webber, and those who remained closest to his greenseer ways, like house Reed (Jojen).
Garth Greenhand, we call him, but in the oldest tales he is named Garth Greenhair, or simply Garth the Green. Some stories say he had green hands, green hair, or green skin overall.
– The World of Ice and Fire – The Reach: Garth Greenhand
With all this green about him, I do think that i am correct to assume that Garth had a connection to the Jade Emperor, whether brother, son, or uncle, and that the Grey King had some connection to the pearl emperor, whether brother or son. The Grey King definitely had eyes that evoke pearl.
The Grey King ruled the sea itself and took a mermaid to wife, so his sons and daughters might live above the waves or beneath them as they chose. His hair and beard and eyes were as grey as a winter sea, and from these he took his name.
– The World of Ice and Fire – The Iron Islands: Driftwood Crowns
Notably pearls are a greyish hue, are of the sea, and sparkle with light just as the surface of the sea. This also fits his persona as a mariner which continues to this day in ironborn culture (take Gylbert Farwynd, for instance). There is little reason to think that Garth’s eyes don’t fit the same pattern, taking a name to fit the eyes.
Kinslaying and Kingsblood
I was watching a “The Disputed Lands” video, by Crowfood’s daughter, where she suggested that the there was a “sibling” rivalry between Garth and the Grey King. I highly recommend the video and largely agree with her conclusion, although I will say that some of the evidence she uses to establish her pattern of kinslaying doesn’t suggest a pattern of fratricide in the westerosi history so much as a general pattern of kinslaying, so my idea that the two could be an uncle-nephew pair still fits her arguments well.
Indeed, one of the pieces of evidence that she uses is the story of how the lineage of House Goodbrother differs from other ironborn.
All the great houses of the ironborn claim descent from the Grey King and his sons save, curiously, the Goodbrothers of Old Wyk and Great Wyk, who supposedly derive from the Grey King’s leal eldest brother.
– The World of Ice and Fire – The Iron Islands: Driftwood Crowns
Crowfood’s Daughter argues that this brother is actually Garth. That may turn out to be true, but if the Grey King is who I think he is, Garth couldn’t be his eldest brother, because his eldest brother would be one of the gemstone emperors. I cannot be sure if that emperor might be the Pearl emperor or the Jade Emperor, but I think that it is certainly possible, even likely, that the Grey King is actually Garth’s uncle, both being younger brothers to a would-be emperor, Garth a younger son of the Grey King’s eldest brother who was emperor, and logically couldn’t also be a Westerosi explorer.
Garth and the Grey King were almost certainly contemporaries given their suggested long life spans, part of the initial incursion of Great Empire of the Dawn (GEotD). All signs are that the GEotD was a seafaring nation, so my guess at the chronology that the Grey King arrived first, finally establishing himself upon the Iron islands, although he may have initially established himself upon Battle Island at Oldtown. Garth would have followed by land, and some type of rivalry possibly ensued. It may even be that the battle that gave Battle Island its name was fought between these two.
Looking closely at TWoIaF’s description of the base of the Hightower on that island, it is eerily similar to the description of the construction of the Five forts, down to how the maesters compare both to Valyrian construction methods. But, that is for discussion at another time.
Rage, Rage against the Dying of the Light
Now, I want to talk about how the Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back on the world which is the myth for how the long night happened. This goes more to real world mythology about apocalyptic times and to GRRM’s love for 2 poems. The first is “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas and the second is “Fire and Ice,” by Robert Frost.
“Fire and Ice” is relatively short, so I’ll provide the full text of it here.
Some say the world will end in fire,
-“Fire and Ice,” by Robert Frost.
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
This poem oozes of the stuff that GRRM’s world myths are based upon. The long night seems to be a world ending event that in Westeros was associated with Ice, with the others. who have unnatural blue eyes and are sometimes described as shadows. However, in Essos, there is very little to guide us as to what the long night was. All we know about it is That is was supposedly caused by The Bloodstone Emperor, his kinslaying, and a seeming black meteor or comet impact that captured his attention.
Those sound like fire to me. I surmise that GRRM created his cornerstone apocalytic myth of the story about this poem and had its two dueling outcome both come to pass in the myth of the long night, ice in Westeros, and Fire in Essos. We are poised at this point in the story, for both to happen again. Clearly, this coming apocalypse of Ice and Fire is partly what our series is named for.
Now, enter the Dylan Thomas poem. It is a metaphor for death with two concepts in tension: 1) The relief that comes when one is suffering and allows death to greet them as a friend, and 2) the rage, the struggle against death; the will to live. The idea of fighting for your life is the main theme in the end. To whit, there are two repeated phrases that alternatively are used which deliver this message in their own ways. The first is the title “Do not go gently into that long good night.” It is subtly persuasive, almost diplomatic about it facing death. The other which closes the first and last stanzas is “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
This fight for your life, I believe, is what will be primarily driving our cast of not-quite-heros and grey characters throughout the remaining volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire. Oral history is given as chants and songs, so one might even say that the word “song” is a metaphor for life. In that way, I think our series’ name comes from, the combination of Ice and Fire (hate and desire), and a song (the story of life).
Killing in the Name …
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. That brings me to another poem that is one of my personal favorites. Sometime rage is the right answer, even if it doesn’t bring clarity of purpose, as I once argued to LML. However, if you already have clarity of purpose, rage can be harnessed, funneled toward achieving your goal. Right now, that goal for many of us is to support BLM. It requires Rage Against the Machine.
When that song came out, I knew it was a protest song, but I was so out of touch with the cause that I had no idea what it was protesting. I now know, and it hurts to know how much I could have done in the past 20+ years. Let me enlighten those who don’t yet know the lyrics to the mantra: “Some of those who work (police) forces, Are the same who burn crosses.” Justifying the killing of common people by those in power is horrendous. We cannot allow it to be hidden, ignored and brushed under the rug as before.
Opals, Pearls, Sappires, Amethysts and Rubies
This series (ASOIAF) highlights the horror of unbridled killing where elites treat common folk as scabs in need of scratching, but our author, through terrific characters like Brienne of Tarth, and Arya Stark, show us the horror of an elitist system that doesn’t value its constituents. The Riverlands are a prime example. Bless the heart of Edmure Tully for accepting every one of what his out-of-touch sister called “useless mouths” under his protection at Riverrun. Jon does the same at the wall against similar objections from Marsh, just as Dany frees and protects her people in Slaver’s Bay. I am here to say that there are no useless mouths. I stand with Edmure and Jon and Dany, with BLM and the kids in cages, and against the elites like Tywin Lannister, Walder Frey, and Roose Bolton. Yes, technocrat Tywin wins no awards for his pragmatism in my book. Despite his “responsible rule” as Hand, he and his enabling ethos are responsible for incalculable suffering and death as well.
So, returning to my first Kingsblood essay, I want to give a shout-out for Melisandre of Asshai, a warrior for the forgotten of R’hllor, someone who seems truly to descend from noting, a slave, anti-elite making her way on merit and doubtless sporting kingsblood. Though not without faults (major ones), we learn from her single POV chapter that she truly believes in her cause with righteous and unwavering certitude. She’s perfect for a time like now. She is fighting the Dying of the Light, to the bitter end.
While the show didn’t actually do much to set up her ending, the ending itself, as if she had put every last ounce of her strength into that fight … is breathtaking, and Carice van Houten put’s her soul into it.
She is fire, fighting ice. Both may be annihilated, but does that mean they should stop? Well, maybe, there is always a place for diplomacy, but only on terms that are just. Inflexibility in the face of great suffering and great injustice is a virtue, not a fault. She’s got the receipts, too. She has fought for more years than many can imagine, harnessed that rage against death, and seemed to think that she’d spent her time doing the right things. I hope she’s right about that in the book ending, as well, so that her ending can be just as satisfying there. It doesn’t mean I stand behind her darker acts, but I can applaud her conviction to a cause. We need a lot of that now in our world.
The Green Bard 