Ethereal-elegance - Dragon Dreams ❄🐺《《《🔥🐲

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔

Cyvasse, Chess, and Dragons

In cyvasse the dragons are the pieces you don’t bring out first, but hold in reserve. And a new player has to be wary of relying on the dragon too much. That is exactly what a new chess player learns about the Queen.

According to George R. R. Martin, cyvasse is partially inspired by chess, Blitzkrieg, and Stratego.

The dragon = the Queen.

Because Daenerys is the Queen

But for historical context of course the Dragon is the most powerful piece, the game originated in Volantis, the Daughter of Valyria.

which greek gods would you match asoiaf characters to

Let me start by saying that there is a huge difference between the deities of Greek mythology and the characters in ASOIAF. But here goes:

Catelyn

Demeter, Hera, and Athena

Demeter is an agricultural mother goddess responsible for making the earth bountiful and controlling the seasons. Since the gods were interpreted and worshiped in different ways depending on the region and the time period, there is also a darker version of Demeter that is connected to death. Not only is she responsible for creating life but also for receiving the dead and being a guardian of ghosts. Her most popular myth is of the kidnapping of her daughter Persephone and how in her grief, she didn’t allow the earth to be fertile until her daughter was returned to her. Catelyn’s motherhood and longing for her children is a hugely significant part of her character. In a lot of ways, it drives her choices, both positive and negative. The parallel of her seeking the return of her daughters while Westeros goes from summer to fall to winter is pretty obvious, especially now that she’s become one of the living dead.

Hera is the goddess of women (particularly married women), marriage, family fidelity, and childbirth. She’s most known for her anger and jealousy over her husband’s affairs and illegitimate children, the most mainstream being Heracles. I’m hesitant to compare Catelyn’s treatment of Jon with Hera’s treatment of all the women her husband tricked/coerced/slept with and their children. While Cat undeniably mistreated Jon, it’s not even close to the extent that Hera goes to. What’s similar is her devotion to marriage and family.

Athena may seem like an odd choice for Catelyn since she’s been groomed to fit her cultural’s patriarchal ideal for femininity, though we see her straining against those ideals or even outright discarding them from time to time. Athena is the goddess of warfare, wisdom, women’s crafts and arts, justice, and politics. While she was the goddess of war, she didn’t revel in it like her brother Ares. She was strategic, championing and advising multiple heroes.

Arya

Persephone, Artemis, and  Odysseus 

I have a partly written meta about Arya and Persephone that I will hopefully finish someday. But here are the broad strokes. Persephone is a vegetation goddess of death and rebirth. She descends into the underworld every autumn and ascends into the world in the spring, impacting the changing seasons with her mother. She is both the queen of the underworld and the goddess of spring and vegetation. This duality can be seen very clearly in Arya who is a young girl who counts and collects flowers, tells directions with moss, and loves the outdoors while also being a young girl who descends into the underworld twice so far during her story, first in the war torn Riverlands and again the House of Black and White. All of the death she is witnessing, causing, and giving as a gift of seems to be leading to a significant role in a death worshiping religion. Similarly with Catelyn’s connection to Demeter, Arya actively seeks her to reunite with her mother like Persephone.

Artemis is the goddess of the wild, the hunt, the moon, animals, childbirth, virginity, and protector of young girls. Her statues often depict her wearing chiton that only reaches to her knees, something only men wore, as women wore theirs down to their ankles. Arya loves animals and the outdoors. She is able to tell direction based on moss. During her arc, there are several connections to the moon. Just as Artemis is depicted wearing a short chiton for convenience of movement, Arya also wears pants, typically associated with men in her culture, for convenience. 

Odysseus was a Greek hero known for his cunning who fought in the Trojan War for ten years and spent another ten trying to get home. Like all Greek heroes, he also descended into the underworld. A more detailed essay paralleling Arya with Odysseus can be found here.

Daenerys

Athena and Aphrodite

As already noted above, Athena is the goddess of  warfare, wisdom, women’s crafts and arts, justice, and politics. She is more about strategy and diplomacy than her battle lusting brother, Ares. Athena also created the justice system with a trial and jury. Dany’s story is brimming with politics and diplomacy through all five novels whether she’s with the Dothraki, in Qarth, or dealing with Slaver’s Bay. Not only did we see her waging war and being skilled in strategy, but we see her dealing with the intricate politics of Meereen. She’s also in charge of enforcing justice. 

Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and sexual passion (usually interpreted as love). Of the Greek goddesses, she had the most sexual autonomy. She is also described as “laughter loving”. Dany is considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world and is hyper-sexualized from her very first chapter and onward. So far in the story, she has had three sexual partners, two of whom were her husbands. But the fact that her lover is the battle loving Daario definitely gives their dynamic an Aphrodite/Ares feel.

Bran

Hermes and Apollo

Hermes is a trickster god who flies on winged sandals. He was the herald of the gods and the god of travelers, thieves, sleep, athletics, shepherds, and trade. He also guided souls to the underworld. He is a god that appears in several myths and seems to get along with most of the other gods. Bran is able to fly through skinchanging winged creatures and is told that he will never walk again, but he will fly. Bran is known as a happy, loving boy who everyone loves. We also have a couple memories of Bran being a trickster, whether its him outsmarting and outrunning the castle guards who are trying to stop him from climbing or if he’s ambushing people with snowballs with Arya. 

Apollo is the god of the sun, archery, prophecy, music, youth, healing, disease, and rationality. As characters, they aren’t that similar in personality. I’m mostly putting Apollo under Bran due to the prophecy and sun aspects of the deity. 

Daenerys Targaryen (A Song of Ice and Fire) and Catherine the Great (Hulu’s The Great) + parallels

Daenerys Targaryen: The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE? (AGOT, Daenerys X) | He [Drogon] is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I. (ADWD, Daenerys IX)

~

George R. R. Martin: People say I was influenced by Robert Frost’s poem, and of course I was, I mean… Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books. (source)

~

George R. R. Martin: Well, of course, the two outlying ones — the things going on north of the Wall, and Daenerys Targaryen on the other continent with her dragons — are of course the ice and fire of the title, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” (source)

~

George R. R. Martin: In some sense he [Aegon the Conqueror] saw what was coming 300 years later, and wanted to unify the Seven Kingdoms to be better prepared for the threat that he eventually saw coming in the north. (source)

~

Tyrion Lannister: Daenerys Targaryen is no maid, however. She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. (ADWD, Tyrion VI)

So GRRM already:

Emphasized the positive connotations of fire (“love, passion, sexual ardor and all of these things”)

Confirmed that Daenerys Targaryen is the Fire of A Song of Ice and Fire (and made it clear that she’s Azor Ahai/Prince that was Promised)

Confirmed that Aegon I decided to unify Westeros to better prepare for the War for the Dawn

Associated Daenerys with Aegon the Conqueror - she’s literally called Aegon the Conqueror with teats

And now in House of the Dragon we got this:

Viserys I Targaryen in House of the Dragon: Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds. When this Great winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. Aegon called his dream ‘The Song of Ice and Fire’.

IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER!!!!!!11111

DAENERYS STORMBORN OF HOUSE TARGARYEN — THE FIRE OF ASOIAF, AZOR AHAI RETURNED, AEGON THE CONQUEROR WITH TEATS — IS THE “QUEEN STRONG ENOUGH TO UNITE THE REALM AGAINST THE COLD AND THE DARK”

“She is Azor Ahai returned … and her triumph over darkness will bring a summer that will never end … death itself will bend its knee, and all those who die fighting in her cause shall be reborn …” (ADWD, Tyrion VI)

asoiaf and the high middle ages*

daenerys targaryen and empress matilda

As a child, Matilda was sent from Britain to the Holy Roman Empire to become consort to Emperor Henry V. Despite her young age, she often ruled in her husband’s absence and won the confidence of his people. After the death of her brother in 1120, Matilda became the natural heir to the Conqueror’s dominion over Anglo-Norman Britain and powerful men rushed to pledge their allegiance to her - twice over. Her sex, it seemed, posed no issue in the face of her legitimacy as the future first Queen of England. Following her father’s death in 1135, Matilda’s dislocation from her would-be kingdom led to the usurpation of her throne by her cousin, Stephen of Blois. It took some time for Matilda to amass the forces needed to fight for her kingdom, and she crossed the English Channel in 1139 to meet with her fiercest supporter - her illegitimate half-brother, the Earl of Gloucester. The ensuing civil war, which ravaged the country until 1154, became known as The Anarchy. Though Matilda ultimately lost her battle for the throne, she succeeded in wearing her enemy down. In 1154, Stephen’s death seceded the throne to her firstborn son, Henry. Despite styling herself as ‘Lady of the English’, throughout her life she was consistently called by the honour bestowed on her by her first marriage; until her death in 1167, she was always known as ‘Empress’.

*(No, I’m not saying any of these are definitive. There are many waters in the well.)