Random passage (Spoilers Main)
What's a random passage from the books that you like?
I love this one with Jon and Val. It gives me this feeling of melancholy and calmness that I just can't explain.
When they emerged north of the Wall, through a thick door made of freshly hewn green wood, the wildling princess paused for a moment to gaze out across the snow-covered field where King Stannis had won his battle. Beyond, the haunted forest waited, dark and silent. The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath.
"The air tastes sweet.”
"My tongue is too numb to tell. All I can taste is cold.”
"Cold?” Val laughed lightly. “No. When it is cold it will hurt to breathe. When the Others come…”
The thought was a disquieting one. Six of the rangers Jon had sent out were still missing. It is too soon. They may yet be back. But another part of him insisted, They are dead, every man of them. You sent them out to die, and you are doing the same to Val. “Tell Tormund what I’ve said.”
"He may not heed your words, but he will hear them.” Val kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You have my thanks, Lord Snow. For the half-blind horse, the salt cod, the free air. For hope.”
Their breath mingled, a white mist in the air. Jon Snow drew back and said, “The only thanks I want is—”
“—Tormund Giantsbane. Aye.” Val pulled up the hood of her bearskin. The brown pelt was well salted with grey. “Before I go, one question. Did you kill Jarl, my lord?”
“The Wall killed Jarl.”
"So I’d heard. But I had to be sure.”
“You have my word. I did not kill him.” Though I might have if things had gone otherwise.
"This is farewell, then,” she said, almost playfully. Jon Snow was in no mood for it. It is too cold and dark to play, and the hour is too late. “Only for a time. You will return. For the boy, if for no other reason.”
“Craster’s son?” Val shrugged. “He is no kin to me.”
"I have heard you singing to him.”
"I was singing to myself. Am I to blame if he listens?” A faint smile brushed her lips. “It makes him laugh. Oh, very well. He is a sweet little monster.”
“Monster?”
"His milk name. I had to call him something. See that he stays safe and warm. For his mother’s sake, and mine. And keep him away from the red woman. She knows who he is. She sees things in her fires.”
Arya, he thought, hoping it was so. “Ashes and cinders.”
“Kings and dragons.”
Dragons again. For a moment Jon could almost see them too, coiling in the night, their dark wings outlined against a sea of flame. “If she knew, she would have taken the boy away from us. Dalla’s boy, not your monster. A word in the king’s ear would have been the end of it.” And of me. Stannis would have taken it for treason. “Why let it happen if she knew?”
“Because it suited her. Fire is a fickle thing. No one knows which way a flame will go.” Val put a foot into a stirrup, swung her leg over her horse’s back, and looked down from the saddle. “Do you remember what my sister told you?”
“Yes.” A sword without a hilt, with no safe way to hold it. But Melisandre had the right of it. Even a sword without a hilt is better than an empty hand when foes are all around you.
"Good.” Val wheeled the garron toward the north. “The first night of the full moon, then.” Jon watched her ride away wondering if he would ever see her face again.
The chemistry beetween them is awesome, and it also foreshadows Jon's death through the opposition between "sweet" and "cold":
"The air tastes sweet"
The "sweet air" is a metaphor for life and hope. For Val, the world is pleasant as she is in harmony with it. Symbolizes her freedom as a young and beautiful wildwing woman.
"All I can taste is the cold"
Jon's response directly opposes Val's perspective. The "cold" he feels is not only a reference to the physical environment but also a metaphor for his sense of loneliness, desolation, isolation, emotional alienation and lack of connection to life around him after he became Lord Commander. More importantly, it's linked to his future death. He can no longer "taste" the sweetness of life.
Cold and ice are often associated with death or something ominous throughout the saga.
"Oh! That's the obvious thing, but yes, there's more. 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 desire, and all those things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity, and all those things unfold in the books." ~ GRRM
(and also works for Snowstorm lmao)
"The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow."
What's a random passage from the books that you like?
I love this one with Jon and Val. It gives me this feeling of melancholy and calmness that I just can't explain.
When they emerged north of the Wall, through a thick door made of freshly hewn green wood, the wildling princess paused for a moment to gaze out across the snow-covered field where King Stannis had won his battle. Beyond, the haunted forest waited, dark and silent. The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath.
"The air tastes sweet.”
"My tongue is too numb to tell. All I can taste is cold.”
"Cold?” Val laughed lightly. “No. When it is cold it will hurt to breathe. When the Others come…”
The thought was a disquieting one. Six of the rangers Jon had sent out were still missing. It is too soon. They may yet be back. But another part of him insisted, They are dead, every man of them. You sent them out to die, and you are doing the same to Val. “Tell Tormund what I’ve said.”
"He may not heed your words, but he will hear them.” Val kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You have my thanks, Lord Snow. For the half-blind horse, the salt cod, the free air. For hope.”
Their breath mingled, a white mist in the air. Jon Snow drew back and said, “The only thanks I want is—”
“—Tormund Giantsbane. Aye.” Val pulled up the hood of her bearskin. The brown pelt was well salted with grey. “Before I go, one question. Did you kill Jarl, my lord?”
“The Wall killed Jarl.”
"So I’d heard. But I had to be sure.”
“You have my word. I did not kill him.” Though I might have if things had gone otherwise.
"This is farewell, then,” she said, almost playfully. Jon Snow was in no mood for it. It is too cold and dark to play, and the hour is too late. “Only for a time. You will return. For the boy, if for no other reason.”
“Craster’s son?” Val shrugged. “He is no kin to me.”
"I have heard you singing to him.”
"I was singing to myself. Am I to blame if he listens?” A faint smile brushed her lips. “It makes him laugh. Oh, very well. He is a sweet little monster.”
“Monster?”
"His milk name. I had to call him something. See that he stays safe and warm. For his mother’s sake, and mine. And keep him away from the red woman. She knows who he is. She sees things in her fires.”
Arya, he thought, hoping it was so. “Ashes and cinders.”
“Kings and dragons.”
Dragons again. For a moment Jon could almost see them too, coiling in the night, their dark wings outlined against a sea of flame. “If she knew, she would have taken the boy away from us. Dalla’s boy, not your monster. A word in the king’s ear would have been the end of it.” And of me. Stannis would have taken it for treason. “Why let it happen if she knew?”
“Because it suited her. Fire is a fickle thing. No one knows which way a flame will go.” Val put a foot into a stirrup, swung her leg over her horse’s back, and looked down from the saddle. “Do you remember what my sister told you?”
“Yes.” A sword without a hilt, with no safe way to hold it. But Melisandre had the right of it. Even a sword without a hilt is better than an empty hand when foes are all around you.
"Good.” Val wheeled the garron toward the north. “The first night of the full moon, then.” Jon watched her ride away wondering if he would ever see her face again.
The chemistry beetween them is awesome, and it also foreshadows Jon's death through the opposition between "sweet" and "cold":
"The air tastes sweet"
The "sweet air" is a metaphor for life and hope. For Val, the world is pleasant as she is in harmony with it. Symbolizes her freedom as a young and beautiful wildwing woman.
"All I can taste is the cold"
Jon's response directly opposes Val's perspective. The "cold" he feels is not only a reference to the physical environment but also a metaphor for his sense of loneliness, desolation, isolation, emotional alienation and lack of connection to life around him after he became Lord Commander. More importantly, it's linked to his future death. He can no longer "taste" the sweetness of life.
Cold and ice are often associated with death or something ominous throughout the saga.
"Oh! That's the obvious thing, but yes, there's more. 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 desire, and all those things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity, and all those things unfold in the books." ~ GRRM
(and also works for Snowstorm lmao)
"The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow."