Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Game of Thrones discussion - Is Skinchanging Bad?

A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)

One of the more interesting things about A Song of Ice and Fire is the concept of warging, or skinchanging. There are several characters in the books who can do this, among them Jon Snow and Arya Stark- but also Bran Stark, and I think his situation is in some ways the most interesting- and perhaps the most chilling. This post will contain spoilers for A Song of Ice and Fire.

Bran of course travels north to the Three Eyed Crow to awaken his greenseeing abilities. He wargs not only into his direwolf Summer, but also into Hodor, the stableboy from Winterfell. It's noted several times that this makes Hodor uncomfortable. This alone is alarming. But there are other problems. At one point Bran is in Summer and eats the remains of dead humans- and we won't even touch on the theory that Bran may have been fed Jojen's blood by the Children of the Forest. That's a whole other discussion. 

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The most information we get about warging is from the Prologue to A Dance with Dragons. It's told from the POV of Varamyr Sixskins, a wildling who is a skinchanger and has several animals who accompany him. Varamyr's perspective shows us a bit of wildling culture and especially how warging is viewed north of the Wall. There is a way things are done and some things, such as a warg eating human flesh, are considered blasphemous.

To eat of human meat was abomination, to mate as wolf with wolf was abomination, and to seize the body of another man was the worst abomination of all. 

Varamyr recalls the teachings he was given by his mentor- we don't know if all wildling skinchangers accept these precepts- but the implication is certain things are anathema. So then later in the book when Bran does some of these things, it makes one wonder... should Bran know better? Or is he excused because he's had no warg training? Are some things morally wrong even if no one has explicitly told him not to? It's telling that in one of his chapters he thinks to himself "no one must know"  when he uses Hodor.

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It's interesting the insights we get from Varamyr. He does note that not all skinchangers agree on everything- his mentor Haggon took him to a gathering of skinchangers once and he met others with differing views about which animals to meld with. He recalls that his bear would rage whenever he took control of him, but his wolves were much more accepting. All of this is foreshadowing for Bran's story as he makes his way through the north, and perhaps it's foreshadowing for Jon as well. After all Jon dies at the end of the book, and many speculate that he will live in his direwolf at least for a time before coming back.

So what do you think? Is Bran wrong to do these things- should he know better? Interesting that we get insights into right and wrong from Varamyr of all people, who is not a good guy, and then we see Bran doing these things! Does anyone else think the Three Eyed Crow is not exactly a good guy either (and since we know him as Bloodraven, that's not a stretch). I'd love to know what you think! 

 Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become.

16 comments:

  1. You know... I've never thought about this topic much. On one hand, I understand the need to survive. When you're facing life or death, I feel like most characters would do anything to survive, even if it means sacrificing others. Is it right? Probably not lol... Not going to lie, I was so sad for Hodor. I have never been more mad at Bran than at that point. Plus Bran got a bit creepy as the series went on. I haven't read the books, but these are my takes from the show :)

    Elle Inked @ Keep on Reading

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    1. I think you're right. Bran is definitely creepy on the show, less so in the books I think- but in Dance with Dragons his story gets really ambiguous. And I agree, to survive I think most people would do whatever. In Bran's case I think it's more when he uses Hodor just to explore or to do mundane things, which happens a few times... and yes Hodor definitely gets sad treatment.

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  2. Bran is a little annoying at times during the warging when he gets stroppy about being told off for what he's doing and how often he does it. I don't think he should be doing it. I must admit his chapters don't interest me as much as other characters. Hopefully that'll change in the next book, as it did in the TV series.

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    1. I think his chapters are boring because not lot happens, but things do pick up in ADWD. But he does seem to be WAY too willing to just use Hodor for whatever. I had a hard time accepting some of the things he does. And yeah he doesn't like to be told!

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  3. I haven’t read A Dance With Dragons yet. It sounds like the warging thing is more developed in the books than it is in the TV show. I’ve never really liked Bran. I think his chapters and storyline are always kind of boring. It sounds like he might get more interesting in A Dance With Dragons.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. I think there's more about warging in ADwD than the other books all combined. And yeah the books go into more depth. I kinda feel the same way about Bran, I liked him at first and felt sorry for him, but now... not sure. Things happen in ADwD though!

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  4. I think I'm one of the few who haven't read the books or seen any episodes of the TV show

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    1. I have shows like that too, or super popular that everyone has seen but me :)

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  5. You really know your stuff when it comes to this topic, Gorgeous Greg, and I have a friend who's hooked on Game of Thrones everything!(lol) I have to admit that the term skinchanging is pretty interesting.(lol) Happy Wednesday and Hugs! RO

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  6. I've only watched a couple of episodes of this show and just couldn't get into it.

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    1. Yeah it's not for everyone, and TBH I'm not SUPER fond of the show, I like the books a lot more.

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  7. I am still trying to catch up with the movies Greg! I haven't began this one yet ;-) Sophie @bewareofthereader

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  8. This happens in the show too, but it's never really well explained and I don't know that we ever get Hodor's reaction to it. (I may have just forgotten though.) This is really interesting!

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  9. I've never read these books or watched the show. I've always been apprehensive because I heard Martin doesn't mind killing off characters whether they're beloved or not. Eating other people? Yuck. But if you're starving and they're already dead, like the Donner party, who knows what you'd do to survive. I couldn't kill someone else to eat them, though! I think I'd rather eat worms or bugs or tree bark rather than eat human flesh! Again, yuck!

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  10. I really need to read these books again, because I gave up somewhere midway through the last one. I quite enjoyed the first three. I'm not a fan of the show... I'm not a huge Bran fan, so I actually don't really have an opinion on this!

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