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The Coldhands Mystery & Green Zombies Theory - A Song of Ice and Fire - Game of Thrones | David Lightbringer | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Coldhands Mystery & Green Zombies Theory - A Song of Ice and Fire - Game of Thrones
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Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
Cold Hands in A Song of Ice and Fire is a complex figure representing the potential for reversing undeath and serving as a mythological archetype for the Night's Watch, hinting at a deeper connection between life, death, and magic within the narrative.
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All right, it's cold hands time.
Everyone loves Cold Hands. I It's one of
my favorite parts of A Song of Ice and
Fire, and I would say he's one of my
favorite characters, but he's both not
quite a character in that he's a walking
corpse, a collection of parts, if you
will. And like Frankenstein's monster,
Cold Hands is, of course, Bran's
monster. Your monster, Brandon Stark.
And Cold Hands is also more than a
character and a monster in that he has
just so very many implications for the
magic and lore of the story. And
chiefly, we're talking about Jon's
resurrection here and other matters
relating to the Night's Watch when it
shifts on to long night footing, but
also some other random stuff like the
future arc of one Samuel Tarly. Cold
Hands is also walking mythology just
like any good character in Ice and Fire.
So, we'll talk about why he comes off
like a dead green man and also like Sam
Tarly's ancestor. And frankly, I always
love talking about the coolest ice age
megapana that George has brought back to
life through fiction. And I'm talking
about the elk here. And honestly, I'd be
a lot more excited if Colossal
Biosciences was resurrecting the Irish
elk. Although, now that I think about
the story of Frankenstein, maybe we
should leave the dead things alone. But
it's a Cold Hands video, so we're
distinctly not leaving the dead things
alone. But the elk is real. It used to
be real. It's called an Irish elk,
Megalos, and they really were 10 ft tall
at the shoulder with racks of antlers,
if you can even call them that, that
were up to 10 ft wide. So, that's why I
can carry cold hands and Gilly and Sam
and Gilly's baby because it's huge. It's
extremely moose-sized. But the elk is
more than just cool and extinct. It's
actually a huge key to unraveling the
larger Cold Hands mystery. Because what
is Cold Hands is just as important of a
question as who is Cold Hands. So,
gather around and let me tell you why
Cold Hands is in fact his own undead
person and also a skin changer and not a
meat puppet being piloted by Blood
Raven. I'll explain what Cold Hands
tells us about the first Night's Watch,
who, spoiler alert, may have been a pack
of zombies, as well as what Cold Hands
portends for the future of the Night's
Watch. And do make sure you stay tuned
to the end of the video, where we'll
take everything that we've learned and
use it to assess all the different
theories about who Cold Hands actually
is or was. So, thanks a lot for clicking
on the video. And if you like it, please
do make sure you are subscribed. Leave
me a comment. Let me know what you
think. I'm David Lightbringer. Welcome
to my YouTube channel. Let's get started.
[Music]
All right, this is going to be a fun
video. Our first section, zombie
reverse. It's like Uno reverse but for
ice whites. And I will be doing spooky
videos all month. Thanks a lot for
watching the Shadowbinders and the Ashai
Stigi and Shadowlands videos. And next
week, we're going to do a video about
Melisandre's endgame, her plans, and her
endgame. So, let's start off today with
a spooky reading to set the tone. This
is just really too good not to read. And
this is going to lay out a lot of the
basic information about Cold Hands, who
is definitely dead. What happened to the
men, the foes behind us? They will not
trouble you. Who were they? Wildlands?
Meera turned the meat to cook the other
side. Hodor was chewing and swallowing,
muttering happily under his breath. Only
Jojan seemed aware of what was happening
as cold hands turned his head to stare
at Bran. They were foes, men of the
Night's Watch. You killed them. You and
the ravens. Their faces were all torn
and their eyes were gone. Cold hands did
not deny it. They were your brothers. I
saw. The wolves had ripped their clothes
up, but I could still tell. Their cloaks
were black, like your hands. Cold hands
said nothing. Who are you? Why are your
hands black? The ranger studied his
hands as if he had never noticed them
before. Once the heart has ceased to
beat, the man's blood runs down into his
extremities. where it thickens and
congeals. His voice rattled in his
throat, as thin and gaunt as he was. His
hands and feet swell up and turn as
black as pudding. The rest of him
becomes as white as milk. Mera Reed
rose, her frog, spear, and hand, a chunk
of smoking meat still impaled upon its
tines. Show us your face. The ranger
made no move to obey. He's dead. Bran
could taste the bile in his throat.
Meera, he's some dead thing. The
monsters cannot pass so long as the wall
stands. And the men of the Night's Watch
stay true. That's what old Nan used to
say. He came to meet us at the wall, but
he could not bass. He sent Sam instead
with that wildling girl. Meera's gloved
hand tightened around the shaft of her
frog spear. Who sent you? Who is this
three-eyed crow? Her friend, dreamer,
wizard. Call him what you will. The last
green sear. The long hall's wooden door
banged open. Outside the night wind
howled bleak and black. The trees were
full of ravens, screaming. Cold hands
did not move. A monster, Bran said. The
ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of
them did not exist. Your monster,
Brandon Stark. Yours, the raven echoed
from his shoulder. Outside the door, the
ravens in the trees took up the cry
until the nightwood echoed to the
Jojan. Did you dream this? Meera asked
her brother. Who is he? What is he? What
do we do now? We go with the ranger,
said Jojan. We have come too far to turn
back now, Meera. We would never make it
back to the wall alive. We go with
All right. I think I think Cold Hands
praises Gar more than I do. Figo fig.
fig.
Yes, there it is. All right. So, Cold
Hands, as you just heard, is basically
identical to all the other ice whites,
except for that he's not possessed by
the others, obviously. And this is
apparently indicated by the eyes. He
does not have the blue star eyes.
They're black like a raven's eyes. And
so he is not possessed by the great
other or whatever magic animates all the
ice whites. Other than that, he's
definitely a cold white though. He's
frozen. He's got the hard black hands of
all the ice whites. He's afraid of the
fire, etc., etc. However, another
important difference is that Cold Hands
is agile. He's live and limber and
quick, so not awkward and clumsy like
the ice whites. And we'll talk about why
that might be later in the video. So,
right away, Cold Hands, when he appears
in the narrative tells us something
profound. Either there is some way to
reverse the ice whiting other possession
process or perhaps a little less likely
maybe there's a way to create an ice
white that doesn't involve the others
and thus doesn't result in otherish
possession which is a very hard thing to
say five times fast or even one time at
a normal speed. Otherish possession.
Other possession. Yeah. No, don't. It's
that's a bad one. Otherish possession.
Other possession. Other possession.
Other possession. You can't. It's too
hard. It's too hard. I give up. But just
real quickly, if there is someone that
can create ice whites that isn't the
others, you know, that would be the
children of the forest. That's very
speculative. Although it is an open
question whether or not the quote
unquote nature magic of the children
could extend to control over the
elements of ice and fire. We haven't
heard of that specifically, but you
know, it wouldn't surprise us if that
turned out to be a thing that they can
do. Now, it does seem likely that the
children could raise the dead somehow
because famously after Bran returns from
his vision of seeing his father in the
godswood and Ned, if you recall, looks
up at the rustling leaves when Bran
tries to talk to his dad. Bran comes
back to the cave and says, "Oh, he's
alive. I talked to him." And Leaf says,
"Oh, don't try to bring him back. That's
very bad." And so that seems kind of
like a Czechov's gun on the mantle. Why
would you say that to Bran if he
couldn't actually do it? So that makes
us think that there is a Green Sea
resurrection and that it may be
dangerous and that Bran shouldn't go
messing with it, which means he probably
will. And this may end up being
important for John's resurrection
because a green sea resurrection, it
occurs to me, might be a way to actually
restore life. Remember the ice whites
and the fire whites, they don't have
vital processes. So maybe a green sea
resurrection, maybe you get hooked up to
the weirwood tree and you get a blood
transfusion and you actually get
restored to life somehow. This is all
speculative. We'll have to see. But
Jon's resurrection could be complicated.
It might involve more than just
Melisandre. Could involve Bran and Blood
Raven. We'll come back to Green Sea
resurrection in a minute. But let's talk
about zombie reverse about the idea of
undoing the ice whiteification. That
does seem like the most likely
explanation for Cold Hands. And there is
after all a ton of foreshadowing that
the others will steal Jon's body and
that his body at least will be ice
whited. So we're going to need a way to
reverse that. And Cold Hands shows us
that you can reverse that. It does seem
like Mel's going to be involved in Jon's
resurrection, but like I said, Blood
Raven and Bran could be involved, too.
And they might need a team effort
because there could be a lot to be done
here. His soul is in ghost and will need
to be ported back over to his body,
which will at least need to be
resurrected and possibly cleansed of
otherish possession. So he might be a
green sear resurrected white or he could
be some sort of hybrid white of ice and
fire where his body is cold and frozen
like cold hands, but he has the internal
fire of lore. That could explain Jon's
Azor hydream where he's armored in black
ice with a blade that burns red in his
fist. Perhaps that black ice armor is a
cold iceed body and remember all of
Bran's dream language about Jon's body
growing cold and hard at the wall as the
memory of all warmth fled from him. Like
I said, lots of clues about Jon being
possessed by the others, at least for a
time. And that may be one of the main
reasons, if not the main reason why cold
hands is in the story to begin with.
George wanted to show us that ice whites
can be uno reversed. And it occurs to me
that freeing Ice whites also makes
thematic sense because the whiting is
very obviously akin to slavery. So there
should be a kind of emancipation. And
perhaps that's just defeating the others
at the end of the story and allowing all
the whited souls to rest in the grave.
But it would be pretty cool as a story
element if individuals could
occasionally be saved from ice whiting.
So maybe it'll be more than just Jon.
This could be a very interesting story
element. We see somebody iceed and maybe
it's not forever. So the obvious suspect
for who could do such a thing again
would be the children of the forest. On
the show they did it with Benjen,
turning him into cold hands with a piece
of dragon glass. That's probably an
oversimplification of the book truth,
but I do suspect that the children of
the forest can do this somehow. Maybe
they do use dragon glass. Who knows? Let
me know in the comments if you have any
guesses. Perhaps they can manipulate
nature magic enough to leech the cold
out of him. Maybe they have magic spells
that they say or sing. Or maybe it has
something to do with the fact that the
green sears sort of exist with one foot
in the death realm and one foot in the
realm of the living. So maybe they can
drive souls out and call souls back or
something like that. There is also that
story about the last hero. You know, he
was in the cold dead lands fighting the
others and all of his friends died and
he was chased by the others and then the
children helped him rally the first men
of the Night's Watch to win the war for
the dawn. So, what's going on there?
First, his friends were dead, then he
had a bunch of new friends. Maybe the
new friends were the old friends. That's
called green zombie theory. And we will
get to that in just a second. But real
quick, we should note that the other
candidate for who can free an ice white
from otherish possession would be
someone like Melisandre, a priest of who
can manipulate fire magic. When they
burn regular people alive at the stake,
they do use language about freeing and
purifying the soul so that it can ascend
to or some such. But maybe there's a
deeper magical truth there. And
Melisandre's spiritual fire magic can
not just set a white on fire, but
actually drive the spirit out without
burning it. Cuz we don't want to burn
[Applause]
All right, let's talk about how zombies
are the perfect weapon to fight the
others. And that's true whether we're
talking about ice whites or fire whites.
A lot of you guys will have heard this
routine before, but just humor me
because it's really fun to explain this.
Zombies are perfect for journeying into
the heart of winter and fighting the
others because they don't need to eat,
they don't need to sleep, and they don't
need to stay warm. Those are the three
challenges of going north of the wall,
especially going way north of the wall
to the heart of winter as Jon Snow might
have to. Cold Hands, meanwhile, ranges
the north in perpetuity. The children
say they killed him long ago, and he
speaks the old tongue. Mance Raider
speaks a bit of the old tongue. The
giants speak the old tongue, and a few
wildlings like the Th. But that's about
it. No one in the north or on the
Night's Watch has been speaking the old
tongue in a long time. And so, yes, they
meaning the others killed him long ago
and probably very, very long ago. We'll
come back to that at the end of the
video. Point is, he's been ranging up
there for centuries. And that's because
zombies are perfect for doing that. They
are ideal. And we basically see that
with cold hands. He's tireless. No need
for food, no need for fire, no need for
shelter. And so, yeah, if Jon has to go
to the heart of winter, it'll be
convenient to be like cold hands. And
Jon is after all dead. So, the choices
would appear to be dead or zombie. And
then, like I said, whether Jon ends up
an ice white or fire white or some
combination of both, they both have
their little extra magical advantages in
the north. Fire whites like Bareric can
light their swords on fire with their
own blood. That's not just in the show.
That's also in the books. So, if Jon or
anyone else becomes a fire white,
they'll be able to create their own
Lightbringer weapons on the spot. And
then cold whites like cold hands. Well,
they would be impervious to the extreme
hyper cold that emanates from the others
and the whites. You'll remember when Sam
fought whited small paw, the cold was
overwhelming. It froze his limbs and it
made it very hard to move. So given all
these advantages that zombies have in
fighting the others, you can see why the
children of the forest raise the dead
themselves and or free the ice whites
from bondage and that way get a few
whites on their side. And Cold Hands is
on their side. However, he was created,
he definitely is working with the
children and with Blood Raven. First, he
shows up to rescue Sam and Gilly and
escort them to the black gate. And even
though Cold Hands cannot pass the Black
Gate because again, he's dead, he's
still essentially doing the job of a
ranger of the Night's Watch just north
of the wall for good. And then he also
guides Bran north to Blood Raven's cave.
So yeah, there's no question Cold Hands
is working with the children and Blood
Raven, which means the children of the
forest work with zombies. And then we'll
no doubt see this pattern again with Jon
when he's resurrected or liberated from
other possession. He will most likely at
some point be working with Bran, if not
Bran and Blood Raven. And that's if they
don't directly have a hand in his
resurrection. And I really am holding
out hope that there is some Green Seir
involvement that can produce an actual
restoration of vital processes.
Otherwise, how's Jon going to please
Dany and give her the Lord's kiss and
stuff? I mean, that whit stink is you
don't you don't want that. Danny doesn't
want that. So, we'll see. Maybe the
story isn't going there. Maybe their
partnership will not be um I'm not going
to do the diagram again, but thanks for
the comments, by the way. But yeah,
maybe maybe there's a better
resurrection waiting for Jon. And the
fact that his soul is being stored in
his weirwood colored wolf, that could be
a clue that there will be weird magic
[Applause]
All right, it's time to talk about dead
skin changers because let it be known
Cold Hands, although he is dead, is
still an active skin changer. There are
many clues about this. The first one is
the way that he works in tandem with the
ravens. From a nearby oak, a raven
quarked, and Bran heard the sound of
wings as another of the big black birds
flat down to land beside it. By day,
only half a dozen ravens stayed with
them, flitting from tree to tree or
riding on the antlers of the elk. The
rest of the murder flew ahead or
lingered behind. But when the sun sank
low, they would return, descending from
the sky on night black wings until every
branch of every tree was thick with them
for yards around. Some would fly to the
ranger and mutter at him, and it seemed
to Bran that he understood their quarks
and squawks. They are his eyes and ears.
They scout for him to whisper to him of
dangers ahead and behind. As now, the
elk stopped suddenly, and the ranger
vaulted lightly from his back to land in
kneedeep snow. Summer growled at him,
his fur bristling. The direwolf did not
like the way the cold hands smelled.
Dead meat, dry blood, a faint whiff of
rot and cold, cold overall.
So, as you can see, the ravens are cold
hands eyes and ears. They speak to him,
and he understands their raven speak.
This is something that the children of
the forest and the ancient first men
were able to do, we are told. But that's
not something we've seen anyone do in a
very, very long time. And then, as we
saw in the first quote that we read in
the video, the ravens definitely helped
Cold Hands murder those mutineers and
tear them to shreds. So maybe Cold Hands
is skin changing these ravens. Or maybe
not. Maybe he's just talking to them and
understanding their language, you know,
like a green man. Uh, but yeah, he's
definitely a raven friend. And really
the proof comes from the elk. As you've
heard, Cold Hand stinks. He stinks like
a white. And animals really, really do
not like that as we know. And yet, the
elk permits him to sit on its back and
it obeys him. There's really just no way
to explain either of those things
without cold hands being a skin changer.
As I mentioned, the Irish elk is a huge,
untameable beast, and it typically would
not put up with a rider at all, let
alone a corpse rider. And we should note
that the elk even obeys cold hands after
they split up for days. He instructs the
elk to take the children to the certain
spot by the lake or whatever. And the
elk does that. So what this looks like
is Virixin's relationship with the snow
bear except for less antagonistic. And
the key thing to realize is that Vimir
controls the snow bear without actively
skinch changing it. That's how he rides
on top of it without just sitting up
there, you know, with his eyes rolled
back in his head. He's still here in the
present moment. But his bond with the
snow bear allows him to keep it under
his control and ride it. And the same
goes for the shadow cat. So that would
explain why the elk doesn't run away and
does what Cold Hand says. And that may
explain the raven activity as well. And
in fact, Cold Hands really is acting
like a green man. And I'm not just
saying that because we have these nice
t-shirts on sale in our Bonfire web
store at the link below the video, but
because that's what Bran says when Sam
begins describing cold hands to Bran. As
soon as he hears the cold hands rides an
elk, he says, "Oh, was he green? The
green men ride elks." And again, I will
bring up cold hands speaking the old
tongue. Not only speaking the old
tongue, but the way that he talks to the
elk when the elk dies. Cold Hands had
knelt beside it in the snowbank and
murmured a blessing in some strange
tongue as he slit its throat. So, it
really does seem like cold hands is
talking to the elk as a friend here. And
Bran certainly comes to think about the
elk as a friend as well. So yeah, giving
a death benediction in the old tongue to
the elk that he was almost certainly
skin changing. He's basically acting
like a green man. So I'm not saying that
he is a green man, but we don't even
know for sure if there is a cernunos
like green man on the face. I certainly
think there is, but the green man
tradition could certainly have been
carried on by human skin changers and
green sears. So it may be that cold
hands is some sort of 8,000-year-old
skin changer in the tradition of the
green men. And cold hands is essentially
guarding the blackgate weirwood organism
super organism at the night fort in a
somewhat similar fashion to the way that
the sacred order of green men guard the
weirwoods on the aisle of faces. So
essentially cold hands is like a dead
green man. You know he's north of the
wall he's dead and his weirwood is at
the night fort. So main point cold hands
seems to be a resurrected skin changer
who can still use his skin changer
magic. And after all it would kind of
suck if Jon was resurrected and then
couldn't use any magic, right? And since
Jon is a skin changer, like we think
Cold Hands is, it, you know, makes sense
that George is giving us an example of
skin changer zombies who can still use
magic. And technically, even Bareric,
fireed Bareric still has magic because
lighting a sword on fire with his blood
is certainly magic. But it definitely
seems like being a skin changer might be
a way to create a better zombie. And
here I'm talking about better as in more
of the soul or self or awareness being
called back to inhabit the body. Bareric
and Stoneheart are famously shadows.
They are slivers of their former selves.
They are very ghostlike remnants. And
that's because since they're not skin
changers, presumably when they die,
whatever happens to normal people when
they die happens to them. So their
consciousness begins to go to the
afterlife or again whatever happens. So
it's only some small part of that
awareness that's able to be called back
to the land of the living and bound to
the corpse by someone like Thoros.
However, with skin changers, it's a
totally different process. As we know,
their soul begins second life. It goes
into their main animal upon death. The
human spirit does gradually fade into
the animal spirit and they merge and
then gradually the animal spirit seems
to take over. But if one was quick
enough in the resurrection process, say
3 days to 2 weeks, the skin changers
animal could function like a soul jar
here, preserving the spirit even if it's
merged with the animal spirit in a
better way than we see with Beric and
Stoneheart. Now, I do think the evidence
points to Jon's spirit having been
merged with ghost's spirit by the time
he's called back to his body, which
means it'll be a ghost John, wolf man's
spirit that goes back to Jon's body. And
many people have speculated that
resurrected Jon will in fact be more
wolfish, you know, aggressive or I don't
know, just more wolfish. So, that makes
me think about the way that Cold Hands
is again agile and quick. Maybe
resurrected Ghost Jon will have a little
bit of those wolf instincts and wolf
quickness. And so, there it is. That is
my case for Cold Hands still being an
active skin changer and also a zombie.
Let me know if you think there's any
holes in my logic, but I'm I'm pretty
convinced. And at the end of the day, I
just don't think it's a coincidence that
Jon is a dead knight's watchman and a
skin changer and that Cold Hands is an
undead knight's watchman who seems like
a skin changer. I think that this is
[Applause]
All right, it's time for the zombie
watch, aka green zombie theory, updated,
revised to 3.0. So, the last hero and
his dead companions, right? They died in
the cold dead lands as they were sore
beset by the others. That's when the
children rescued the last hero. There's
a gap in the story here because we're
piecing it together from a broken part
of Old Nan's recitation as well as a
song about the Night's Watch and
something else that Bran says. But we do
know that the children of the forest not
only helped the last hero, they also
helped the first men of the Night's
Watch rally to win the war for the dawn.
So maybe they just resurrected the last
hero's dead companions. That's the
theory. Or maybe the children freed the
last hero's 12 companions from ice
whiteification because it does say that
they were again sore beset by the others
when they died. So they probably would
have been turned into ice whites. So
maybe the children freed them and maybe
they were like 12 cold handses. Or it
could even be that 12 brave people
volunteered to be killed, sacrificed in
front of the weirwood, and turned into a
white so that they could go into the
frozen deadlands and combat the others.
This would give us a good answer to the
mystery of what was this crucial help
that the children gave to the last hero
and the first men of the watch that
enabled them to beat the others. But
like any good theory, there's evidence
behind it. It's not just a matter of
going, "What if? What if the last hero's
companions were zombies?" It does begin
with looking at cold hands and going,
hm, just how old is he? And more
importantly, noticing just how useful it
is to be a zombie when you're ranging
the cold dead lands. But like I said,
there's evidence. So, first of all, the
watchmen are symbolically dead. Many
people that join the Night's Watch do so
as an alternative to a death sentence.
So, taking the black is a kind of exile
that stands in the place of a death
sentence. And when you take the black,
you wear all black forever. And black
is, of course, the color of morning
clothes. It's also the color of shadows.
And there's a lot of talk about how
shadows are friends to a man in black
and how the Night's Watch brothers
themselves are shadows. The Night's
Watch can't father children, or at least
they're not supposed to, and they can't
get married. So that's a little bit like
being dead. And they are, of course,
exiled to the end of the world, to the
frozen lands, which they have to do for
life. They can never again return to the
Greenlands. So again, symbolically, they
have been exiled from the land of the
living. The men of the nights watch have
to leave their former identities behind,
particularly their house identity and of
course in the shield hall. Anybody from
a house with a coat of arms hangs their
shield up in the shield hall as if they
have died as if they have gone to
Valhalla in fact and given that blood
raven who used to be the lord commander
of the watch and in a way is still the
green seer commander of the watch is so
very much like Odin the nights watch
brothers are in fact like Odin's
warriors who are spoiler alert undead.
So the next way that the Nights Watch
are symbolically dead are their Night's
Watch vows. The entire thing comes
across a lot like a resurrection
ceremony. They kneel as green boys and
rise as men in black. The phrase green
boys obviously suggests that they become
green men when they rise. And boys makes
us think of the children of the forest.
And I think what's being communicated
here is that the first knights watchmen
were people who used the magic of the
green men and the children of the
forest. Maybe they were in fact hybrids.
So this is a long time ago. All the
first men houses in the reach claim to
descend from Gartha Green who is a green
man. So, we're not sure how how the
hybridization flows, but yeah, green
boys kneel. Men in black rise. Oh, yes.
And kneeling before a heart tree. #
things you do right before you're about
to get sacrificed. And one of the key
lines that jumps out to you when you're
thinking about Green Zombie theory is
that line about living and dying at my
post. Emphasis on dying, obviously. And
then as far as Jon goes, it's actually
Bow and Marsh who gives Jon his Night's
Watch oath and tells him to rise as a
man of the watch. Bow and Marsh who also
kills Jon with a knife to the belly. So
mentally, if you reverse the order, you
have one man, Bowen Marsh, killing Jon
and then telling him to rise as a man in
black. And Bowen Marsh, of course, the
old pomegranate. Well, he's named after
Enoch Bowen, founder of the Church of
Starry Wisdom. So just the right person
to be overseeing a resurrection ritual.
And the nickname the old pomegranate is
of course Hades and Praphanie symbolism
where eating of the pomegranate traps
you in the underworld. So his entire
name and symbolism is all about the
underworld and resurrection and things
like that. So yes, I do think it's
intentional that Bowen Marsh is both the
one who kills Jon and tells him to rise
in front of the weirwood tree. Jon or
more accurately ghost also finds the two
whited knights watchmen right after Jon
swears his nights watch vows in the
grove of nine. And then he looks at
those ice-wited Nights Watch rangers and
says, "Wow, that could have been me. I'm
such a green boy." So, in my opinion,
this is both foreshadowing that Jon will
be iceed and that he will be in need of
some kind of Weirwood resurrection. And
also that the basic ceremony of the
Night's Watchmen joining the Watch and
swearing their vows to the Weirwoods
kind of looks like a resurrection
ritual. And originally, it may have been
that if indeed the first men of the
Night's Watch were the last hero's dead companions.
[Applause]
All right, next up it's time to hear
from the oracle of the watch, none other
than Dollar Tole. Edison Tole's full
name is. And he is basically the
mouthpiece for a green zombie theory.
>> Do I now he says we need to learn to
ride dead horses like the others do? He
claims he would save on feed. How much
could a dead horse eat? Can't say I
fancy the notion. Once they figure a way
to work a dead horse, we'll be next.
Likely I'll be the first two. And
they'll say, dying's no excuse for lying
down no more. So get on up and take this
spear. You've got to watch tonight.
Well, I shouldn't be so gloomy. Might be
all die before they work it out. So
that's all pretty straightforward.
That's that screen zombie theory.
Exactly. And there's even more of it
back in the first scene where Jon meets
Dollar. Jon was paired with the dower
Edison Tole, a squire, gray of hair and
thin as a pike whom the other brothers
called Doared. But enough when the dead
come walking. Now the old bear wants
them talking as well. No good will come
of that all won't. And who's to say the
bones wouldn't lie. Why should death
make a man truthful or even clever? The
dead are likely dull fellows full of
tedious complaints. The ground's too
cold. My gravestone should be larger.
Why does he get more worms than I do? So
yeah, Dollar said he's worried about all
the right stuff. He's worried about
becoming a zombie that still has to
serve the watch. And he's worried about
the Lord Commander making the dead walk
and talk. No good will come of that I warrant.
warrant.
>> Do not attempt to call him back.
>> And honestly, I'm I'm worried about
Dollar said becoming a zombie because it
is in fact Ed Stark, Ederard Stark, who
was the one Bran is talking about being
alive in his vision before he comes back
to the children of the forest and they
tell him don't try to call him back. And
then there's Jon Snow having a dream
about fighting the whited knights watch
brother Oor. But in his dreams, the
whited Oor has his father's face. So,
it's a whited Knight's Watch brother
named Ed. So, it's it's not looking good
for old Puddle Glum. I mean, dollar Ed.
All right. So, the next piece of
evidence that the original Knights
Watchmen were a pack of zombies are the
79 Sentinels. They have spears and horns
and they all face north. The 79
Sentinels, they're called. They left
their posts in life. So, in death, their
watch goes on forever. So, in death,
their watch goes on forever. Sounds a
lot like I will live and die at my post,
doesn't it? And look, they have horns.
Ghostly war horns. They're horns,
though. And of course, the word sentinel
in this story refers to a tree. That's
very common. And also a watchman like
the 79 sentinels. You'll notice that
they're planted in little holes in the
ice just like trees. And they're holding
spears just like Dollar said was talking
about being told to grab a spear and man
the watch even though he's dead. And the
point of that is the spear creates the
image of a tree trunk or the shaft of
the cosmic world axis which is the basis
for world trees such as Idrasil. So
these nights watch sentinels are a bunch
of tree people with horns who were
planted but they're dead and they're
manning their posts forever. So that's
pretty much the whole theory again right
there. And Bran does indeed think about
them as the ghosts who still man the
night fort. And then from 79 Sentinels
to the scarecrow sentinels. You know the
scarecrows that they put on top of the
wall. And also on top of Castle Black,
they threw Night's Watch cloaks around
them to inflate their numbers and make
it look like they were more watchmen
than there really were. During the
battle at top the wall, the Nights Watch
began naming the Scarecrow Sentinels
after their fallen brothers. So once
again, we've got dead Knights Watch
brothers sort of manning their posts,
and they're called the Scarecrow
Sentinels, so they compare well to the
79 Sentinels. And then we have Jon's
Azor Hydream, where he is defending the
wall alone with a burning red sword.
There's no other knights watchmen except
for the scarecrow sentinels who have
caught fire. So if we're thinking about
undead knights watchmen, these kind of
remind us of fire whites and indeed
Bareric, the first fire that we see in
the story. Well, he's called the
scarecrow knight by Arya. Bareric is
filled with the fire of so. So he is a
burning scarecrow just as Jon is again
defending the wall with a bunch of
burning scarecrow nights watch brothers.
So that's pretty cool because George has
talked about Bareric as specifically
being foreshadowing for Jon. So here in
Jon's Azor Hydream, this concept of
burning scarecrows links Bareric to the
idea of undead knights watchmen, which
is what Jon's going to be. Bareric
obviously can light his own sword on
fire and fights with the burning sword.
And Jon has the burning red sword in his
Azor high dream. That's what makes it
the Azor high dream. It's also Jon's
last hero dream, though, because clearly
he's leading the watch in a war against
the undead forces of the others, just
like the last hero. And notice the line,
"They are all gone. They have all
abandoned me. So, just like the last
hero found himself alone against the
others at the last after all his friends
had died, Jon here is alone against the
whites, except for those burning
scarecrow brothers who, as we just said,
symbolize whited watchmen. This is
another great clue that the last hero's
only companions in the war for the dawn
were in fact whited watchmen. Be they
whites of ice or fire or both, or green
sear whites, if those exist. And then
finally, there could be a shout out to
cold hands in this dream, too, because
Jon is armored in black ice when the
blade burns red in his fist. So, I'm not
sure where the ice and fire delin how
far up the wrist it goes, but he's if
he's armored in ice, he might have cold
hands there. And the black ice armor
itself might simply refer to Jon being a
frozen white. Obviously, if he's got a
burning red sword, he's something more
than a normal ice white. Normal ice
whites catch on fire. But yeah, in the
dream, he's ice and fire. So, we'll have
to see how George manifests that in the story.
[Applause]
All right. So far, I've explained this
theory based on the sort of mechanics in
the story and some of the symbolism of
the Night's Watch. But now, I'd like to
show you how George is using the
mythology and symbolism of many of the
individuals on the Night's Watch to try
to sort of shout from the rooftops that
the Night's Watch should be manned by
dead skin changers, dead green seers, or
even dead green men. And again, we're
not sure what the difference is between
human green seers, human skin changers,
and green men functionally, but
symbolically, all these Nights Watchmen
are dead green men. Let's start with
Cold Hands. Cold Hands is literally
Hearn the Hunter. He's literally Hearn
the Hunter, and Hearn the Hunter is a
dead green man. He is a branch of
English Green Man folklore, who was
supposedly hanged from a tree called
Hearn's Oak in punishment for some
crime. cold hands, you'll notice, wears
the scarf and has a rattling voice. So,
he very well may have been hanged or had
his throat cut, which would be a nod to
Hearn the Hunter. And it's not really
until after Hearn dies that he becomes a
guardian of the forest. But that's what
happens after he's hanged. He comes back
to life. And now he guards the forest
and also leads the wild hunt. And the
wild hunt is some sort of folkloric
procession of dead spirits and animals
and sometimes abducted children. It
crosses over with the whole fairy
folklore changeling stuff. And we see
echoes of that in a lot of the Night's
Watch folktales. Actually, check out my
Night Fort live stream for more on that.
But yeah, the Apprentice Boys, Mad Axe,
a lot of that is drawn from the Wild
Hunt. And of course, Cold Hands, he
leads the kids around, right? He's
leading Sam and Gilly south to the wall.
And then he's leading Bran and Joj and
Amir and Hodor north of the wall. So,
he's definitely leading processions of
abducted children who might be being
given to the fairies all around north of
the wall. And as you can see from the
art, Hearn the Hunter rides a horse,
blows a horn, and has stag antlers on
his head. They're very similar. They
both act like dead green men. And George
kind of hangs a lantern on this with the
founding heroes of House Tarly. Those
are two sons of G the Green, twins
called Harlon the Hunter and H. Hearnden
of the Horn. And they married a woods
witch at Horn Hill. And as long as they
lie with her when the moon was full,
they were granted extra long life. Who
knows about the truth of that? But you
know, oulty witch stuff goes along with
all the horn god mythology. And the
point is Harlon the hunter, H. Hearnden
of the horn, Hearn the Hunter. So that's
why I say that Cold Hands is kind of
cosplaying as Sam's ancestor. And that
makes it extra cool when he shows up to
rescue Sam. Sam is basically meeting the
ghost of Harlon the Hunter and H.
Hearnden of the Horn. And even Sam, if
you notice, is also like cold hands
smuggling children through the wall
because Sam is the one responsible
chiefly for rescuing Gilly's baby. So
like ancestor, like descendant, they're
both nights watchmen scurrying around
and fing back and forth. One other cool
thing about Sam, he's actually the 13th
Night's Watch brother to return to
Castle Black after the mutiny at
Crraers. He straggles in way after
everyone else with Gilly and her baby,
but he is I counted him up the 13th
member of the watch to return. So
symbolically that kind of makes him like
the last hero. And since Sam and Cold
Hands have all these parallels, that
once again makes us wonder if Cold Hands
was or is the last hero or perhaps one
of the last heroes 12. And I suppose I
should also mention that Harlon the
Hunter and H. Ernon of the Horn are
listed as one if you count both of them
as one of the 12 notable children of G
the Green in this very special page of
the world of ice and fire. G's firstborn
son Gardner is actually listed
separately to make 13 or you might say
12+ 1. And that's yet another clue that
the last heroes group of 12 + 1 were
green men types sons of G with cold
hands the model for these green zombies
being a direct shout out to one of Gar's
sons. And of course, the best version of
green zombie theory is that all of the
last heroes companions were skin
changers or green sears and that this is
what enabled them to be the superior
kind of zombies who could still use
magic like Jon and Cold Hands. So, next
up, we've got Jon Snow, of course, who
is going to be a green zombie. And he
has pretty similar winteresque Greenman
folklore. And that would be the king of
winter, of course, which is the title of
the ancient Stark Kings, but it's also a
version of the Green Man. It's similar
to a wicker man. So the king of winter
is a little man that you make from
harvest stocks in the fall again like a
mini wicker man and you burn it in the
spring at the Beltain festival and this
helps usher in the spring. So John is
going to be a burning king of winter
meaning a fire white who's going to help
bring the spring. So that's pretty heavy
foreshadowing for John right there in
the title king of winter. And of course
on the show John was eventually named
king of the north.
>> The king in the north.
[Music]
And with all the chicainery with Rob's
will going on, I think that John will
also be named King of the North, Lord of
Winterfell, which basically is the same
as King of Winter. Okay, so you're with
me so far, right? The folklore King of
Winter is like a straw man or wicker man
that you burn in the spring. And John,
the King of Winter is going to be a fire
white to help bring the spring. And
another way that George develops this
idea is that he always describes the ice
whites as being like straw men. And when
they get set on fire, they go up like
straw and kindling. And sometimes they
even get described as wreathed in flame.
So think of a Christmas wreath but
burning, which is just another way to
talk about a burning Christmas man or a
burning king of winter. So Jon Snow, the
king of winter as a fire white will be
breathed in flame. And this quote you're
seeing on the screen about the white
being wreathed in flame, well that is
from the battle outside of Blood Raven's
cave where cold hands was killing a
bunch of whites. Jon has another
folkloric identity and that is that of
the corn king. Of course, Mormont's
Raven calls him corn king, corn king Jon
Snow. And the phrase corn king is a
modern term for a type of folkloric
deity. Basically, it's any deity or
mythical figure who dies and resurrects
along with the cycle of nature. So,
they're going to die in the fall or the
winter. They're going to resurrect in
the spring. They usually have green
skin. And basically, they embody the
green vitality of life. And their death
and resurrection is a way to describe
the cycle of the seasons. So, pretty
much all green man deities are corn
kings. And this is exactly how George
describes G the green in the world of
ice and fire. And he even says that this
type of dying and resurrecting nature
god is pretty common and found all over
the world. So, why would George have the
raven who might be Benjen? Apparently,
according to the videos from Quinn the
GM and Michael talks about stuff that
dropped within 5 hours of each other
with the same theory somehow 14 years
after the last book of Ice and how did
you guys do that? And I do like the
theory, by the way. It's a good theory.
I still like the idea that it could be
Blood Raven talking through him, but I'm
like 50/50 now. So, yeah, you guys did a
good job. And check out those videos if
you missed them. I'll link them in the
description below. But yeah, why did
Benjen or Blood Raven, why did George
have the raven label Jon a corn king?
Well, because Jon is dying just as
winter is coming and he's going to be
resurrected to help bring the spring.
So, as you can see, both the king of
winter and the corn king identity
suggests the same thing. The Jon is
coming back and that he's going to be
crucial in ending the winter. That's
pretty much common sense, of course, at
this point. But the main point I want to
make for Green Zombie theory is that the
king of winter and the corn king, that's
all part of Greenman folklore. Just like
Hearn the Hunter, who frames the
[Applause]
All right, the big moment. Who was Cold
Hands? About time, right? Or who was
Cold Hands, I guess, is the better
question. So, first theory, is he a
Blood Raven meat puppet? We've already
dismissed this disrespectful idea.
Theory rejected. And if you still think
he's Blood Raven's mean puppet, then I
don't know how to convince you. Next
idea is Cold Hands one of the Raven's
teeth. Was he one of Blood Raven's
personal guard who were known as the
Raven's teeth? Many of them chose to
take the black with Blood Raven and
presumably some of them could have been
lost in the woods with Blood Raven when
he went off to become the three-eyed
crow some. I think it's 57 years before
the story begins. It would not be
surprising at all if there were other
skin changers other than Blood Raven
among the Raven's teeth. So perhaps one
of them could have become cold hands.
This is basically the youngest possible
identity for cold hands. And I
personally don't think 60 years
qualifies as long ago to the children of
the forest, but it's a squishy phrase,
so maybe. And it certainly would make
sense because he is still working with
Blood Raven. However, the Raven's teeth
were all Weirwood archers with weirwood
bows, and Cold Hands doesn't have a bow.
So, I would think if he were a Raven's
teeth, he'd have a weird bow, and that'd
be how we'd recognize him. Or maybe I
should say if he were a Raven's tooth. I
don't know. If he were one of the
Raven's teeth. Seems like he'd have a
bow. Now, Cold Hands could just be some
Knights Watchman. So, perhaps who he is
is just far less important than what,
meaning a dead skin changer. So, maybe
we'll never learn his name. And part of
his role in the story is to serve as the
ultimate realization of the idea of the
Night's Watch leaving their identities
behind and committing their lives to
service and their un lives to service.
His memory does seem a little foggy at
times, you know, when he looks at his
hands and he's like, "Oh, yeah. I guess
I am dead, aren't I?" It's kind of
vague, but yeah, maybe he's supposed to
just be a lost Night's Watch brother who
is now a zombie. So that would basically
make him a walking archetype. And then
we have what I think are the best two
theories. The first of which being that
Cold Hands was the last hero or one of
the last heroes companions. This really
would make the most sense given all the
symbolism. You know, Sam bears his
symbolism and then he's the 13th man.
Cold Hands foreshadows Jon and Jon is
going to be the new last hero leading
the watch in the new war for the dawn.
And an 8,000-year-old watch is pretty
[ __ ] epic. Got to say that is the
most last of heroes. He's still hanging
on. That's what I call a last hero. Last
man out turns out the lights or turns
them back on. I don't know. So, when we
think about that line, your monster,
Brandon Stark, that makes us wonder, did
Bran the Builder perhaps create Cold
Hands? Was he the Stark green seer
raising the last hero's companions from
the dead? Or maybe Cold Hands is Bran
the Builder who is the last hero. That's
definitely possible. Bran the Builder
being taken to a secret place to learn
the language of the children of the
forest could be the same thing as the
last hero being helped by the children
of the forest. So that would be reading
the sentence as an introduction. I am
your monster Brandon Stark. Sort of a
double meaning. So maybe Cold Hands is
Brandon Stark, too. But the main idea
here is that he is either the last hero
or one of his companions. There's not
really much difference. And the point is
that he would be an 8,000-year-old green
zombie just hanging on and holding
things down north of the wall. And who
knows, maybe there were originally 13
and they just died gradually over time
and he's the last one left. Maybe they
occasionally make more green zombies. We
don't know. Maybe Benjen is a green
zombie. We know Benjen isn't Cold Hands,
but he he could be a green zombie
ranging out there somewhere. If he's not
in the Raven, he's either a green zombie
or an ice white. Those are kind of the
choices. So then last Cold Hands
identity theory, of course, Knight's
King. Her and the Hunter after all was
hanged for some crime and then he guards
the woods basically as an atonement. So
perhaps Night King cold hands. And
remember, Knight's King was a Knights
Watchman. Perhaps he is atoning for his
crimes by ranging the north in
perpetuity like Hearn. Knight's King
definitely could have been a green sear
or skin changer. That seems heavily
suggested. So the idea that Cold Hands
is an undead knight's watch zombie skin
changer. Well, yeah, that that could fit
Knights King pretty well. And it could
even be that Knights King's story is
confused. Maybe the unholy pact he made
with the others is part of what ended
the Long Night. Many people have
proposed that many people think Knight's
King was the last hero. So, Cold Hands
could be both Knights King and last
hero. It all kind of depends on how you
see those original legends. But it
definitely does seem like a George type
thing to do. Create this legend of the
Knights King who's just thought of as
all bad, but actually he's some sort of
gray character who did a bad thing for a
good reason or something like that. And
then finally, I'll just note that either
Knight's King or Last Hero could have
been a Stark. Old Nan suggests that
Knights King was a Stark and the last
hero with his dog definitely seems like
a Stark. So that's a pretty cool idea.
Cold Hands could be a Stark. He could be
Bran's ancestor. Whether his name is
Brandon or Elrich or something else, who
knows? Maybe he'll cough up the answer
one of these days. Or maybe he's
forgotten. And then finally, if Cold
Hands is Knight's King, that does make
good mythological sense. The Living
Green Men are based on the Summer King
and Ga Green. So, Cold Hands as a dead
green man. Well, that pretty much fits
as Nights King. So, there you go,
friends. This video went a little longer
than I thought it would, but hopefully
you've enjoyed it. And we'll be back to
talk a lot more John Resurrection next
week with the video about Melisandre's
plan or destiny. I'm not sure what I'm
going to call it, but as long as you
make sure you subscribe to the channel
below. It should pop up in your YouTube
feed next week when I put it out. So,
thanks for watching everyone. Leave me a
comment and I'll see you next time. [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
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