>>FROM:@AEGONNER >>TO:@ALL >>RE:ARANEAN LEGENDS | >>TO:@SOME

[northerndragon]

>>TO:@ALL

They have their legends here of the Watcher and the Hunter. What do you know of them?

Has anyone mentioned the King Killer?

--

>>CLOSED TO: PEOPLE WHO ARE IN A LOT OF CONTACT WITH DANY.*

If I fall in the arena, look after STORMBORN. And keep her from retaliating, if you can.

[*This is certainly the group Dany sent her last locked network post out to, but it can also include anyone whose player thinks they'd be included. I tried to make a list and ultimately didn't want to accidentally omit anyone. If there's reason to think either of them would consider your character friendly or a friend, your character got this.

Also, this entire post isn't really on any specific timeline; could be at any point in the last couple of weeks.]

Comments

[northerndragon]

Understood.

As to the Watcher and the Hunter, I need to know more. I won a sword hilt at auction. It looks like a dragon, but they call it the King Killer. Related to the Hunter somehow, but from another place.

[horsepowered]

...Interesting. It seems like it may be a larger repeating pattern across different universes and pantheons then, rather than limited to just here.

[northerndragon]

It may be. Someone else is telling me a Regency version of the tale. And the place where the King Killer comes from is said to be full of treasure.

But there are always stories like that, if a place is far enough away. It draws the young. It doesn't mean they'll find what they're expecting if they ever get there.

If the story started from far enough away, it has to be old. And there may have been a point where there was some kind of truth in it.

[horsepowered]

How every interesting. It defies most of the mythology of my gods, I will be honest. Does it match with any of yours?

I absolutely believe that there is a truth in it. If there are enough elements that are the same across various tellings, those are the points that are the closest to the real version of events.

[northerndragon]

No. To be fair, there are no stories of my gods. No names, no faces, but they watch you, and they don't like lies. They were the gods of the First Men and of the Children of the Forest before them.

There are stories of heroes, and of the last Long Night, but that's different. The Last Hero wasn't a god. From what I know of the stories of Azor Ahai, he wasn't a god either, and the stories aren't the same, except that each of them is said to have defeated the White Walkers in the end.

If there are points in all the stories of the Watcher and the Hunter that are closest to the real version, it might help to hear more versions. The Araneans care about this story somehow, that's one thing I know.

[horsepowered]

I feel that while they may be seen as gods, their actions are closer to that of a mythical hero. If we focus on them through that lens, then it may be simpler to understand things, at least as far as stories go.

It's shockingly obvious how much they care. I might like to get a comparison of the royal version versus a more common version.

[northerndragon]

Do you think there's a difference? It might be that the royal version is passed down to the common people, or it might be that the smallfolk, such as they are here, keep some other story alive. Our old nurse told me of the Last Hero. It wasn't a story that high lords cared about or believed. But history here isn't so long, and there's only been one royal house, and two queens in all.

Still, the White Walkers are real enough — maybe the Hunter or the King Killer was real enough at some time, in some way. Maybe just a man, or maybe something I wouldn't call a man that still counts as one where he came from, the way an Aranean would here.

[horsepowered]

I want to know if there is. It can be a telling detail if there is a change, and it says something about the people who tell the story and what they value if they do. I'll take your example of what your nurse said. It wasn't told by other nobles, correct? The values in that story are probably different from what your nobility values.

I think your interpretation is correct. Or at least it's something we can test out and explore.

[northerndragon]

No, her stories weren't told by others. There was a sense that they were only stories to frighten children. Even for interest, I was more drawn in by stories our maester — our tutor — told us, the ones of Danielle's forebears.

[Now, he wonders, were those people real to him, or was it only that he aspired to heroic deeds? Some people see him as a hero now, but he doesn't feel like a hero, just someone who has scraped and scraped to survive and to help others survive. Heroism for its own sake, for the sake of renown, feels like such a petty thing these days.

A lot about Jhashch feels petty to him, even if its origins weren't. Is this sort of society what things come to if you're not careful?

How different is it really from King's Landing or further-flung places like Braavos or Volantis?]

We can test it, but we don't know enough. We can talk to people. Maybe there are books. If we survive this, there may be books back at BASE, too. The story means something to the enemy — we shouldn't stop thinking about it after we leave this place.

[And he wishes, now, that Sam could be at BASE, spending his days in the library. It would be good to see his friend, and better if he could apply his mind and his ability to find things in books to all of this.]

[horsepowered]

Hm. Frighten, but were there warnings about where not to go or what not to do in those? I'm...biased in my understanding these things, because I'm a part of them, just as Achilles is, just as Mordred is. We're given the weight of not just our lives, but the meanings that people have added onto us over the years. Those are meanings that endure. In the case of myself and the other Chiron, they've lasted for thousands of years.

Although the other Chiron has also lasted for a few thousand years compared to myself.

[It's the kind of perspective that some days, feels so weird to talk about. Like now. But understanding stories is important, especially when trying to divine the meaning of why some have stuck around in the way that they have.

What additional meanings have been added to the Watcher and Hunter, really?]

Mm. Checking here and books on BASE sound like a good plan to me. I may be so bold as to ask myself for clarification as well.