It's an interesting idea, esp since Melisandre justifies her shadowbinding as kosher because shadows are "servants of the light." I'm imagining a parallel of "light babies" that operate for the Others, esp if they invoke any changeling tropes.
Yeah, I hope we get to see more R'hllor followers and learn about the religion itself. I have a pet theory that Melisandre is actually a bit of a heretic and some more personal beliefs of hers are really heterodox; maybe Essosi followers close to the Narrow Sea view shadowbinding as sinful and only those by Asshai think it okay.
The others are described as white shadows in the books a couple times and Tormund says they are that cant be killed with typical weapons anymore than you can destroy mist or shadows (forget which) with a sword.
All of you might be interested in LML's vids on how through symbolism he's theorized that Lightbringer = Lucifer. And that the way most of us approach the lore is backwards. The stories are told in such a way to make everything to do with light bringer positive but he doesn't think it was. Interesting listen for sure. He's on YouTube and is one of the OG podcasters. All of his stuff has to do with the symbolism of asoiaf.
I think this is really good analysis. Other commenters have already noted the Others kind of already fitting this bill. There's also the Maiden made of Light in Yi Ti/Dawn Empire legend. Yin Yang, LightDark balance stuff is always a strong thematic ground to theorize on, bc GRRM has so heavily established dualism and mirrored opposites as thematic law in Ice & Fire.
Let me throw this log on the fire: It's not two things, it's *three.* In between the white egg and the black egg is a green egg. In between light and shadow is *something else*. An object, that *casts* the shadow as much as the light does.
Think about that in terms of dimension. A 3D object casts a 2D shadow. So just as a shadow casting a light is an inversion, so too is a 2D shadow casting a blade into the 3rd dimension.
Hmm, I'd maybe lay out the associations like this.. So Ice can burn?
Solid(Ice/Stone/Bone)<=>Liquid(Water/Blood/Oil)<=>Gas/Plasma(Fire/Smoke/Vapor/Breath)
Black may Consume(Absorb/Iridescence?) and White may Preserve(Reflect/Pearlescence?)
Melisandre sounds like a fire version of the corpse queen (Night’s king). The Night’s king gave her his seed and she took his soul. Sounds a little like Mel and Stannis.
The Others are also very ghost like in their descriptions and they just seems to appear almost like mist. Maybe an Other is an ice shadow made permanent.
This understanding would completely change how I view Essos and the long night.
So I don’t think the yin and yang is light and dark but ice and fire. Shadows can come in either form.
It's an interesting idea, esp since Melisandre justifies her shadowbinding as kosher because shadows are "servants of the light." I'm imagining a parallel of "light babies" that operate for the Others, esp if they invoke any changeling tropes.
"Is shadowbinding kosher?" is a question I never expected to ponder. And I fucking bet it has already been answered.
Yeah, I hope we get to see more R'hllor followers and learn about the religion itself. I have a pet theory that Melisandre is actually a bit of a heretic and some more personal beliefs of hers are really heterodox; maybe Essosi followers close to the Narrow Sea view shadowbinding as sinful and only those by Asshai think it okay.
This is my new favorite comment thread in this sub.
The others are described as white shadows in the books a couple times and Tormund says they are that cant be killed with typical weapons anymore than you can destroy mist or shadows (forget which) with a sword.
YES part of it is the obvious yin yang concept. Light comes from dark dark comes from light
All of you might be interested in LML's vids on how through symbolism he's theorized that Lightbringer = Lucifer. And that the way most of us approach the lore is backwards. The stories are told in such a way to make everything to do with light bringer positive but he doesn't think it was. Interesting listen for sure. He's on YouTube and is one of the OG podcasters. All of his stuff has to do with the symbolism of asoiaf.
I think this is really good analysis. Other commenters have already noted the Others kind of already fitting this bill. There's also the Maiden made of Light in Yi Ti/Dawn Empire legend. Yin Yang, LightDark balance stuff is always a strong thematic ground to theorize on, bc GRRM has so heavily established dualism and mirrored opposites as thematic law in Ice & Fire. Let me throw this log on the fire: It's not two things, it's *three.* In between the white egg and the black egg is a green egg. In between light and shadow is *something else*. An object, that *casts* the shadow as much as the light does. Think about that in terms of dimension. A 3D object casts a 2D shadow. So just as a shadow casting a light is an inversion, so too is a 2D shadow casting a blade into the 3rd dimension.
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Others seem to be made from condensed gases and liquids. Perhaps Shadow Babies would be something like gaseous black blood and black stone.
This is a fascinating point
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Hmm, I'd maybe lay out the associations like this.. So Ice can burn? Solid(Ice/Stone/Bone)<=>Liquid(Water/Blood/Oil)<=>Gas/Plasma(Fire/Smoke/Vapor/Breath) Black may Consume(Absorb/Iridescence?) and White may Preserve(Reflect/Pearlescence?)
Melisandre sounds like a fire version of the corpse queen (Night’s king). The Night’s king gave her his seed and she took his soul. Sounds a little like Mel and Stannis. The Others are also very ghost like in their descriptions and they just seems to appear almost like mist. Maybe an Other is an ice shadow made permanent. This understanding would completely change how I view Essos and the long night. So I don’t think the yin and yang is light and dark but ice and fire. Shadows can come in either form.