A castle must have towers wherever two walls meet at an angle, for defense. It was the Valyrians who raised this citadel, and they had ways of shaping stone since lost to us. In olden days, our island was the westernmost outpost of the great Freehold of Valyria. They were coming to eat me.“The child had been plagued by nightmares as far back as Maester Cressen could recall. What is missing is the awakening of dragons from stone though Dragonstone is filled with stone dragons: However, the prologue also makes it plain that at this point Stannis is not a believer though he plays along publically by adopting the Burning Heart of R’hllor as a part of his personal sigil. Melisandre interprets the words “born again” as a symbolic rebirth with the conversion of Stannis to the religion of R’hllor through the little piece of theatre she stages on the beach of Dragonstone where Stannis draws a burning sword from the bonfire that destroys the images of the Seven from the local sept. King of a smoking rock in the great salt sea, yet a king nonetheless.(ACoK, Prologue) The comet’s tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky. The prologue opens with the Red Comet and a description of Dragonstone as a place of salt and smoke: At this point the text presents a number of signs that could mean that Stannis is fullfillment of the prophecy. It is here that Melisandre proclaims him Azor Ahai come again. A few chapters later, the readers are presented with the prophecy of Azor Ahai for the very first time when Melisandre stages her little show on the beach at Dragonstone where Stannis receives his glamoured sword from the bonfire of the gods (the statues of the Seven). The prologue to the second book ( A Clash of Kings) opens with the Red Comet and the introduction of Melisandre of Asshai. Daenerys hatches her dragons in the final chapter of the first book ( A Game of Thrones), which creates a bookend to the prologue where the Others are introduced. When it comes to the issue of Azor Ahai, GRRM has structured his narrative in an interesting manner. In this post, I’ll take a look at how the narrative is structured in relation to the prophecy of Azor Ahai and how it pertains to the other candidates for the title: Stannis Baratheon and Jon Snow. In my previous post I examined the textual clues that support this interpretation - namely the hatching of her dragons from the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo as well as one of the visions that accompanied the Slayer of Lies prophecy from the House of the Undying. This post is a continuation of my theory that Daenerys Targaryen embodies the mythical Azor Ahai of an ancient prophecy from Asshai.
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