Twenty-First Meeting

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming to the meeting, and thank you Christian and Candie for the Greek food! Our next meeting will be Wednesday August 20th at 6pm in the staff lounge. We are reading to page 461 in the paperback, through the Meslidandre chapter, stopping before Reek's chapter that begins "He heard the girls first, barking as they raced for home." Jacqueline will be bringing food next time. Here is some of what we talked about at the meeting:

• Terminology:
• The Others are the same as the white walkers (the HBO series calls them white walkers while in the books they are generally referred to as the Others). These are inhuman creatures that have white skin and bright blue eyes. They wear shimmery armor and have crystal-like swords that are so cold, they can break a steel blade. They speak a language that sounds like ice cracking, and they walk so lightly on the snow that they don't leave footprints. They ride dead animals and are quick and intelligent. They can only be killed with dragonglass (obsidian) or dragonsteel (possibly Valyrian steel).
• Wights, on the other hand, are reanimated corpses. They have similar bright blue eyes, but their hands and feet are black from their congealed blood. They are slow and clumsy and they don't speak. They are the slaves of the Others. Dragonglass cannot stop a wight, but fire can.
• Coldhands appears to be a wight with black hands, but his eyes are black instead of blue. He doesn't breathe, but he can talk, unlike other wights. Like the wights, he can't pass through the enchantments in the wall or in the cave of the children of the forest. But he rides a living creature, not a dead one like the Others do. He works with - and possibly communicates with? - the ravens. Chris theorizes that he could be a protector of the children of the forest. We all debated on how he became a humanized wight -- did the children get to his corpse before the Others did? Could the children have converted a wight into a different sort of creature?
• Quaithe appears to Dany and makes an interesting prophecy: "The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal."

That's all I wrote down this time! If you can think of anything to add, or if there's any confusion about anything, leave a comment. Happy reading!

House Reed
Sworn to House Stark