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A week ago, HBO dropped the long awaited and highly anticipated Game of Thrones final season trailer. This take may be late take, but oft times, I believe in letting the hot takes simmer down so the voices who aren’t seeking quick views for their lackluster analysis stand out. Now a lot of fan accounts on Youtube have boasted finding all these “easter eggs” in the trailer that just are not there. Particularly a lot of people are being misled by the theory that the legendary Symeon Star-Eyed is the Night King. The theory has the vote of confidence from Cosmo and its readers.
This theory existed on Reddit long before the trailer dropped. It goes so far to suggest that Symeon Star-Eyes was perhaps a Stark, but definitely from the North because the “North would want their own hero amongst the greatest heroes in Westeros history.” There is no evidence to suggest why Brandon the Builder, Breaker, Shipwright, and Burner aren’t sufficient legends. Knighthood is tied to the Seven, so it is unlikely he was from the North… But I need to slow myself down. The Game of Thrones trailer featured a star-eyed Night King reigniting this theory.
The seven pointed star is symbolic of the Faith of the Seven, the religion of the Andals, which would make, according to this theory, the Night King an Andal in origin. The belief that the Night King is the Andal Symeon Star-Eyes, a fabled knight from the Age of Heroes, is self defeating. Let’s first address the proposed evidence.
“There was a knight once who couldn’t see,” Bran said stubbornly, as Ser Rodrik went on below. “Old Nan told me about him. He had a long staff with blades at both ends and he could spin it in his hands and chop two men at once.”
“Symeon Star-Eyes,” Luwin said as he marked numbers in a book. “When he lost his eyes, he put star sapphires in the empty sockets, or so the singers claim. Bran, that is only a story, like the tales of Florian the Fool. A fable from the Age of Heroes.”
Now, it’s important to note that White Walkers, which are referred to as Others, have not directly appeared in the books. In the lore, the Others are always depicted as having blue eyes, like when the when the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch (allegedly) had sex with one.
“A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. He brought her back to the Nightfort and proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will.”
That man was known as the Night’s King, which is a far more plausible than Symeon Star-Eyes for being the Night King. This of course would only be true if the Night King was not an original amongst the Others. For this is generations after the Others were defeated, hence why there is a Night’s Watch. The idea that the Others have changed leadership is a major supposition not supported by either canon material or even the show who depict neither a queen nor power struggle which would likely still remain if an Other form of Symeon Star-Eyes usurped power to declare himself Night King.
And that is the less obvious reason why this fan theory is the Fake News of Game of Thrones theories. The most pressingly clear reason is that there were no Andals during the Long Night. The Andal Invasion did not occur until well into the Age of Heroes. The argument I’ve seen in response to this pressingly obvious fact is that history in Game of Thrones is unreliable. George RR Martin is intentional about using non-reliable narrators as well as writing a history of Westeros that is entirely contingent upon the interpretation of its multiple writers. Therefore the exact timing of the arrival of the Andals is subject to debate. This is all true. However, there is nothing to suggest that the Andals invaded during the Dawn Age. The Age of Heroes began after peace was made with the Children of the Forrest, as explained in the show in season one.
The First Men, who are the other predominant race in Westeros have the Others embedded in their culture, while the Andals generally believe the Others to be no more real than grumpkins and snarks. By the time the Andals arrived in Westeros, we are well into the Age of Heroes. Let’s go into more detail. When the Andals arrived they carved runes of seven pointed stars and brought their faith with them. Their invasion was repelled by the Stark Kings of Winter. Thus, the North remained primarily First Men and worshiped the old gods. House Stark remembers the Others, hence Winter is Coming. The Arryns of the Vale were established towards the very beginning of this time, for the Vale is the nearest landing spot. House Arryn is one of the oldest and purest of the Andal houses, until the current storyline. The Long Night is not in their culture. Lann the Clever had already taken Casterly Rock and established House Lannister. House Lannister bares a maternal lineage to Lann the Clever, a First Man, and has taken on an Andal line. There are FOUR Lannister POV characters. None of them reference their ancestors fighting Others. As you can see, the Andal houses did not experience the Long Night, meaning they Others invaded long before they arrived. So once again, how can Symeon Star-Eyes be the Night King.
Explanation
There are two reasons why the Night King’s, and by extension all Others’ eyes would be shaped as a seven-pointed star. The first is that a dragon must have three heads and a star must have seven points. This is to say that HBO is blowing smoke up people’s asses. The second is that the Children of the Forrest created an abomination to the old gods, whom they worship along with the First Men. This abomination bore resemblance to the faith of the seven, much like how the god Baal resembles numerous other false gods. As for me, I believe the former because the show-runners are not that intricate.
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You should watch Gray Area’s analysis on this theory. It explains the discrepancy in time and how the theory of the Night King being Symeon really makes sense. It also lines up with a blurb HBO released about the next Game of Thrones show which states that everything we thought we knew is wrong. Part of that could include the Song of Ice & Fire timeline. Keep in mind that some of the history is only known through recorded stories first committed to paper hundreds or thousands of years after they happened. With so much time gone by it would be very likely that the stories once written would be incorrect in various ways from what actually happened.
You also have to ask yourself why does Symeon, who doesn’t seem to have MAJOR importance to the overall story, keep popping up in all of the Song of Ice & Fire books? George R.R. Martin is a very deliberate writer and detailed oriented. I doubt it is a coincidence that George keeps it fresh in the readers mind from the first book to now who Symeon Star Eyes is.
This theory could be wrong as hell like so many of the theories that have come before it. However, there is evidence in the books to support it and beyond the timeline issues, which is kind of major depending on how you look at it, I haven’t read anything else that absolutely refutes it. George also seems to love reaching for the less obvious option. Of course that gets harder and harder to do when you have millions of eyes dissecting your every word looking for clues. Symeon Star Eyes being the Night King instead of a Stark fits that pattern to me. Just like Jon Snow’s parentage there are facts that could be bread crumbs leading to this reveal.
I just noticed something else as well that fits with the Night King possibly being Symeon Star Eyes. Some other bloggers have pointed out that the Night King, like Symeon Star Eyes, carries a long weapon with blades at both ends. Others however have said that the Night King’s weapon is more like a traditional spear rather than the two bladed weapon described in the books as being using by Symeon. From a distance it does indeed look like a simple spear fashioned from ice. But…if you look closely at the scene where the Night King brings down one of Dany’s dragons you can clearly see that it isn’t a spear, or at least not your typical spear. It is actually more like the weapon said to be used by Symeon. There is an ice blade on both ends with some sort of rod in between possibly ice as well or possibly metal. But it is clearly THREE separate pieces instead of one or two like your usual spear. It looks remarkably similar to the weapon Symeon carries in a couple of drawings I have seen of him. Seems like a small detail but knowing this makes you wonder if the Night King’s choice of weapon was a clue hiding in plain sight. The CGI department could have just created a weapon that was a solid piece of ice sharp on one end. You don’t need blades on two ends to bring down a dragon. Just saying… LOL! Instead they created a very detailed weapon that looks like blades on both ends fashioned from ice embedded into some sort of rod. More than likely they created this weapon from a description. This description “just so happens” to fit with a weapon used by Symeon Star Eyes a character from the age of heroes, first mentioned by Bran, and who keeps popping up in all of the ASOIF books so far. Call me crazy….
I don’t think you are crazy, however, the weapon that the Night King used to down the dragon was a javelin, not a spear. A javelin is a skirmishing weapon. Now a quality spear, like the ones used in a hoplite phalanx, would have metal on both ends which would amount to three pieces.
As far as artistic style of the javelin is concerned, they could have just been modeling the Night King’s weapon after the one used by the witch in Narnia, though far more masculine. However the size and functionality are eerily similar. The showrunners have a tendency to tie in other works of art in instances where George RR Martin was only broadly similar. For instance, Jon Snow’s implied death in the books was 2nd degree whereas in the show, the showrunners reenacted Julius Caesar. Jon Snow’s character has a remarkable similarity to Hamlet, but that’s a topic for another day.
Thank you for putting in the time to respond, as I am always happy to discuss GoT.
Grey Area’s video was partial inspiration for this rebuttal. I did not find her case on the chronology convincing, rather deceiving. There is a lot of history that is disputed in ASOIAF lore. But the well supported pattern of Westerosi history is as follows: 1. war between CotF and First Men 2. Pact 3. Long Night 4. Building of Wall/establishment of House Stark, Durrandon 5. Invasion of the Andals. 6. Aegon’s Conquest.
There are a lot of details within the history that is highly questionable, particular examples are the ironborn timelines and House Durrandon’s bloodline survival against the Andals. The dates are disputed but the order of events is widely supported by canon material.
There are a multitude of figures addressed in all the books. Specifically with Symeon Star-Eyes, his reference often seems to come in passing. Bran introduces the name, feeling as though he could relate to a handicapped warrior, since he is crippled. A multitude of other figures, particularly Starks, were also brought up in the chapter. In ASOS, the story of how Symeon Star-Eyes, though blind, saw hellhounds fighting when he was at the Nightfort, was mentioned by Bran to highlight the haunted history of the Nightfort where they were in that chapter. This story was not alone in its reference. These are the two major references to Symeon Star-Eyes and its insufficient, in my analysis, to base a quality theory around. It ranks below “Tyrion is a secret Targaryen.”
I would submit the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch as a far more likely candidate, if in fact the Night King was not an original Other. But even this is a reach.
Lastly, I wanted to agree with you that George RR Martin is a very deliberate writer, the platinum standard of fantasy, which is why we can have such lengthy debates on the material. Thanks for taking the time to put in a thorough response.