Within A Dance with Dragons occurs one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents in A Song of Ice and Fire.

In Chapter 18, Tyrion V, Tyrion and the crew of a small pole boat named the Shy Maid are making their way down the river Rhoyne to reach Volantis. On the journey they pass through the haunted ruins of the Sorrows while being persistently plagued by a queer, unnatural fog — the work of sorcery, according to Yandry, the captain of the Shy Maid.

All seemed well, otherwise… until they came to the Bridge of Dream.

The Bridge of Dream was once the pride of the Rhoynar, a bridge surpassed in span only by the Long Bridge of Volantis.

Then the Valyrians destroyed the Rhoynish city around it and all its inhabitants.

Now only mindless stone men haunt the bridge and its ruins.

At least, that is what Tyrion and the crew of the Shy Maid saw when they sailed past it. Just mindless stone men milling about without even noticing the Shy Maid pass beneath them to proceed downriver and out of sight.

All seemed well, otherwise… until they came to the Bridge of Dream again.

Only this time the stone men did take notice and did attack, with Tyrion only narrowly escaping certain death.

So what happened?

How did the Shy Maid encounter the Bridge of Dream twice, and why did the stone men only attack the second time?

What if the first time they passed the Bridge, they didn’t actually pass it? What if the first time was an illusion, a warning?

And what if when the stone men attacked, they did so not of their own volition, but of someone else’s?

What if the riders of the Shy Maid were in the throes of two powerful opposing entities vying for control over their fates?

One that tried to help them, and another that tried to kill them.

The key players of this story are being watched, make no mistake:

“Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. 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.” A Dance with Dragons – Daenerys II … “What do you see in those flames?” “Dragons. Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all.” A Dance with Dragons – Tyrion VIII

The main characters are being observed because their roles in the wars to come are of vital importance — this is made quite clear by their presence in visions and dreams surrounding one of the most important characters in the story: Daenerys Targaryen.

Given that the ones watching our characters are in someway invested in their affairs, wouldn’t it be logical to assume that these same watchers would be compelled to intervene in some capacity, to nudge events one way or another?

And what opportunity would be better than the Shy Maid‘s voyage down the river Rhoyne?

We have a potential advisor to Daenerys boasting a wealth of knowledge on the political landscape of Westeros, an alleged secret Targaryen prince, and a seasoned former Westerosi general with influence in the grandest mercenary company in Essos.

As said before, this would be a golden opportunity for someone to strike. Ideally someone with magic at their disposal, capable of striking remotely. Likewise, it would take someone with similar powers to warn the Shy Maid of the impending danger.

Yet how could this warning be accomplished?

Well, the same way warnings of peril have been carried out throughout the books:

“Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. 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.“

Daenerys believed this and a previous encounter with Quaithe to have just been dreams, a belief refuted by Quaithe herself and the fact that Missandei heard Daenerys having a conversation with seemingly nobody:

“You did not dream. Then or now.” … “Your Grace?” Missandei stood in the door of the queen’s bedchamber, a

lantern in her hand. “Who are you talking to?” Dany glanced back toward the persimmon tree. There was no woman there.

No hooded robe, no lacquer mask, no Quaithe. A Dance with Dragons – Daenerys II

Quaithe confides to Daenerys that she came another way to her and that the glass candles are burning:

“What are you doing here? How did you get past my guards?” “I came another way. Your guards never saw me. … Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning.“

She also promises that if Daenerys calls her guardsmen they will swear that she is not there:

“If I call out, they will kill you.” “They will swear to you that I am not here.“

Quite obviously, Quaithe is using a glass candle to communicate with Daenerys, to project herself into her space and mind … essentially creating what can be called an illusion.

Illusions of magic are not without precedent in A Song of Ice and Fire.

When Melisandre reveals to Jon Snow that the Lord of Bones is in fact Mance Rayder, she calls the magic a glamor, a seeming, an illusion:

Jon Snow turned to Melisandre. “What sorcery is this?” “Call it what you will. Glamor, seeming, illusion.” A Dance with Dragons – Melisandre I

She also explains that such illusions are spells made of shadow and suggestion, where men see what they expect to see. R’hllor is the Lord of Light, she says, and it is given to his servants to weave with it, as others weave with thread:

“The spell is made of shadow and suggestion. Men see what they expect to see. The bones are part of that. … R’hllor is Lord of Light, Jon Snow, and it is given to his servants to weave with it, as others weave with thread.” A Dance with Dragons – Melisandre I

Curiously, this is the same analogy the Kindly Man gave in his explanation to Arya:

“…sorcerers use glamors, weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye.” A Dance with Dragons – The Ugly Little Girl

Basically, glamors are the manipulation of shadow and light.

And glass candles have been shown to do the exact same thing; here is one manipulating shadow and light in real-time:

… the only light came from a tall black candle in the center of the room.The candle was unpleasantly bright. There was something queer about it. … The light did something strange to colors too. Whites were bright as fresh-fallen snow, yellow shone like gold, reds turned to flame, but the shadows were so black they looked like holes in the world. A Feast for Crows – Samwell V

It should be safe to say they operate on the same sort of magic as glamors. Only glass candles may do so much more.

The Warning

“There will be stone men on the span. Some may start to wail at our approach, but they are not like to molest us.”

This is what Griff said.

Yet the first time they cleared the bridge, the stone men didn’t even notice them. Sure, they wailed and moaned — but not at them. They took no more notice of their boat than of a drifting log:

Forty feet above, the stone men moaned and muttered beneath a flickering lamp. Most took no more notice of the Shy Maid than of a drifting log.

It’s almost like the Shy Maid wasn’t there.

What is most curious of all, however, is that on approaching the Bridge, Young Griff slammed his pole down on the deck so hard the resulting sound echoed all around them, reverberating across the swamp:

The youth cursed under his breath and flung his pole down onto the deck. The sound echoed queerly in the fog, and for a moment it was as if poles were falling around them.

Yet the stone men still took no notice of them. Stone men may eventually go blind, but there is no mention of them going deaf. Again, it’s almost like the Shy Maid wasn’t really there.

Or perhaps it was the Bridge that wasn’t really there.

When Melisandre dissipated the glamor surrounding Mance Rayder, something weird happened to sound:

Melisandre touched the ruby at her neck and spoke a word. The sound echoed queerly from the corners of the room and twisted like a worm inside their ears.

When approaching the Bridge of Dream the first time, when Young Griff slammed his pole down:

The sound echoed queerly in the fog, and for a moment it was as if poles were falling around them.

In both instances the sound echoed queerly in the ears of those present. I propose this is because both instances involved the presence of an illusion.

And there may be more suggesting this.

When Mance wore the guise of the Lord of Bones, his whole person was cloaked in shadows and wisps of ragged grey mist, half-seen, sliding across his face and form with every step he took:

The wildling wore a sleeveless jerkin of boiled leather dotted with bronze studs beneath a worn cloak mottled in shades of green and brown. No bones. He was cloaked in shadows too, in wisps of ragged grey mist, half-seen, sliding across his face and form with every step he took. A Dance with Dragons – Melisandre I

These wisps of mist are seemingly per the glamor, as when Melisandre dissipated it all else faded away as well:

The ruby on the wildling’s wrist darkened, and the wisps of light and shadow around him writhed and faded.

As you may know, throughout the whole Tyrion chapter we are made keenly aware of the eerie mist surrounding the Sorrows, which Yandry ominously states is the work of sorcery:

“This is no common fog, Hugor Hill,” Ysilla insisted. “It stinks of sorcery … Many a voyager has been lost here, poleboats and pirates and great river galleys too. They wander forlorn through the mists…”

Well, how about this type of sorcery?

Jon Snow turned to Melisandre. “What sorcery is this?” “Call it what you will. Glamor, seeming, illusion.“

If the first Bridge of Dream was in fact an illusion similar in nature to a glamor, it would explain all the mist.

Yet the issue arising with this whole supposition is: how could someone construct an illusion of such magnitude? Melisandre said her glamor was difficult, and that to bolster the illusion she needed some sort of memento.

Well, this is where glass candles come in.

Because glass candles are seemingly not constrained by the same conditions.

When Quaithe appears to Daenerys, it quickly becomes evident that she is not really there. Her presence can therefore be called an illusion.

However, it is an illusion that operates strictly within the construct of Dany’s mind; and I come to this conclusion based on three key details:

First, Quaithe promised that if Dany called her guardsmen, they would swear that Quaithe is not there –implying that Dany would be seeing Quaithe while they would not at the exact same time.

Second, Missandei heard Daenerys talking to someone, but she heard no one else… suggesting that only Dany could hear Quaithe’s voice.

Third – and this might be the most important detail – when Quaithe stood before Daenerys, the bottom of her cloak brushed against the grass even though Quaithe herself was not physically there:

A woman stood under the persimmon tree, clad in a hooded robe that brushed the grass. Beneath the hood, her face seemed hard and shiny. She is wearing a mask, Dany knew, a wooden mask finished in dark red lacquer. “Quaithe? Am I dreaming? A Dance with Dragons – Daenerys II

These three details lead me to believe that the illusionary power of glass candles lie within the infiltration of one’s mind rather than just deception of the eyes. In a sense, they are more like hallucinations since they perceptibly interact with the world in sight, just as Quaithe’s cloak seemingly brushed against the grass.

In other words, the illusions conjured by a glass candles may hold limitless possibilities.

And we have seen such powerful illusions before.

When Daenerys previously found herself in the House of the Undying, she saw many visions of the past and future, each manifested in separate rooms of the house — illusions, essentially — which the last one most certainly was, in which she met a splendor of wizards calling themselves the Undying of Qarth:

Beyond the doors was a great hall and a splendor of wizards. Some wore sumptuous robes of ermine, ruby velvet, and cloth of gold. Others fancied elaborate armor studded with gemstones, or tall pointed hats speckled with stars. There were women among them, dressed in gowns of surpassing loveliness … A kingly man in rich robes rose when he saw her, and smiled. “Daenerys of House Targaryen, be welcome. Come and share the food of forever. We are the Undying of Qarth.” A Clash of Kings – Daenerys IV

These wizards, however, were a facade; and when she meets the real Undying behind this illusion, Dany quickly realizes they could hear her inner thoughts — they were in her head:

She is not breathing. Dany listened to the silence. None of them are breathing, and they do not move, and those eyes see nothing. Could it be that the Undying Ones were dead? Her answer was a whisper as thin as a mouse’s whisker. . . . we live . . . live . . . live . . . it sounded. Myriad other voices whispered echoes. . . . and know . . . know . . . know . . . know . . . A Clash of Kings – Daenerys IV

These sorcerers conjuring the illusions were in her head; therefore I find it plausible that this very fact is the reason their illusions were so powerful in the first place.

This is also why I believe sorcery is capable of conjuring an illusion comprising an entire bridge: because the deception is sustained by the mind under siege, and not simply through manipulation of external shadow and light.

More questions remain however… such as: why simply project an entire bridge and its occupants as a warning instead of communicating directly, as Quaithe does?

To begin with, I find it hard to believe the riders of the Shy Maid would just accept a warning from a stranger, let alone an apparition which appeared out of thin air.

But let us say it was Quaithe behind the glass candle projecting this illusion. If it was, and she showed herself to give this warning, she would jeopardize her secret identity by appearing before one of the most astute players in the game of thrones.

In that very same chapter Tyrion had deduced the real identities of both Griff and Young Griff:

The boy looked to Griff. “He knows who I am.” “Who better to raise Prince Rhaegar’s infant son than Prince Rhaegar’s dear friend Jon Connington, once Lord of Griffin’s Roost and Hand of the King?”

Despite wearing a mask, Quaithe would be still be playing a dangerous game here. As demonstrated by his deductions, Tyrion is a student of history familiar with Westerosi nobility. With Quaithe being strangely fluent in the Common Tongue, many readers believe she might actually be native to Westeros. On top of that, her peculiar concern with Daenerys and her dragons lead others to suggest Quaithe may not just have been nobility in Westeros but a Targaryen.

Some theorize she was Shiera Seastar, Targaryen bastard and former lover of Brynden Bloodraven Rivers; she supposedly practiced the black arts and bathed in blood to maintain her beauty:

“You’ve known queens and princesses. Did they dance with demons and practice the black arts?” “Lady Shiera does. Lord Bloodraven’s paramour. She bathes in blood to keep her beauty.” Egg, The Sworn Sword

Whatever her true identity, Quaithe would be taking quite the risk showing herself, even with the mask. She knows who Tyrion is and what he is capable of; after all, she has warned Daenerys of him:

Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin …

Yet she also warned her of Griff and Young Griff, or Jon Connington and Aegon.

Which raises the question: why would Quaithe be trying to help those she considers a threat to Daenerys?

Are they friend or foe?

Incidentally, this is a question Daenerys herself ponders of Quaithe, considering her motives are quite the mystery. She said she only wants to show Dany the way… and perhaps therein lies the answer:

Dany rose from the pool. Water trickled down her legs, and gooseflesh covered her arms in the cool night air. “If you have some warning for me, speak plainly. What do you want of me, Quaithe?” Moonlight shone in the woman’s eyes. “To show you the way.” A Dance with Dragons – Daenerys II

It may be that Quaithe simply wants to show Daenerys what must happen because it must happen, regardless if it is bad or good. This must be why she let Daenerys waltz into the House of the Undying even though it surely put her in mortal danger. And this might be why she would still want Tyrion to meet Daenerys regardless of the threat he may pose to her.

Their meeting has to happen, just as she had to brave the House of the Undying.

Whatever the case, the idea with the glass candle may have been to show the Shy Maid just how many foes they were going to be dealing with further downriver. In a sense, you could say they were given a vision of the future; because as Bloodraven said: for men, time is a river:

“For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction.” A Dance with Dragons – Bran III

As you may know, Bloodraven is a greenseer, capable of peering across vast distances, just as Bran did in the first book:

This is not to say that the greenseers did not know lost arts that belong to the higher mysteries, such as seeing events at a great distance or communicating across half a realm. The World of Ice and Fire – Ancient History: The Dawn Age He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise. A Game of Thrones – Bran III

He said he has a thousand eyes and one, and has been watching Bran his whole life:

“I have watched you for a long time, watched you with a thousand eyes and one. I saw your birth, and that of your lord father before you. I saw your first step, heard your first word, was part of your first dream. I was watching when you fell.” A Dance with Dragons – Bran II

With this power to see across the world, who else could he be watching?

Bloodraven knows that, with the coming Battle for the Dawn, humanity’s survival hangs in the balance:

He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks. Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live. A Game of Thrones – Bran III

Bran is a crucial aspect of it, yet evidently there are others. Daenerys and her dragons, for one; and by extension anyone who might cross her path… such as those Quaithe alluded to:

“Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. … 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.”

It seems only logical Bloodraven would be watching them as well. Priests of R’hllor receive visions in the flames of Targaryens and even Tyrion:

“What do you see in those flames?” “Dragons. Dragons old and young, true and false, bright and dark. And you. A small man with a big shadow, snarling in the midst of all.“

Whatever the real source of these visions, it seems the flames know all too well who is important in the war to come. So why wouldn’t Bloodraven?

Were he to know who all the key players are, he could even feel compelled to act and intervene.

Especially if he had a personal stake in the ongoing affairs of one player in particular.

As Hand of the King, Brynden Bloodraven Rivers suppressed three Blackfyre rebellions. He even went so far as to sacrifice his own honor by luring a Blackfyre under the pretense of safe conduct to King’s Landing, then having him immediately arrested and executed, presenting his head as a warning to anyone who still held Blackfyre sympathies:

Bloodraven, the King’s Hand, had responded by offering him a safe conduct, so the pretender might come to King’s Landing and present his claim in person.Unwisely, Aenys accepted. Yet hardly had he entered the city when the gold cloaks seized hold of him and dragged him to the Red Keep, where his head was struck off forthwith and presented to the lords of the Great Council, as a warning to any who might still have Blackfyre sympathies The World of Ice and Fire – The Targaryen Kings: Maekar I

Needless to say, Bloodraven waged an almost personal war against the Blackfyres.

So if a new one were to recently surface onto the political scene, I imagine he wouldn’t take too kindly to their existence.

The Blackfyres were often denounced as pretenders, false Targaryens, having been born from a bastard line of Aegon the Unworthy. Bearing this in mind leaves many prophecies and visions open to particular interpretation, such as Moqorro speaking of false dragons and Quaithe warning of a mummer’s dragon.

Many readers theorize the false mummer’s dragon, the Blackfyre pretender, is none other than the boy alleging to be Aegon Targaryen.

If that were the case, and Bloodraven found him riding the Shy Maid down the river Rhoyne, I suspect he would have a unique opportunity at the Bridge of Dream.

The Attack

Greenseers have always been skinchangers before they were greenseers:

“Only one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger,” Lord Brynden said one day, after Bran had learned to fly, “and only one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer.” A Dance with Dragons – Bran III

The most powerful of which possess the ability to wear the skins of virtually any living creature:

“The greenseers were more than that. They were wargs as well, as you are, and the greatest of them could wear the skins of any beast that flies or swims or crawls…” A Storm of Swords – Bran I



As demonstrated by Bran, those living creatures even include humans; but as he discovered, humans’ conscious awareness proves it difficult to seize control:

. . . he slipped his skin, and reached for Hodor. It was not like sliding into Summer. That was so easy now that Bran hardly thought about it. This was harder, like trying to pull a left boot on your right foot. It fit all wrong, and the boot was scared too, the boot didn’t know what was happening, the boot was pushing the foot away. A Storm of Swords – Bran IV

Considering Hodor is what many in his world consider a halfwit, one might wonder if a skinchanger would fare better in seizing the body of those with even less wit:

“Most stone men are feeble creatures, clumsy, lumbering, witless. Near the end they all go mad, but that is when they are most dangerous. If need be, fend them off with the torches.”

A stone man at the end of his days is basically a man reduced to his most primal state: a beast. What skinchangers best hone and harness.

The stone men occupying the Bridge of Dream were not one but many, yet skinchangers like Varaymyr Sixskins prove that one skinchanger alone may have many creatures in his thrall:

Varamyr Sixskins was a name men feared. He rode to battle on the back of a snow bear thirteen feet tall, kept three wolves and a shadowcat in thrall, and sat at the right hand of Mance Rayder. A Dance with Dragons – Prologue

To put it plainly: Bloodraven may have been in control of those many stone men at the Bridge of Dream.

Let us take a step back.

Minus propositions of illusions and skinchangers. Let us say both instances were real with no third parties involved, that the Shy Maid really, inexplicably sailed past the Bridge of Dream twice.

Why would mindless creatures like stone men have complete awareness of the boat in one instance but not the other? What compelled them later but not before?

Skinchangers involvement or not, something did compel them.

The first time they just wandered about and moaned:

As the Shy Maid drew closer, Tyrion could see the shapes of stone men moving in the light, shuffling aimlessly around the lamps like slow grey moths. Some were naked, others clad in shrouds. … Forty feet above, the stone men moaned and muttered beneath a flickering lamp. Most took no more notice of the Shy Maid than of a drifting log.

In contrast, the second time they acted with exorbitant agency; they saw then pointed, eventually culminating in three of them jumping onto the boat:

Up ahead, the stone men on the span began to wail. A few were pointing down at them. … A stone man crashed down into the boat. … A second stone man followed, landing back beside the tiller. … “Three,” said Haldon. “Behind you.” The dwarf turned, and there he stood.

Why act so differently then? What gave them so much agency?

Bloodraven is my answer.

Legends often associated the former King’s Hand with mist:

How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? the riddle ran. A thousand eyes, and one. Some claimed the King’s Hand was a student of the dark arts who could change his face, put on the likeness of a one-eyed dog, even turn into a mist. The Mystery Knight

Perhaps Ysilla was right all along in believing the mist of the Sorrows stank of sorcery.

Perhaps the sorcery in the air even had a certain, familiar ring to it, one that lead a former lover to suspect what the other might do.

Inconceivable

“Inconceivable,” said Haldon Halfmaester. “We’ve left the bridge behind. Rivers only run one way.”

One could say this theory sounds preposterous and bizarre.

Yet so is what transpired in that voyage through the Sorrows. Many a reader cannot wrap their head around it and no prior ideas put forth offer an extensive explanation. A bizarre and preposterous scenario might then be best served by a bizarre and preposterous explanation — although given the magics at work within the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, I personally do not believe the magic proposed here to be singularly preposterous.

All feats of magic are proposterous. That is what makes them magical.