The House of the Undying Explained

In A Clash of Kings, Daenerys Targaryen visits the House of the Undying and has visions of things yet to come in A Song of Ice and Fire. Here I am going to break down each vision and give you my opinion of what they mean.

In the second book of the Song of Ice and Fire series, Daenerys visits the House of the Undying after being told by the warlock Pyatt Pree that she may find “answers.” Before getting to the Chambers of The Undying, Daenerys walks through rooms where she see’s the following visions:

• ‘In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.’ I believe the beautiful woman is Westeros and the four little men are the the four kings who are ripping apart and dividing the country (I say four because there were never actually five kings present at the same time during “The War of the Five Kings”, Balon Greyjoy declared himself a king after Renly Baratheon was murdered).

• ‘Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal.’ The most obvious of all the visions, this is clearly the Red Wedding.

• ‘Finally a great pair of bronze doors appeared to her left, grander than the rest. They swung open as she neared, and she had to stop and look. Beyond loomed a cavernous stone hall, the largest she had ever seen. The skulls of dead dragons looked down from its walls. Upon a towering barbed throne sat an old man in rich robes, an old man with dark eyes and long silver-grey hair.“Let him be king over charred bones and cooked meat,” he said to a man below him. “Let him be the king of ashes.”’ This is another fairly obvious vision, this is The Mad King Aerys Targaryen, Dany’s father.

• ‘Viserys, was her first thought the next time she paused, but a second glance told her otherwise. The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac.“Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?”“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked. “He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door.“There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.” He went to the window seat, picked up a harp, and ran his fingers lightly over its silvery strings. Sweet sadness filled the room as man and wife and babe faded like the morning mist, only the music lingering behind to speed her on her way.‘ This one has to be Rhaegar Targaryen, Dany’s brother speaking to his wife Elia, because we know that their first child was named Aegon. Rhaegar says that “there must be one more.” This is a reference to the popular theory that there will be three people who will ride Dany’s dragons, or three heads of the dragon, to put it metaphorically. Rhaegar thinks Aegon is one and at this point it certainly seems like Dany is another. Rhaegar thinks that, for the prophecy to come true, he must have another child.

Side note: Daenerys also sees a girl running to a house with a red door and Ser Willem Darry calling her in. This is clearly Daenerys running to the house with the red door which she assumes is in Braavos.

Now come the prophecies that Daenerys is given when she reaches the chambers of the Undying. These are the ones that have split ASOIAF fans:

"…mother of dragons…child of three…three heads has the dragon…three heads has the dragon…the ghost chorus yammered inside her skull with never a lip moving, never a breath stirring the still blue air…mother of dragons…child of storm…The whispers became a swirling song…three fires must you light…one for life and one for death and one to love…Her own heart was beating in unison to the one that floated before her, blue and corrupt…three mounts must you ride…one to bed and one to dread and one to love…The voices were growing louder, she realized, and it seemed her heart was slowing, and even her breath…three treasons will you know… once for blood and once for gold and once for love…"

Lets break these down one by one:

"Three fires you must light, one for life, one for death and one to love."

I believe that the fire for life is the one she lit for Drogo, the one where her Dragons were born. The fire for death could be couple of things—it could be Hizdahr zo Loraq, because the theory is that Daenerys will come back from the Dothraki Sea on the back of Drogon and burn Hizdahr, as she believes that he tried to poison her. It also involve her burning the city of Meereen when she returns on Drogon in time to stop the battle which is about to take place. However, I believe the fire will be for Victarion Greyjoy, and you will see why in the next two sets of prophecies.

I believe the fire to love (note that it says “to” and not “for” like the previous fires) could be the fire Dany must light to create lightbringer. I think this will involve Jon Snow stabbing Dany with Longclaw or Dawn, thus reenacting the events that let to the creation of the original Lightbringer, when Azor Ahai tempered his sword with the blood of his beloved Nissa Nissa.

"Three mounts you must ride, one to bed, one to dread and one to love."

I believe the mount Daenerys must ride to bed is Drogo, I know a lot of people believe Drogo is the one for love, but Daenerys didn’t love Drogo when she first married him. She did it because she had to in order for Viserys to get his army. However, eventually Daenerys did come to love Drogo.

The mount to dread could be Hizdahr, as Dany has to sleep with him out of duty again, but Dany speaks of not wanting to sleep with him and wanting to sleep with Daario instead. Some fans believe the mount to dread could be Drogon, and think there is a connection between him and Balerion the Black Dread. However, I think that the mount to dread actually is Victarion Greyjoy, last seen sailing toward Meereen toward the end of A Dance with Dragons. I believe this because by the time Victarion reaches Meereen, we are expecting him to to be covered in the charred blackness that has covered his arm. That’d be dreadful, no? There’s another reason as well, but we’ll look at it after the next set.

The mount to love I believe with absolute certainty is Jon Snow. We all know that Jon and Daenerys are parallels—theirs is the “Song of Ice and Fire,” Ice being Jon and Fire being Daenerys.  I know some fans don’t want there to be a love story between Jon and Daenerys but I really do believe it will happen, but you don’t have to take my word for it!

"Three treasons you will know, once for blood, once for gold and once for love."

The first treason is obviously Mirri Maz Duuh, who betrayed Daenerys by saying she could save Khal Drogo using blood magic. Mirri implied that she’d need to exchange a life for the khal’s, but Daenerys did not know that the life Mirri was talking about was that of her unborn child.

The treason for gold could be Hizdahr, as the theory is that he tried to poison Dany so he could be King of Meereen, and kings obviously wear crowns! Some people believe that Jorah or Daario will betray Dany but I honestly don’t believe that Jorah’s treason is for gold or for love—he betrayed Dany by not telling her that he had been spying on her for Varys. Daario could potentially betray her for gold, as we know he was a sellsword  and sellswords don’t have a reputation for being trustworthy, but I don’t believe this will be the case. I again believe the treason for gold will be Victarion. I believe the treason for love could be Jon Snow—he could potentially betray Dany out of love for her, or it could be Dany being betrayed by someone who is in love with someone else and has to betray her.

So basically, I believe that the three prophecies are connected to the same three people: Drogo, Hizdahr/Victarion, and Jon. In this particular chapter from Clash, the number three is brought up a lot: Daenerys is called “Child of three“, the undying say “Three heads has the dragon,” “Three fires you must light,” “Three mounts you must ride,” and “Three treasons you will know.”

After hearing these prophecies, Daenerys sees a load of visions in quick succession before she is attacked by the Undying:

• ‘Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth. A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him. Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman’s name. . . . mother of dragons, daughter of death.’ With one exception, these are events from Dany’s past—we saw Viserys die, and Rhaegar is the dying prince. The tall lord seems to be a vision of Dany’s son Rhaego had he had the chance to grow up and become a Dothraki leader. These three deaths—Viserys, Rhaegar, and Rhaego—seem to be the deaths that had to happen in order for Dany to help fulfill the prophecy.

• ‘Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies.’ The key part here is “slayer of lies.“ What lies will Dany have to slay? I believe the first is the idea that Stannis (the blue-eyed king) is Azor Ahai reborn. The second lie is represented by the cloth dragon, which I believe is Young Griff, aka Aegon, aka FAegon. I think this is confirmation that Aegon is actually an imposter. And the third lie involves the stone dragon Melisandre intends to awake—this will not be a real dragon, so it is a lie. Again, notice that there are three lies specifically.

• ‘Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire.’ “Bride of fire” could hint that these are people Daenerys will marry or be involved with in some way. The first one is her silver, the horse that Khal Drogo gave her as her wedding gift. The second is Victarion Greyjoy, who will be heading to her in Meereen—I believe this is Victarion because he is slowly dying from the wound he has received and thinks has been healed through the use of blood magic. The third is Jon Snow. If the R+L = J theory is true like we all believe, then Jon is the blue flower in the wall of ice—Lyanna Stark’s favorite flower is a Blue Winter Rose.

• ‘Faster and faster the visions came, one after the other, until it seemed as if the very air had come alive. Shadows whirled and danced inside a tent, boneless and terrible. A little girl ran barefoot toward a big house with a red door. Mirri Maz Duur shrieked in the flames, a dragon bursting from her brow. Behind a silver horse the bloody corpse of a naked man bounced and dragged. A white lion ran through grass taller than a man. Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed. Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind. “Mother!” they cried. “Mother, mother!” They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them.’

These are from Dany’s past and future, but the ones I want to focus on are the White Lion, the Mother of Mountains and the ten thousand slaves, as this could actually be her future. The white lion could be Tyrion Lannister, whose House’s sigil is a lion. As we know, he heads to meet Daernerys in Dance. Varys to Tyrion: “A very small man can cast a very large shadow.” Maybe this is why it says the lion is taller than a man. Or it could simply be the lion Drogo killed for Dany but I think it’s Tyrion heading to Dany.

The second vision takes place at the Mother of Mountains. There is a theory that Daenerys returns to the Mother of Mountains when she is taken by the Dothraki at the end of Dance, and that she kills Jhaqo and Mago and completes an ancient prophecy which says that all khalasars will one day be reunited under the Mother of Mountains. Maybe this is why the crones bow—maybe Daenerys is simply the Mother. Drogo calls her “Dan Ares” which means warrior mother. Could she be the mother of dragons, the warrior mother, and Mhysa, the name the ten-thousand slaves call her in the next vision? Could she be The Stallion who mounts the world?

Thank you for reading, I’m not saying that everything I’ve written is right, but this is me just breaking down this epic chapter with a mixture of my beliefs and the theories that are out there.

Valar Morghulis