True Tongue

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Revision as of 23:13, 17 May 2019 by Xeno of Carcosa (talk | contribs) (restoring to "most maesters" to avoid repeated "but")
Jump to: navigation, search

The True Tongue is the language of the children of the forest, in which they sing the songs of the earth. The name the children call themselves in the True Tongue is those who sing the song of earth.[1]

The language was said either to have originated or drawn inspiration from the sounds of the natural world that the children of the forest were surrounded by.[2] When speaking the True Tongue, the children are described as sounding like the wind through leaves, rain on water, or the sound of stones in a brook.[2] Their songs were said to sound as beautiful as they were,[2] with their voices as pure as winter air.[3]

In addition to the children of the forest, ravens can speak the True Tongue,[3] and can be made to repeat words in it by the children in order to send messages over great distances, though most maesters dispute this.[2] Humans are unable to speak the True Tongue,[3] but an ancient ballad tells the tale of how Brandon the Builder was able to learn to understand the language while seeking the children's help to build the Wall.[2] This account, recorded in the book Winter's Kings, is one of the only fragments thought to to have survived from the time of the First Men that records what the songs of the children were about.[2]

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

Bran Stark hears Coldhands murmur a blessing in a strange tongue when the ranger slits the throat of his fallen elk.[1] Within the cave of the three-eyed crow, Bran hears Leaf and other children of the forest sing in the True Tongue.[3]

Quotes

Our name in the True Tongue means those who sing the song of earth. Before your Old Tongue was ever spoken, we had sung our songs ten thousand years.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 13, Bran II.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Dawn Age.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 34, Bran III.