Alyssa's Tears is a waterfall in the Vale of Arryn.
Description
The "ghost torrent" of Alyssa's Tears flows down a western shoulder of the Giant's Lance in the Mountains of the Moon.[1] The waterfall pours from such a height that the water turns into mist and is dispersed by wind before it ever reaches the valley floor.[2][3]
The Eyrie is located near the waterfall, on the same shoulder of the Giant's Lance.[1] From the windows and balconies of the castle, one can see Alyssa's Tears and hear the murmur of its waters, and sometimes feel the spray of its mists.[2][4] Lord Jon Arryn's audience chamber also has a view of the waterfall.[5]
From the Bloody Gate, a half-day's ride across the Vale, Alyssa's Tears looks like a shining silver thread, bright against the dark stone of the Giant's Lance. The Eyrie is occasionally visible beside it, appearing as a flash of white when hit by sunlight.[1]
Alyssa's Tears freezes in autumn and winter, and stays frozen until spring. When it is frozen, icicles twenty feet long hang from the precipice where the water normally flows.[4]
History
The waterfall receives its name from Alyssa Arryn, an ancient member of House Arryn. According to legend, Alyssa saw her husband, her brothers, and her children killed in front of her, but she did not shed a tear. As a consequence, after her own death, the gods decreed that she would not know rest until her tears reached the earth of the Vale of Arryn, where all those she had loved were buried. Per the legend, for six thousand years, no drop of the waterfall has ever reached the valley below.[2][3]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Catelyn Stark enters the Vale through the Bloody Gate, and sees Alyssa's Tears flowing down the Giant's Lance in the distance.[1] Later, in the Eyrie, Catelyn looks at the waterfall from the window of her bedchamber, and thinks of the legend of Alyssa Arryn.[2]
A Feast for Crows
From the balcony of Alayne Stone's apartments in the Eyrie's Maiden's Tower, she can see icicles hanging from the precipice where Alyssa's Tears usually flows. She recalls hearing the sound of the waterfall when she first arrived at the Eyrie, but by mid-autumn it has frozen. Gretchel has told her it will stay silent until spring.[4]
Quotes
Alyssa had been dead six thousand years now, and still no drop of the torrent had ever reached the valley floor far below. Catelyn wondered how large a waterfall her own tears would make when she died.[2]
—thoughts of Catelyn Stark
The snow-clad summit of the Giant's Lance loomed above her, an immensity of stone and ice that dwarfed the castle perched upon its shoulder. Icicles twenty feet long draped the lip of the precipice where Alyssa's Tears fell in summer. A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well.[4]
—thoughts of Alayne Stone
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 34, Catelyn VI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Catelyn VII.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Seven Kingdoms: The Vale (The Eyrie).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 23, Alayne I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 80, Sansa VII.