The snake, or serpent, is a limbless carnivorous reptile similar to the real-life animal.
Breeds and range
[edit]Different species of snakes exist in the known world. The bogs of the Neck teem with venomous serpents[1] and snakes[2]—including white water snakes[1]—some of which watch from trees.[3] Water snakes live near the Gods Eye[4] and in Braavos[5] as well.
Snakes are common in Dorne,[6][7] including black adders[8] and vipers.[9][10] Milk snakes[11] and striped snakes[12] also live in Westeros.
Venomous snakes can be found in Sothoryos.[13] According to Ser Eustace Hightower, a hundred different sorts of deadly snakes live on the continent.[14] Snakes fifty feet long are said to live in the Green Hell.[13]
Giant banded snakes are sold in Volantis.[15] Spitting snakes[16] and cobras are other known snakes.[17]
Culture
[edit]Westeros
[edit]
Westerosi sigils depicting snakes include those of Houses Gargalen, Lynderly, Paege, Saltcliffe, Wydman, and Wyl.[18]
Snakewood is the seat of House Lynderly in the Vale of Arryn, named for the nearby forest.[19][20]
Some free folk raiders paint their shields with serpents[21] and snakes.[22][23]
The Milk Snakes are one of the Vale mountain clans of the Mountains of the Moon.[24][25]
The serpentine steps are twisting stairs within the Red Keep.[26]
Statues of sphinxes at the Citadel have tails of serpents.[27]
Dornishmen have been compared to snakes by other Westerosi.[28][29][14] Snakes are part of Dornish cuisine,[30][31][32] and Dornishmen are fond of adding snake venom to their wine[14] and sauces.[30] Prince Oberyn Martell is called the Red Viper, and his bastard daughters are known as the Sand Snakes.[19] Princess Arianne Martell owns an ornate snake bracelet with copper and gold scales[30] and snakeskin sandals she laces up to her thighs.[33]
Stonesnake is a veteran ranger of the Night's Watch.[34]
Essos
[edit]Serpent boats are slender pole boats used to move through Braavos's canals.[35][36][37]
Slithering snakes are among the decorations adorning the outermost of the walls of Qarth.[38] One arch in the city depicts two mating snakes.[38]
A serpent god is worshipped in the lost city of Lyber.[39]
Bayasabhad is known as the City of Serpents.[40]
Senerra She-Snake is a pit fighter in Meereen.[41]
History
[edit]
Greenseers of the children of the forest are said to have called upon serpents and other beasts to fight on their behalf.[42]
A mystery knight known as the Serpent in Scarlet entered the tourney at the Golden Wedding and was ultimately revealed to be Jonquil Darke, the bastard daughter of Lord Darklyn.[43]
Wine spiced with snake venom was an ineffective treatment for the Shivers.[9]
Lord Corlys Velaryon was the greatest seafarer the Seven Kingdoms had ever known.[44] He was best known as the Sea Snake, a nickname he received from his ship of the same name.[45]
After being captured by Lord Wyl, Ser Aemon Targaryen was put naked in a crow cage above a pit filled with vipers.[46] Septons and singers claim that the vipers bowed their heads to King Baelor I Targaryen when he came to rescue the Dragonknight, but Blessed Baelor was actually bit multiple times while opening the cage.[46][47]
Lady Serala of Myr was known as the Lace Serpent by smallfolk of Duskendale because of the counsel she gave her husband, Lord Denys Darklyn.[48]
Prince Oberyn Martell earned his nickname, the Red Viper, after allegedly using a poisoned blades during a duel to first blood with Lord Edgar Yronwood, killing the old lord in the process.[49] Oberyn's eight bastard daughters are collectively known as the Sand Snakes.[30] Oberyn taught one daughter, Tyene Sand, how to milk viper venom at Shandystone.[10]
One of the three recruits lost by Yoren during his three decades of being a wandering crow was a city boy who died from a snakebite.[50]
Recent Events
[edit]A Game of Thrones
[edit]After fleeing King's Landing, Arya Stark repeats to herself phrases Syrio Forel taught her, including "quick as a snake".[51][4][52]
A Clash of Kings
[edit]Children in the khalasar of Daenerys Targaryen find stone flagons with handles carved like snakes in Vaes Tolorro.[53] Later in Qarth, Daenerys is given spitting snakes and a serpent's foot by Xaro Xhoan Daxos.[16] Daenerys chops up one of the snakes and feeds it to her dragons, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.[16]
Arya sees a water snake skimming across the Gods Eye river.[4]
A Storm of Swords
[edit]In the riverlands, Arya and the brotherhood without banners camp overnight at High Heart. They meet with the ghost of High Heart to hear her tell the future. The old woman says she dreamed of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs.[54]
Lady Olenna Tyrell refers to Oberyn Martell's longtime paramour, Ellaria Sand, as "the serpent's whore".[55]
A Feast for Crows
[edit]Ser Arys Oakheart sees chunks of snake being grilled over a brazier in the shadow city of Sunspear.[30]
A Dance with Dragons
[edit]Skahaz mo Kandaq has a helm shaped like a serpent's head.[56] Some of the Brazen Beasts have masks depicting fork-tongued serpents.[57]
For the feast welcoming Ser Balon Swann to Sunspear, a savory stew with chunks of seven different kinds of snake is slow-simmered with dragon peppers, blood oranges, and a dash of venom.[31]
During her walk of atonement through King's Landing, Cersei Lannister sees a whore with a huge striped snake draped about her breasts and shoulders.[12]
Quotes
[edit]All the colors that had been missing from Vaes Tolorro had found their way to Qarth; buildings crowded about her fantastical as a fever dream in shades of rose, violet, and umber. She passed under a bronze arch fashioned in the likeness of two snakes mating, their scales delicate flakes of jade, obsidian, and lapis lazuli.[38]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
If you step in a nest of snakes, does it matter which one bites you first?[58]
Sansa: But Baelor the Blessed was a great king. He walked the Boneway barefoot to make peace with Dorne, and rescued the Dragonknight from a snakepit. The vipers refused to strike him because he was so pure and holy.
Oberyn: If you were a viper, my lady, would you want to bite a bloodless stick like Baelor the Blessed? I'd sooner save my fangs for someone juicier ...
Ellaria: My prince is playing with you, Lady Sansa. The septons and singers like to say that the snakes did not bite Baelor, but the truth is very different. He was bitten half a hundred times, and should have died from it.[47]
The best snake sauce had a drop of venom in it, he had heard, along with mustard seeds and dragon peppers.[30]
—thoughts of Arys Oakheart
Doran: We need a voice in council, an ear at court. Be careful, though. King's Landing is a pit of snakes.
Nymeria: Why, Uncle, I love snakes.[31]
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 20, Reek II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn VIII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 15, Sansa I.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 14, Arya IV.
- ↑ The Winds of Winter, Mercy
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: The Andals Arrive.
- ↑ The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses from Dorne
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 21, The Queenmaker.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 13, Bran II.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 65, Cersei II.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Sothoryos.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Fire & Blood, The Long Reign - Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 40, Daenerys III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 68, The Dragontamer.
- ↑ The Citadel: Heraldry
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, Westeros.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 55, Jon VII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 73, Jon X.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 58, Jon XII.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Vale.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 31, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 18, Sansa II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 1, The Prophet.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 54, Cersei I.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Appendix.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 6, Arya I.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 26, Samwell III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 34, Cat Of The Canals.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 27, Daenerys II.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond.
- ↑ The Winds of Winter, Barristan I
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Year of the Three Brides - 49 AC.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Jaehaerys I.
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 59, Sansa IV.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 9, Brienne II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 9, Arya III.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 50, Arya IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 13, Arya II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 12, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 53, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 43, Daenerys VII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 52, Daenerys IX.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31, Catelyn III.