The watery halls are the halls of the Drowned God, the afterlife of the ironborn religion.
Culture
The priests of the Drowned God in the Iron Islands, such as Sauron Salt-Tongue, claim the ironborn are not descended from the First Men, but instead came from the watery halls of the Drowned God beneath the sea.[1]
Followers of the Drowned God believe that the dead are summoned to his watery halls, where they can drink and feast for all eternity,[2][3] with mermaids attending their every want.[2] The ironborn fear that if they die on dry land and are buried there, they will not be able to find the way to the Drowned God's watery halls.[3][4]
House Tully also believes that their dead end up in the watery halls, but in these halls it is the Tullys who held eternal court, with schools of fish their last attendants.[5]
History
The Grey King eventually cast aside his crown, made of driftwood, and walked into the sea to descend to the watery halls of the Drowned God, taking his place at the right hand of the deity.[6]
During the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, a man calling himself Lodos the Twice-Drowned appeared in the Iron Islands, boasting of being Lodos, returned from the Drowned God's watery halls.[7][8]
Recent Events
A Feast for Crows
Aeron Greyjoy, a priest of the Drowned God, has no memory of his older half-brothers, Harlon, Quenton, and Donel, but imagines that he and their other deceased brothers will all feast together one day in the Drowned God's halls. He also believes that his brother, King Balon, is also feasting in the watery halls.[2]
Quotes
We did not come to these holy islands from godless lands across the seas. We came from beneath those seas, from the watery halls of the Drowned God who made us in his likeness and gave to us dominion over all the waters of the earth.[1]
One day we shall feast on fish together in the Drowned Gods watery halls, the four of us and Urri too.[2]
—Thoughts of Aeron Greyjoy on his deceased brothers
My brother Balon made us great again, which earned the Storm God's wrath. He feasts now in the Drowned God's watery halls, with mermaids to attend his every want. It shall be for us who remain behind in this dry and dismal vale to finish his great work.[2]
May he feast as he fought, in the Drowned God's watery halls.[3]
—Victarion Greyjoy to his crew
Cromm: Come the morrow we will feast beneath the sea.
Hagen: If we die with dry feet, how will we find our way to the Drowned God's watery halls?
Cromm: These woods are full of little streams. All of them lead to rivers, and all the rivers to the sea.[4]
God of my fathers, if you can hear me in your watery halls beneath the waves, grant me just one small throwing axe. The Drowned God did not answer. He seldom did. That was the trouble with gods.[9]
—thoughts of Asha Greyjoy
The weight of his armor would carry Lord Hoster down to rest in the soft mud of the riverbed, in the watery halls where the Tullys held eternal court, with schools of fish their last attendants.[5]
—thoughts of Catelyn Stark
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 1, The Prophet.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 29, The Reaver.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 26, The Wayward Bride.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 35, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: Driftwood Crowns.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aenys I.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 62, The Sacrifice.