Bone

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Lord of Bones, by John Aslarona ©

Bone is a tissue which makes up part of the skeleton in people and animals in the known world.

Uses

The free folk make use of bone weapons,[1] such as daggers[2] and knives.[3] Some armor themselves in bone,[4] such as the Lord of Bones.[5] Many raiders who climb the Wall attach bone spikes to their boots and climb with sharpened bone.[6] Bones and skulls are depicted on the round leathern shields of some wildlings warriors,[7][8] and the men of the Frozen Shore ride bone chariots.[9]

Buttons[10] and fastenings can be made of bone.[4] Dragonbone makes strong and flexible bows.[11] The hilts of weapons can be made of bone, such as the blades of Ramsay Snow.[12]

The walls of Kayakayanaya are made of black basalt, black iron, and yellow bone.[13]

Culture

The bone hand of House Drumm

Maesters train in how to set bones.[14] The silent sisters strip the flesh from the bones of the deceased.[15] Many peoples of the Seven Kingdoms bury the bones of their dead in tombs,[16] crypts,[17] or lichyards.[18]

House Drumm's arms depict a bone hand, and the sigil of House Willum includes a dragonbone skeleton. The sigil of House Manwoody depicts a crowned skull,[19] and skulls are also included in the arms of House Lonmouth and House Qoherys. House Bulwer's symbol presents the skull of a bull.

The Boneway is one of the passes through the Red Mountains of Dorne.[20] The Bridge of Skulls crosses the Gorge near the Wall.[21]

The Grey King's Hall on Old Wyk is said to have been made from the bones of Nagga.[22] Seven Skulls is a longship in the Iron Fleet.[23]

Captains-general of the Golden Company have their skulls gilded after they die.[24]

Some slaves in Volantis have skull tattoos.[25]

Meereen has a monument called the Spire of Skulls,[26] and Belaquo Bonebreaker is a famed pit fighter in the city.[27] One of the tokars of Zahrina is fringed with tiny golden skulls.[28] A slave of Yurkhaz zo Yunzak plays a bone flute.[29]

The Bone Mountains, the tallest range in the known world, are named after the multitude of bones left behind by people and animals.[13] Bonetown in the Further East of Essos is said to be made of bones.[30] Some of the Summer Isles are called the Bones,[31] and Skull Island is one of the Basilisk Isles.[32]

History

Valar morghulis, by Dimitri Bielak © Fantasy Flight Games

The Brotherhood of Bones were a group of corsairs active in the Basilisk Isles.[33]

The gates of Ibbish were known as the Whalebone Gates.[34]

In 46 AC during the Faith Militant uprising, King Maegor I Targaryen displayed two thousand skulls before the Iron Throne. They were claimed to be those of Warrior's Sons and Poor Fellows killed during the king's campaign, but many believed the slain had been innocent smallfolk.[35]

Ser Harwin Strong, one of the strongest men in the Seven Kingdoms, was called Breakbones.[36]

The skulls of the Targaryen dragons were kept in the Red Keep's throne room until their removal by King Robert I Baratheon.[37][38]

Ser Davos Seaworth keeps his finger bones, which were cut off by Lord Stannis Baratheon, in a pouch about his neck.[39]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Arya Stark and the skulls of the Targaryen dragons, by Michael Komarck ©

Arya Stark finds the skulls of the Targaryen dragons in a cellar of the Red Keep.[40]

A Clash of Kings

The khalasar of Daenerys Targaryen gives the name "Vaes Tolorro", or City of Bones, to an abandoned city they find in the red waste.[41][42]

A Feast for Crows

The kindly man initially greets Arya with the visage of a yellowed skull.[43]

During the search for Tyrion Lannister in the secret passages of the Red Keep, a chamber full of skulls and yellow bones is found.[44]

The kingsmoot on Old Wyk is held among Nagga's bones at the Grey King's Hall.[45]

Sparrows bring to the Great Sept of Baelor the bones of pious people who were killed in the War of the Five Kings.[46]

A Dance with Dragons

After Hazzea is killed by Drogon, her father brings her burnt bones before Daenerys, Queen of Meereen.[47]

Bran Stark finds bones littered throughout a passage within the cave of the three-eyed crow.[48]

Melisandre sees a thousand skulls in one of her visions.[49]

After the death of Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain's skull is sent to Sunspear.[50]

Arya discovers that one of the tunnels beneath the House of Black and White has walls lined with human bones and columns of skulls.[51]

Quotes

Nagga's bones, by Juan Carlos Barquet © Fantasy Flight Games

Pain is a gift from the gods, Lord Eddard. It means the bone is knitting, the flesh healing itself.[52]

Living men had gone south, and cold bones would return.[17]

—thoughts of Catelyn Stark

There is a saying in Qarth. A warlock's house is built of bones and lies.[42]

Their leader came on alone, riding a beast that seemed more goat than horse, from the surefooted way it climbed the uneven slope. As man and mount grew nearer Jon could hear them clattering; both were armored in bones. Cow bones, sheep bones, the bones of goats and aurochs and elk, the great bones of the hairy mammoths ... and human bones as well.[5]

—thoughts of Jon Snow

The truth is in our bones, for flesh decays and bone endures.[53]

—thoughts of Aeron Greyjoy

We are made of blood and bone, in the image of the Father and the Mother.[54]

References

  1. A Storm of Swords, Prologue.
  2. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 15, Jon II.
  3. A Dance with Dragons, Prologue.
  4. 4.0 4.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 53, Jon XI.
  5. 5.0 5.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 68, Jon VIII.
  6. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 30, Jon IV.
  7. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 55, Jon VII.
  8. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 58, Jon XII.
  9. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 64, Jon VIII.
  10. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 18, Samwell I.
  11. The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Summer Isles.
  12. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 32, Reek III.
  13. 13.0 13.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond.
  14. A Feast for Crows, Prologue.
  15. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 67, Tyrion XV.
  16. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon II.
  17. 17.0 17.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 7, Catelyn I.
  18. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 53, Bran VI.
  19. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
  20. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Boneway.
  21. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 69, Jon IX.
  22. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 18, The Iron Captain.
  23. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 63, Victarion I.
  24. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.
  25. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.
  26. The Winds of Winter, Barristan I
  27. A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
  28. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 60, The Spurned Suitor.
  29. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 47, Tyrion X.
  30. The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond: Yi Ti.
  31. The Lands of Ice and Fire, The Known World.
  32. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Skull Island.
  33. The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles.
  34. The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities.
  35. Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
  36. Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
  37. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 13, Tyrion II.
  38. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
  39. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 5, Davos I.
  40. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 32, Arya III.
  41. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 12, Daenerys I.
  42. 42.0 42.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 27, Daenerys II.
  43. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 6, Arya I.
  44. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
  45. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 19, The Drowned Man.
  46. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
  47. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 2, Daenerys I.
  48. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 13, Bran II.
  49. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 31, Melisandre I.
  50. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
  51. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 64, The Ugly Little Girl.
  52. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 45, Eddard XII.
  53. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 1, The Prophet.
  54. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 18, Tyrion V.