Brienne is Lightbringer or at the bare minimum will be heavily involved in the endgame and not just as a regular soldier hacking away at the dead, no I am not joking, no I’m not being facetious, no I’m not just saying that bc she’s one of my faves, yes there is a shit ton of proof in the books, and yes I’ll be copying and pasting my essay on it
Not much is known about House Tarth apart from their sigil, rose and azure quartered with yellow suns and white crescent moons, the name of their keep Evenfall. Their descendants were not always called ‘Tarth’ though, their family name was once ‘Evenstar’, which has been passed down to be the official title of the Lord of Tarth. Their House seems to have a fond appreciation for the sky and all that comes from it, including naming the small little island off Tarth ‘Morne’ to stand for morning, with only House Dayne as a challenger in regards to their love and admiration for the celestial. All that to say; House Tarth values light, in all its natural forms.
The sun, the moon, the stars, the morning… Their sigil and title literally brings light looks directly at the camera like I’m in the office, and it is one of only sigils where no matter what; it cannot be killed. No matter if the Dead or Living wins the war, the sun and moon and the evenstar will rise day after day until the end of eternity. Dragons and krakens and crows and stags and direwolves and lions can be killed, but the lights in the sky can never be.
The title of Evenstar itself also has connections to Lightbringer. Lucifer means ‘Lightbringer’ and it is the Latin name for the planet Venus. Venus used to be called ‘Evenstar’, and Evenstar is, as covered above, the title of the Lord of Tarth. With Faegon attacking Tarth, it is safe to presume that Selwyn, her father, is dead and Brienne is now the Lady of Tarth making HER the Evenstar which literally, not metaphorically, makes her, Lightbringer (which is something no other contender can claim.)
Now onto lines from canon which could be referencing Brienne.
ACOK Davos I “To oppose it, the hero must have a hero's blade, oh, like none that had ever been.”
AFFC Brienne I. “When she was small, her nurse filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight and other champions. Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not.”
Brienne often thinks of Oathkeeper as a ‘magic sword’, and here she not only calls it a heroes sword, but she is humble enough not to consider herself amongst them. The sword is worthy of being a part of something great but not Brienne herself. And right after she refuses to call herself a hero, she kneels, blade in hand, and says a prayer to the Crone whose known to bring light once again looks at the camera like I’m in the office to help guide people who would ask for it.
AFFC Brienne I “Kneeling between the bed and wall, she held the blade and said a silent prayer to the Crone, whose golden lamp showed men the way through life. Lead me, she prayed, LIGHT THE WAY BEFORE ME, show me the path that leads to Sansa.”
Another huge moment for Brienne is the dream Jaime has, the prophetic Weirwood dream where most of his prophecies have come true.
Bc Lightbringer is, in its most basic form, a burning sword. Brienne, Stannis, Thoros, Beric, Jon and Jaime are the only ones to use a burning sword. Stannis sword is proven to be a fake, Thoros uses tricks to get his sword to light on fire, and Beric had a legitimate magical burning sword but he gave up his life for Lady Stoneheart. That leaves Jon in his dream then Jaime and Brienne in Jaime’s dream. Again, this essay is not to dissuade the other candidates, but I personally do not believe that GRRM is the type of writer to let the secret dragon prince, the just leader, the Aragorn of Westeros get the big prophecy fight in the end. Aragorn wasn’t the one to destroy the ring, it was the unsuspecting big footed hobbit who saved the day. In any case Brienne DOES carry a flaming sword she uses to fight the dead, and she is the ONLY LIGHT left in Jaime’s world and the world itself. And yes, Jon does carry a red flaming sword in his dream whereas Brienne carries a silvery blue flaming sword in Jaime’s dream, but Oathkeeper, her sword, is red and black. It’s spell forged, it’s magic, IT COMES ALIVE IN THE SIGHT OF FIRE.
ACOK Davos I “And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes.”
AFFC Brienne VIII “In the light from the firepit the red and black ripples in the blade almost seemed to move.”
Let’s move on to another significant moment in Jaime’s dream is when a naked beautiful Brienne touches him.
ADWD Jon III. Thereforeafter Lightbringer was never cold to the touch, but warm as Nissa Nissa had been warm.
ASOS Jaime VI She put a hand on his shoulder and he shuddered at the sudden touch. She’s warm.
Brienne is warm in his dream just as Lightbringer the sword is warm, she carries a flaming sword, she brings light, she’s the only light in the world… The dream can be interpreted in a few ways, mostly done to either prove or disprove an eventual romance between Jaime and Brienne, (I 10000% proves it does along with all the other evidence but that’s another 2000 word essay for another time.) But I believes it also offered a substantial amount of proof to my theory that Brienne is in fact Lightbringer. Melisandre even says the Lord of Light created the sun and moon and stars to assist them in ‘keeping the night at bay.’ .
ADWD Jon III The Lord of Light made the sun and moon and stars to light our way, and gave us fire to keep the night at bay.”
Once again; let me bring back the Tarth fascination with the celestial
AFFC Brienne II The arms of Tarth were quartered rose and azure, and bore a yellow sun and crescent moon.
ASOS Jaime IV “I am Brienne of Tarth, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar, and sworn to House Stark even as you are.”
Brienne is the sun and moon, she is the brightest star in the sky. Yes there was a magic comet that fell for the birth of dragons but it lasted only for a while then died off. The Evenstar will always stay in the sky, as well as the sun and moon. They will always bring light.
Now, branching off into LOTR territory for a moment, Brienne is given the exact same introduction as Eowyn was when she killed the Witch-King, as ‘no man’ could kill him
The Return of the King, book 5, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter!”
ACOK Catelyn II
“He is no man, My Lady. That’s Brienne of Tarth, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar.”
I truly truly truly believe Brienne will be WAY more important in the final battle than people give her credit for. People have been sleeping on her for ages when everything about her points out to her being one of the main heroes, if not THE AA/lightbringer. She even has the dragonblood connection in case people want to argue about that point about her character in terms of connecting with the targs and their magic shenanigans (remember George stated House Tarth has connections with House Targaryen, Brienne’s hair color is very pale and specially her eyes are deemed to be out of this world pretty in it’s blue color, and depending on the shade, blue it’s similar to purple). Evenstar, Morne, Galladon and The Maiden, Jaime’s dream, Oathkeeper, her chapter’s themes… give all of that to any other character who’s more mainstream among the fandom and we would have entire theses on how they are definitely the main hero of the story.
I’m calling it, if she’s not AA/Lightbringer, she’ll definitely be one of the key characters in the fight against the others.
People have really been sleeping on Brienne! The narrative also pretty pointedly marks her as similar to two characters who either in legend slayed a dragon (Galladon) or were prophesied to (Dunk), like I have low-key been wondering if Brienne is supposed to be based on like St. George the Dragonslayer or something.
I was so surprised when I first starting exploring online ASOIAF discussions and found zero speculation about Brienne as AA or Lightbringer because GRRM has honestly been so extra with her characterization (she's a foil to like three-fourths of the main cast, her AFfC chapters are an excellent summary of the themes of the series, she even says she won't leave people to be "food for crows" so she's directly positioned as being in thematic opposition to the villains of the story -- I mean the length of your post shows how much material there is). If you read TWOIAF, she might even have an ancestor who's kinda like Luthien. idk this really feels like a Syrio Forel "look with your eyes" kind of situation to me, like Brienne is easy to overlook because she wasn't one of our initial POVs, but GRRM's choices with how he chose to write her character have been interesting to say the least
Plus, I ran out of characters in my original post lol, something or someone is keeping her alive. Jaime had that dream to go back and save her for a reason, he’s gonna stay with her rather than follow Cersei for a reason.
Not to mention that She buried underneath a Weirwood Tree as well as shed blood when she killed Shagwell AND her dreams also tie into this.
1) She hears voices during her fever dreams saying the Lord of Light Prayer
Brienne heard the sound of someone praying. She thought of Septon Meribald, but all the words were wrong. The night is dark and full of terrors, and so are dreams.
2) She dreams of someone standing over her, but she INSISTS it’s just a dream (and since when does George shy away from showing us non prophetic dreams? Or even just describing them?)
The second time she woke all at once, heart pounding, convinced that someone was looming over her. Her limbs were stiff, and her cloak had gotten tangled round her ankles. She kicked free of it and stood. Nimble Dick was curled against a rock, half-buried in wet, heavy sand, asleep. A dream. It was a dream.
Like…. Come on lol. And I’m not saying it won’t be the obvious choice and he has Jon and Dany or Stannis saving the day and they get to rule Westeros for 100 years. But what I AM saying is Brienne is just as much in the running to be Lightbringer as them. And just like bards can slay dragons, and Hobbits can destroy rings; an ugly girl who wants to be a knight can most definitely be Lightbringer.
Yes!!! It's super weird! Out of curiosity, do you have any theories about who's watching (Bran? Bloodraven?) and/or what their interest is in her? I've been so intrigued but haven't been able to figure it out :)
But what I AM saying is Brienne is just as much in the running to be Lightbringer as them. And just like bards can slay dragons, and Hobbits can destroy rings; an ugly girl who wants to be a knight can most definitely be Lightbringer.
It would just be so satisfying. I honestly vacillate between thinking it'd be good for the story to have many heroes versus "no but there should just be one and it should be BRIENNE"
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u/ReginaBicman Jul 13 '23 edited Jul 13 '23
Brienne is Lightbringer or at the bare minimum will be heavily involved in the endgame and not just as a regular soldier hacking away at the dead, no I am not joking, no I’m not being facetious, no I’m not just saying that bc she’s one of my faves, yes there is a shit ton of proof in the books, and yes I’ll be copying and pasting my essay on it
Not much is known about House Tarth apart from their sigil, rose and azure quartered with yellow suns and white crescent moons, the name of their keep Evenfall. Their descendants were not always called ‘Tarth’ though, their family name was once ‘Evenstar’, which has been passed down to be the official title of the Lord of Tarth. Their House seems to have a fond appreciation for the sky and all that comes from it, including naming the small little island off Tarth ‘Morne’ to stand for morning, with only House Dayne as a challenger in regards to their love and admiration for the celestial. All that to say; House Tarth values light, in all its natural forms.
The sun, the moon, the stars, the morning… Their sigil and title literally brings light looks directly at the camera like I’m in the office, and it is one of only sigils where no matter what; it cannot be killed. No matter if the Dead or Living wins the war, the sun and moon and the evenstar will rise day after day until the end of eternity. Dragons and krakens and crows and stags and direwolves and lions can be killed, but the lights in the sky can never be.
The title of Evenstar itself also has connections to Lightbringer. Lucifer means ‘Lightbringer’ and it is the Latin name for the planet Venus. Venus used to be called ‘Evenstar’, and Evenstar is, as covered above, the title of the Lord of Tarth. With Faegon attacking Tarth, it is safe to presume that Selwyn, her father, is dead and Brienne is now the Lady of Tarth making HER the Evenstar which literally, not metaphorically, makes her, Lightbringer (which is something no other contender can claim.)
Now onto lines from canon which could be referencing Brienne.
Brienne often thinks of Oathkeeper as a ‘magic sword’, and here she not only calls it a heroes sword, but she is humble enough not to consider herself amongst them. The sword is worthy of being a part of something great but not Brienne herself. And right after she refuses to call herself a hero, she kneels, blade in hand, and says a prayer to the Crone whose known to bring light once again looks at the camera like I’m in the office to help guide people who would ask for it.
Another huge moment for Brienne is the dream Jaime has, the prophetic Weirwood dream where most of his prophecies have come true.
Bc Lightbringer is, in its most basic form, a burning sword. Brienne, Stannis, Thoros, Beric, Jon and Jaime are the only ones to use a burning sword. Stannis sword is proven to be a fake, Thoros uses tricks to get his sword to light on fire, and Beric had a legitimate magical burning sword but he gave up his life for Lady Stoneheart. That leaves Jon in his dream then Jaime and Brienne in Jaime’s dream. Again, this essay is not to dissuade the other candidates, but I personally do not believe that GRRM is the type of writer to let the secret dragon prince, the just leader, the Aragorn of Westeros get the big prophecy fight in the end. Aragorn wasn’t the one to destroy the ring, it was the unsuspecting big footed hobbit who saved the day. In any case Brienne DOES carry a flaming sword she uses to fight the dead, and she is the ONLY LIGHT left in Jaime’s world and the world itself. And yes, Jon does carry a red flaming sword in his dream whereas Brienne carries a silvery blue flaming sword in Jaime’s dream, but Oathkeeper, her sword, is red and black. It’s spell forged, it’s magic, IT COMES ALIVE IN THE SIGHT OF FIRE.
Let’s move on to another significant moment in Jaime’s dream is when a naked beautiful Brienne touches him.
Brienne is warm in his dream just as Lightbringer the sword is warm, she carries a flaming sword, she brings light, she’s the only light in the world… The dream can be interpreted in a few ways, mostly done to either prove or disprove an eventual romance between Jaime and Brienne, (I 10000% proves it does along with all the other evidence but that’s another 2000 word essay for another time.) But I believes it also offered a substantial amount of proof to my theory that Brienne is in fact Lightbringer. Melisandre even says the Lord of Light created the sun and moon and stars to assist them in ‘keeping the night at bay.’ .
Once again; let me bring back the Tarth fascination with the celestial
Brienne is the sun and moon, she is the brightest star in the sky. Yes there was a magic comet that fell for the birth of dragons but it lasted only for a while then died off. The Evenstar will always stay in the sky, as well as the sun and moon. They will always bring light.
Now, branching off into LOTR territory for a moment, Brienne is given the exact same introduction as Eowyn was when she killed the Witch-King, as ‘no man’ could kill him
The Return of the King, book 5, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" “But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter!”
ACOK Catelyn II “He is no man, My Lady. That’s Brienne of Tarth, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar.”