Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 13

Day 13: Your Favorite Quote.

I've posted this before, but I think it is worth repeating. My favorite quote comes from the first book and it's said by Old Nan when Bran smarts off to her about stories and fear.

Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods”

GRRM can write some beautiful passages. He can write things that stick to your soul and become part of you. However, this is my favorite of all of his passages because it's one that always plays in my mind as the books continue. As wars rage and people die, as everyone is starting to get displaced and more and more is lost, people think they've seen how bad things can truly get, but they haven't.

Everyone knows winter is on its way. People should have put aside their differences and concentrated on doing as much growing and harvesting as they could before it got cold. They should have been working on repairs to homes, stockpiling supplies, chopping wood, and making sure everyone had enough blankets. The priorities were not there. It will soon be cold. It will soon be the return of the Long Night, when Winter will last for years and years with no hope of it ending in sight.  The devastation seen up to this point will be nothing compared to that, and no one is even paying attention.

Old Nan's quote is important because it sets the tone of the foreboding that lurks around the edges of these books. Things can get worse. Things can get worse. Things can get so, so much worse. At this point, we're not even sure if there is anyway to keep them from getting worse, as everyone who is trying to take steps to make things even remotely better is silenced in one way of the other.