Day 24: Favorite place
The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I’m not dead either.
When this season of the show started, every time they would show the smoking ruins of Winterfell Castle on the intro, I would get teary eyed. As much as I can get allowed with some Starks, Winterfell is still my favorite place in the series. Castle Winterfell is the foundation of this story. It is the home of the Kings of Winter and has stood for 8000 years. It is the connection between the Starks and the land they rule. When they lost Winterfell, it was heartbreaking, but the idea that they will regain their home is what drives them to continue to fight and live.
Aside from the importance the castle plays in the story of the family, there are some things about it that I just love. To begin with, Winterfell has a lot of mysteries. There are many levels to it below the ground. Part of those levels hold the tombs of the past kings, but it is rumored to have other things as well. One of those rumors is that a dragon lives (or lived) below the castle. The dragon could be the reason the hot springs stay hot and the castle stays warm, even during the worst of winters.
The castle also housed a grand library with books in it that were hundreds of years old. It's possible that, even though the library has been destroyed, some of those books were put safely away before anything happened. That would have been thr prudent thing to do with precious tomes. It would seem that Bran the Builder would have kept all of his theories and projects written down somewhere, so his family could rebuild or make repairs as need be.
Oh yes. That is another thing I love about Winterfell. The castle was built by Brandon Stark, called the Builder. He lived during the Age of Heroes and not only built his castle, but also the Wall and Stormsend. He was a gifted architect and mage who could bring the elements to his command, somewhat like the Targaryens could do when they built Dragon Stone. Hmmm......
Finally, Winterfell is my favorite place because GRRM was able to truly make it feel like a home. The people who lived there (at the beginning of the story) were happy. They had a place there and knew they would be taken care of. They felt they had a purpose. The tragedy of losing Winterfell is that we truly sense that these people have lost their home. Not just in the physical sense of the word, but in all definitions of it. We want them to rebuild so they can not only regain their power, but feel complete on the inside. They need that.
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