Existem unicórnios em Canção de Gelo e Fogo?

21

Eu estava relendo certos capítulos de A Game of Thrones e tropecei na seguinte citação:

The shields displayed outside each tent heralded its occupant: the silver eagle of Seagard, Bryce Caron's field of nightingales, a cluster of grapes for the Redwynes, brindled boar, red ox, burning tree, white ram, triple spiral, purple unicorn, dancing maiden, blackadder, twin towers, horned owl, and last the pure white blazons of the Kingsguard, shining like the dawn.

A Game of Thrones, Eddard VII

Gostaria de saber se há outras menções de unicórnios ao longo dos livros. Não me lembro de nenhum, mas posso estar enganado. Tanto quanto posso imaginar, existem três possibilidades em torno da existência de unicórnios:

  • Unicórnios existem e são tão comuns quanto cavalos e peixes. Isso não parece provável para mim, uma vez que estes não são mencionados tanto quanto esses animais.
  • Unicórnios existem, mas são raros ou extintos, como dragões.
  • Unicórnios não existem realmente, apesar de serem retratados em escudos e sigilos. As pessoas que afirmam que existem bebem muito leite da papoula.

Então, há alguma menção aos unicórnios que confirma alguma dessas teorias?

    
por PrisonMonkeys 08.07.2014 / 15:33

4 respostas

Uma festa para os corvos

Samwell Tarly lembra de ter lido que os Skagosi montam grandes unicórnios para a guerra.

Unicorn horns are amongst plunder brought from distant lands by Euron Greyjoy.

Uma dança com dragões

Jon Snow, in a wolf dream as Ghost, sees that Shaggydog has fought and killed what may be a unicorn:
A wild rain lashed down upon his black brother as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat, washing the blood from his side where the goat’s long horn had raked him.

In the cave of the three-eyed crow Leaf tells Bran Stark that the unicorns are all but gone.

Among some of the tribute collected from the wildlings passing through the Wall is a helm made with a unicorn’s head.

    
08.07.2014 / 15:50
Unicórnios são criaturas que dizem ter existido, mas ninguém ao sul da muralha sabe ao certo.
Em Uma Dança com Dragões

Bran meets Leaf in the cave of the three eyed crow who tells him that unicorns still exist.

Jon também sonha que o Ghost mata algo que poderia ser um unicórnio. Também um wildling usa um capacete feito de cabeça de unicórnio.

    
08.07.2014 / 15:45

Sim

A confirmação mais próxima disso que temos é da Folha dizendo que eles existem, no entanto, também temos outras fontes alegando que eles existem. Parece que eles caíram no mesmo reino dos Caminhantes Brancos e gigantes com a maioria acreditando que eles são contos de fadas, mas alguns ainda sabem a verdade.

And they did sing. They sang in True Tongue, so Bran could not understand the words, but their voices were as pure as winter air. "Where are the rest of you?" Bran asked Leaf, once.
"Gone down into the earth," she answered. "Into the stones, into the trees. Before the First Men came all this land that you call Westeros was home to us, yet even in those days we were few. The gods gave us long lives but not great numbers, lest we overrun the world as deer will overrun a wood where there are no wolves to hunt them. That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us."
A Dance with Dragons, Bran III

Afirma-se que Euron Greyjoy usou chifres de unicórnio para levar as pessoas à sua causa, embora nunca se afirme se elas são reais ou não (mais sobre isso depois) .

Aye, he thought, a great victory for the Crow's Eye and his wizards. The other captains would shout his brother's name anew when the tidings reached Oakenshield. Euron had seduced them with his glib tongue and smiling eye and bound them to his cause with the plunder of half a hundred distant lands; gold and silver, ornate armor, curved swords with gilded pommels, daggers of Valyrian steel, striped tiger pelts and the skins of spotted cats, jade manticores and ancient Valyrian sphinxes, chests of nutmeg, cloves, and saffron, ivory tusks and the horns of unicorns, green and orange and yellow feathers from the Summer Sea, bolts of fine silk and shimmering samite... and yet all that was little and less, compared to this.
A Feast for Crows, The Reaver

O próprio Davos chama Skagos de "a ilha dos unicórnios e canibais" e Sam lê que os unicórnios moram lá com Dareon comentando que eles podem ver um deles.

Nine-and-twenty ships had set sail from the Wall. If half of them were still afloat, Davos would be shocked. Black skies, bitter winds, and lashing rains had hounded them all the way down the coast. The galleys Oledo and Old Mother's Son had been driven onto the rocks of Skagos, the isle of unicorns and cannibals where even the Blind Bastard had feared to land; the great cog Saathos Saan had foundered off the Grey Cliffs.
A Dance with Dragons, Davos I

The island sat at the mouth of the Bay of Seals, massive and mountainous, a stark and forbidding land peopled by savages. They lived in caves and grim mountain fastnesses, Sam had read, and rode great shaggy unicorns to war. Skagos meant "stone" in the Old Tongue. The Skagosi named themselves the stoneborn, but their fellow northmen called them Skaggs and liked them little. Only a hundred years ago Skagos had risen in rebellion. Their revolt had taken years to quell and claimed the life of the Lord of Winterfell and hundreds of his sworn swords. Some songs said the Skaggs were cannibals; supposedly their warriors ate the hearts and livers of the men they slew. In ancient days, the Skagosi had sailed to the nearby isle of Skane, seized its women, slaughtered its men, and ate them on a pebbled beach in a feast that lasted for a fortnight. Skane remained unpeopled to this day.
Dareon knew the songs as well. When the bleak grey peaks of Skagos rose up from the sea, he joined Sam at Blackbird's prow, and said, "If the gods are good, we may catch a glimpse of a unicorn."
A Feast for Crows, Samwell II

O Mundo do Gelo e do Fogo também comenta o mesmo que Sam lê sobre os unicórnios.

The Skagosi who reside there are little regarded by the other Northmen, who consider them no better than wildlings and name them Skaggs. The Skagosi call themselves the stoneborn, referring to the fact that Skagos means "stone" in the Old Tongue. A huge, hairy, foul-smelling folk (some maesters believe the Skagosi to have a strong admixture of Ibbenese blood; others suggest that they may be descended from giants), clad in skins and furs and untanned hides, and said to ride on unicorns, the Skagosi are the subject of many a dark rumor.
The World of Ice and Fire, The North: The Stoneborn of Skagos

No entanto, nem todos os meistres parecem acreditar que os unicórnios eram reais, embora pareçam ser descendentes de negociantes de má reputação que vendem cornetas falsas de unicórnio. Alguns chifres de unicórnio foram vistos que parecem reais ou pelo menos diferentes de qualquer outra coisa vista antes. Embora os meistres ainda não tenham encontrado um exemplo vivo ou um esqueleto.

The "unicorns" of Skagos were once scoffed at by maesters at the Citadel. The occasional "unicorn horn" offered by disreputable merchants has never been more than the horn of a kind of whale hunted by the whalers of Ib. However, horns of quite a different kind—reputed to be from Skagos—have been seen by the maesters at Eastwatch upon occasion. It is also said that those seafarers brave enough to trade on Skagos have glimpsed the stoneborn lords riding great, shaggy, horned beasts, monstrous mounts so sure-footed they have been known to climb the sides of mountains. A living example of such a creature—or even a skeleton—has long been sought for study, but none has ever been brought to Oldtown.
The World of Ice and Fire, The North: The Stoneborn of Skagos

Finalmente, alguns alegam que unicórnios podem ser encontrados em Ib, o que parece concordar com os unicórnios de Skagos, já que alguns mestres alegaram que os Skagosi têm uma strong mistura de sangue ibbenês.

Ib is the second largest island in the known world; only Great Moraq, between the Jade and Summer Seas, is larger. Stony and mountainous, Ib is a land of great grey mountains, ancient forests, and rushing rivers, its dark interior a haunt of bears and wolves. Giants once dwelt on Ib, we are told, but none remain—though mammoths still roam the island's plains and hills, and in the higher mountains, some claim unicorns can be found.
The World of Ice and Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Ib

Note que o sigilo roxo do unicórnio pertence à Casa Brax e diz-se que eles foram formados a partir do casamento entre os Primeiros Homens e os Andals. Como uma casa histórica, é provável que houvesse mais unicórnios em volta quando ela foi criada e, portanto, o sigilo.

A party of mounted horsemen rode forward to challenge them as they approached the stakes. The knight who led them wore silver armor inlaid with amethysts and a striped purple-and-silver cloak. His shield bore a unicorn sigil, and a spiral horn two feet long jutted up from the brow of his horsehead helm. Tyrion reined up to greet him. "Ser Flement."
Ser Flement Brax lifted his visor. "Tyrion," he said in astonishment. "My lord, we all feared you dead, or…" He looked at the clansmen uncertainly. "These… companions of yours…"
A Game of Thrones, Tyrion VII

In time, Lannister kings wed their children to Andals as well; indeed, when Gerold III died without male issues, a council crowned his only daughter's husband, Ser Joffery Lydden, who took the Lannister name and became the first Andal to rule the Rock. Other noble houses were also born in such unions—such as Jast, Lefford, Parren, Droxe, Marbrand, Braxe, Serrett, Sarsfield, and Kyndall. And thus revitalized, the Kings of the Rock expanded their realm still farther.
The World of Ice and Fire, The Westerlands

    
29.11.2017 / 17:43

Nunca vemos um em primeira mão, mas em Capítulo 3 do ADWD Jon sonha que:

A wild rain lashed down upon his black brother as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat, washing the blood from his side where the goat's long horn had raked him.

Isso poderia ser uma visão de Shaggydog matando um unicórnio. Isto é apoiado pela menção de Sam no Capítulo 15 do AFFC que as pessoas onde Shaggydog está:

... rode great shaggy unicorns to war. Skagos meant "stone" in the Old Tongue.

    
08.07.2014 / 15:54