Comrades in Arms Discussion Board

Ok, you know that in Westeros, seasons have different length, sometimes Summer lasts for years, and sometimes Winter lasts for years.

There are some theories about this, and I want to record my theory here, just in case that when it is finally revealed, I can point to this and said "I said it"

Note, this isn't a spoiler, no one knows yet why the seasons are like the are, although George R.R. Martin said that there will be an explanation. The idea is based upon the fact the GRRM is first and foremost a Science Fiction author.

Ok, here's my take:

If you watch the title sequence, you already see it. The whole idea is supported by the orrery seen in the Oldtown Library.

Basically, the sun is surrounded by large, artificial rings. They turn around the sun in different orbital periods,  similar to what is shown in the title... when the rings move in front of the sun, the seasons shift towards winter (since the light of the sun is blocked and thus the temperatures fall).

The long night that once was and is coming again is basically a specific constellation of those rings. This happens when all rings move between the planet and the sun, blocking out the sunlight completely... "The sun will hide it's face for years, and children will be born and die in the cold".

There is no magic involved at all. The length of the seasons appears irregular, but in fact isn't, it's just subject to a cycle that is far longer than recorded history (the World of Ice and Fire places the end of the Dawn Age, the time when the Children of the Forest ruled Westeros, to about 12000 years before the events in th books).

Ok, questions that might be asked:

1. Why those rings ? What is their purpose ?

If you ever read Larry Niven's Ringworld, you have one possible explanation: Ringworld is a ring that runs around the sun, basically a degenerate Dyson Sphere.  Tos simulate day/nighton Ringworld, a set of "blinds" are put into a closer orbit that turn with a little less speed than the Ringworld, thus creating night and day by selectively blocking the sun.

2. Why don't you see those rings ?

Because they are always close to the sun. This means that you will see them only if the sun is in the sky. You MIGHT be able to see them during an eclipse, but even then, the coma of the sun might hide them. Besides, there is no mention of any solar (or lunar) eclipse anywhere in Westros history, and usually, such occurrences are met with high suspicion by people in medieval society.

Ok, that's my theory. Feel free to question it's validity

One thing in "The World of Ice and Fire" made me curious... The book is written as if it was part of the library of the Citadel, written down by one of the maesters. At one point it says that he thinks that at one time the seasons were normal and that winter followed summer on a yearly basis, but at some point it stopped and seasons started to last for years...

So it is very well possible that the seasons are artificial. And GRRM has been a Sci-Fi author for most of his life.

@Varanon Is not a matter of questioning the validity of your theory, everyone is entitled to have one.
So there it is mine...


1. Why those rings ? What is their purpose ?
There are fields from fabric of time and space, they may appear as rings but they are spirals of fields they compress and decompress, change the amplitude and frequency and when they reach a certain angle, amplitude and frequency and they look like rings to us from a specific point of view.

2. Why don't you see those rings ?
For them to be manifest/visible they need to have the frequency of the observable matter/energy/plasma, they are always there, is what makes the sun tick, the sun "is the rings" in observable space, is the only thing we can see from those rings/spirals most of the time.
Because everything in universe is a wave inside a wave inside a wave... as in fractals, only when the waves have a specific length they "intersect" and "resonate" and have effect in visible spectrum.