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Explanation of the Last Kiss of the Red Priests:
So Thoros used fire to revive Beric Dondarrion. It's not a metaphor, it's literal, he literally used fire to resurrect him. Firstly because the red priests only use fire manipulation, and secondly because George R.R. Martin said that:
Martin has explicitly said that Beric is a wight animated by fire instead of by ice, suggesting it's literal. The ice refers to the wights animated by the White Walkers.
For "the whole fire and ice thing" that GRRM mentions, he talks about this:
And this, which comes from the first quote of the post:
It's about the idea that fire represents life and ice represents death.
The dead animated by fire have consciousness and they still feel emotions, they are warm like life. The dead animated by ice have no consciousness, they are zombies, they have no emotions, they are cold as death.
All this proves that the Red Priests and White Walkers use fire and ice, respectively, on an abstract level.
This should be concept manipulation.
And I should also mention that this isn't the first time GRRM has done this. In the children's novel Ice Dragon, an ice dragon had a cold manipulation that made a little girl emotionally cold. Ice manipulation on an abstract level there too.
"I have no magic, child. Only prayers. That first time, his lordship had a hole right through him and blood in his mouth, I knew there was no hope. So when his poor torn chest stopped moving, I gave him the good god's own kiss to send him on his way. I filled my mouth with fire and breathed the flames inside him, down his throat to lungs and heart and soul. The last kiss it is called, and many a time I saw the old priests bestow it on the Lord's servants as they died. I had given it a time or two myself, as all priests must. But never before had I felt a dead man shudder as the fire filled him, nor seen his eyes come open. It was not me who raised him, my lady. It was the Lord. R'hllor is not done with him yet. Life is warmth, and warmth is fire, and fire is God's and God's alone."
A Storm of Swords - Arya VII
So Thoros used fire to revive Beric Dondarrion. It's not a metaphor, it's literal, he literally used fire to resurrect him. Firstly because the red priests only use fire manipulation, and secondly because George R.R. Martin said that:
Right. And poor Beric Dondarrion, who was set up as the foreshadowing of all this, every time he’s a little less Beric. His memories are fading, he’s got all these scars, he’s becoming more and more physically hideous, because he’s not a living human being anymore. His heart isn’t beating, his blood isn’t flowing in his veins, he’s a wight, but a wight animated by fire instead of by ice, now we’re getting back to the whole fire and ice thing.
George R. R. Martin on the One 'Game of Thrones' Change He 'Argued Against'
A rare interview with the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series
time.com
Martin has explicitly said that Beric is a wight animated by fire instead of by ice, suggesting it's literal. The ice refers to the wights animated by the White Walkers.
For "the whole fire and ice thing" that GRRM mentions, he talks about this:
"I mean... Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books."
George R.R. Martin: “Trying to please everyone is a horrible mistake”
Interview with George R.R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones.
www.adriasnews.com
And this, which comes from the first quote of the post:
"Life is warmth, and warmth is fire"
It's about the idea that fire represents life and ice represents death.
The dead animated by fire have consciousness and they still feel emotions, they are warm like life. The dead animated by ice have no consciousness, they are zombies, they have no emotions, they are cold as death.
All this proves that the Red Priests and White Walkers use fire and ice, respectively, on an abstract level.
This should be concept manipulation.
And I should also mention that this isn't the first time GRRM has done this. In the children's novel Ice Dragon, an ice dragon had a cold manipulation that made a little girl emotionally cold. Ice manipulation on an abstract level there too.
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