Game of Thrones contains mysterious patterns and symbols that can be traced
back to one of the most fascinating symbols from ancient art and mathematics,
the Greek letter Phi, which represents the golden ratio. The symbols on Game of
Thrones show up in two forms: Phi itself and the golden spiral, a shape which
adheres to the golden ratio. The specific placement of these symbols has important
narrative and thematic significance, revealing a hidden link between two of
the show's main characters, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, and seemingly
foreshadows their ultimate fates. The first symbol appears in the initial
episode when Will the Ranger spies wildling body parts displayed by the
White Walkers in an unusual pattern: a circle with a line running through it.
Then, again on Jon Snow's journey north of the wall we see him come upon another
symbol: dead horses arranged in a spiral pattern.
In season six we encounter the
same unusual spiral pattern in Bran's vision where the patterns origins are
revealed as ancient symbols created by the Children of the Forest. The show's
creators have said that the symbols are related to the interconnection
of good and and evil.
["There are ancient symbols of the Children the Forest used in their
rituals and the Children the Forest created the White Walkers. The Night King who's
sort of the embodiment of absolute evil, what you're watching is the creation of
this absolute evil so the absolute evil isn't absolute after all."]
They appear to be expressing this theme
by drawing on real-world symbols with exceptional
mathematical properties of symmetry and balance:
the Greek letter Phi and the related golden spiral.
Phi signifies the irrational number 1.618
and is the basis for the golden ratio.
It's the magic ratio where their
proportion between the whole and the largest part is the same as the ratio
between the larger and smaller parts and that ratio is equal to Phi.
It's sometimes called the golden mean, the golden section, and the divine proportion.
As confusing as the math sounds, shapes based on this ratio are considered
beautiful to the eye.
Phi has achieved almost mythic mystical importance because of its ubiquity in our lives.
We see it in mathematics,
geometry, art, life, and nature.
Renaissance artists in the 1500s, like Leonardo da Vinci,
regularly used the golden mean in their work.
Plants, animals, and even human beings possess dimensional properties
adhering to the ratio of Phi.
Symbolically, as expressed by Aristotle, the golden mean
represents the idea that the ultimate beauty of life is achieved through ideal
balance. It's the middle point between deficiency and excess.
Apart from the White Walker and the
Children of the Forest, the symbols primarily show up in
association with Daenerys and Jon Snow.
While the other Starks seemed to have some interaction with the patterns,
it's Daenerys and Jon that are shown in the center of them.
The multiple instances of this deliberate placement suggest this
is more than just coincidence.
Also consider the dragon pin Deanerys wears,
her necklace, and the spiral shape within her flag. These visual
connections imply Daenerys and Jon Snow's link to the symbols and to each other.
We know they're related by blood, but their centrality within the symbols
could suggest they're ancestrally tied to the White Walkers, specifically the
Night King or the Children of the Forest, or both. They seemed to have some
supernatural powers. Like the Night King, Daenerys can walk through fire and
scorch and she's the Mother of Dragons.
Jon Snow's direwolf ghost and his resurrection also suggests supernatural forces at play.
The real-world historical significance behind these symbols
communicates a deep thematic message: that opposites like Good and Evil, or Ice and Fire,
Winter and Summer, Revenge and Forgiveness, must coexist in balance in
order for there to be harmony. This could be why Daenerys and Jon are linked to
the golden mean and Phi symbols.
They represent the merging of Ice and Fire, just as the title intimates.
The recurring symbols and scenes with
Daenerys and Jon Snow seem prophetic. They're destined in some way to bring
balance and restore order in the Game of Thrones world.
This union is foreshadowed in Daenerys' vision in the House of the Undying.
Here the Iron Throne is transported to the North.
Daenerys walks past the throne as snow falls which
could symbolize Jon Snow or another figure from the North.
Daenerys walks past the hefty gram, the seven-pointed figure commonly associated
with the Seven Kingdoms, King's Landing, and the Holy Sept which distinctly
doesn't possess the harmonious properties of Phi as if rejecting the
Seven Kingdoms and its traditional divisions. Dany almost touches the throne
but turns away, pulled by the cries of her family as she passes through the Wall in the North.
Suddenly the fiery Mother of Dragons is
linked to Coldness and Ice, maybe even the White Walkers as this scene visually
associates Dany with the Night King, alluding to a familial tie between
Daenerys Jon Snow, and the People of the North.
The vision foretells a coming
together of Daenerys and Jon in the North ultimately ending the fight for
the throne. Game of Thrones sends the message that pure Good and pure Evil are
an illusion. Rather, different shades and varying degrees of Good and Evil coexist.
To achieve the golden mean, these opposing forces must share the world
together in balance to create a harmony of Ice and Fire.
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