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Children of the Frostguard - Orphans

The Iceborn·3/7/2019, 3:50:20 PM·11 votes·12,184 views

Im back! I will be discussing some parts in the ashe comics so BEWARE OF SPOILERS. I have always wondered how the Frostguard find their warriors. So I made a thread about it to explore that topic. There will be question at the end that I cant quite figure out so if anyone has any ideas help.

Frostguard Starting with the easier choice we can assume that nobody in the cult is allowed to have children. Generally we know that children are the result of an oath between a warmother and an oathsworn. Such children would be raised to, one day, lead the tribe through tough times, secure their survival. So why wouldnt frostguard be allowed to have any? The problem appears as we look into the 2nd issue of the comic. https://i.imgur.com/QXXPIMp.jpg[] Since a marriage/oath is mostly(not always) necessary for there to be children, the frostguard are prohibited of offering that oath to anyone but Lissandra. In the comic Ashe actually asked Maalcrom if he wanted to offer her his oath in order for her to have his children but he clearly couldnt. Looking away from the premise that an oath is needed before having children, I believe that there are also other rules that prohibit the frostguard from having them. So lets exclude the frostguard as a source.

Tribes Lets take a look at freljord tribes as a source of future frostguard warriors. As I previously mentioned warmothers should only have children with their Bloodsworn. Sometimes if a mother would have a child outside of her oath, that child would have a hard time being accepted, I would think that the child and the mother could be banished to live by themselves. The toughest position would be put on the child because its mother could still have children within the tribe without being excluded, so according to Odin she would give the child up to the frostguard. Here we have our first source from where the frostguard gets its warriors. Analyzing further sources, we know that Nunus tribe was actually attacked and slaughtered. No doubt that the tribes also have to endure other catastrophes like extreme cold, avalanches and dangerous predators like wolves or even trolls, in many cases the tribes would break apart or even die so children would be left on their own, sometimes "saved" by the frostguard.

Foundling Village Speaking of saved kids, the map shows us that there is a settlement near the citadel that actually brainwashes shelters orphaned kids. The actual idea here is that children orphaned by freljords cruel nature and culture are taken in by the frostguard. Now lets be realistic and say that the citadel isnt interested in taking in any kind of kid, they want iceborn in order to keep their royal blood going. So when the frostguard attack tribes they probably cherry pick the tribe for iceborn magic as most frostguard children are iceborn. Everyone in that village probably undergoes training and one of the first things they learn is Lissandras prayers. I assume thats the first step of making them obedient. In conclusion we can say that most youngsters in foundling village are products of their mother having them out of wedlock plus they are also there because of natural catastrophes aswell as the treacherous wilderness. Tribes in such tough situations should be the main source of future frostguardians(?).

Now you may be asking well, why take in other tribes youngsters and not have your own?... Well my idea would be that pregnant frostguard warriors are of no use for 9 Months and wouldnt be able to do their task. Not only that but Lissandra does not want anyone to come between her and her immediate followers, especially no parental bonds or anything that would put a child above her in the sense of allegiance/devotion. She demands a will of iron true ice when it comes to their faith and obedience. I have no doubt that even if a frostguard was to have a child, the kid would also become iceborn and they would be raised in the faith of the three.

##Questions

  1. The cult wants iceborn children and we know that most people there are iceborn, but they also take non-iceborn children. Why? Would such children posess different gifts? Like having the potential to be a vedmah(oracle) or a frost mage?
  2. Would you say that the if a non-iceborn mother has a child out of wedlock and seeks refuge at the citadel, she would be taken in? Or only her iceborn child?
  3. Nunu talked about meeting Lissandra, would you say that most children meet her or just the ones she has special interest in?

20 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo3/7/2019, 8:00:16 PM6 votes

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

When I was working on the worldbuilding for this, I assumed Lissy was from the matriarchal, child-centric, culture of the Freljord. And though she was creating something new with her cult (a new religion) her point of view was still from within that society. So her motivations, world view, and religion reflect that culture and her somewhat rightfully paranoid point of view.

In a way her religion has its own rules, ranks and orders outside of the old culture. But it was built from that culture of oathsworn and valuing children above all.

So yeah. She created a place for the orphans and the unwanted (and as Nunu shows her cult sometimes creates orphans to get children.) But the cult also takes adults and volunteers.

Was Maalcrom orphan or a bastard? there's a good argument there. (i.e. I'm not going to reveal his backstory.) Maybe he originally choose that path because he liked the idea of being a healer more than being a warrior. Or was he attracted to the notion of a life devoted to something larger than his tribe? Or maybe he saw how badass they were and wanted in on that?

Basically I don't think of her cult in black or white terms, because I think it's made of a lot of people with a lot of different reasons for being there. And I think she's too smart to only collect certain people. The frost priests in Sejuani's tribe are pretty clearly "baddies." But I would argue the frostguard in Ant's story are heroes. I think there are elements in Lissy's cult that have to be evil, but if we let it get too evil it wouldn't be realistic. And providing a place for lost children seems like a win-win for her.

I can't say if any of this will pan out.

Riot changes stuff all the time and I certainly don't feel like have much say in the directions we take. (In lore, character, or games.)

But I can say your analysis of what I was doing is correct. (mostly)

DerMangoJoghurt3/7/2019, 4:02:37 PM1 votes

Nunu talked about meeting Lissandra, would you say that most children meet her or just the ones she has special interest in?

I think this was arranged by Lissandra to gather info about the yetis mentioned in one of the songs by Nunu's mother. Yetis are able to create true ice, which is obviously quite important to Lissandra.

AnotherPurple3793/7/2019, 4:16:40 PM1 votes

In regards to your third question, Lissandra did have special interest in Nunu, since she wanted to know about the story of the Yeti from him. I'm guessing that's why she meet with him personally, and otherwise it's not something she usually does.

I actually haven't heard the part about children in the tribes born out of wedlock, did Odin say it somewhere?

LordRedStone Nr13/7/2019, 6:56:31 PM1 votes

I have 2 things for the second question. If we assume that being iceborn is mostly genetic (that's not given, but we know it could be one factor) then we can deduce it is X-Dominant.

A "pure-blood" iceborn mother always produces iceborn children, but the daughter may only have one iceborn chromosome and only pass it on with 50% (if the father is not iceborn).

An iceborn father can have half-blood daughters with a normal woman, but no iceborn sons.

Most of that is not important to the question, but it tells us the scenario you presented is unlikely. (And I thought you might want to see this, because I don't recall you seeing this discussion).

What I think would happen: They tell them everythings going to be alright, the child can stay here, the mother needs to go somewhere else but will visit soon. Then the mother has an ""accident"".