Words Are Wind: “Warg”

“Words are wind” is a common phrase in A Song Of Ice And Fire, usually used to say “talk is cheap.” But that’s a view that underestimates both the power of words and wind themselves. In this new “Words Are Wind” column, contributor Scott Andrews discusses some of the more important words in the world of Game Of Thrones.

Bran: I can’t do it by choice. I don’t know how. It happens in my dreams.

Jojen: You’re a warg, Bran. It’s in your blood.

—“The Rains of Castamere,” Season 3, episode 9

Westeros isn’t exactly overrun with elves waving magic wands, but Game of Thrones still has fantasy elements and made-up words. I’m here with a new column to help explain George Martin’s invented and adapted terms while delving deeper into their background. Today, we’ll look at a word that originated in Season 3 and has played a large role in Bran Stark’s’s story so far: warg.

In Westeros, a warg is a person who can bind themselves to a wolf and enter its mind. A warg can both control the animal and experience its senses, including vision and smell.

We’ve seen several examples of this magic in the show so far….

Bran is the most prominent, but he’s not the only one. Jon’s wildling friend Orell from Season 3 entered the mind of a hawk to carry out some quick cosmetic surgery. Last season, an unnamed Thenn used an adorable owl to spy on the Night’s Watch.

But the latter two are technically “skinchangers,” not wargs. As Martin put it in an interview, “A warg is bound to a wolf. Skinchanger is a more general term. All wargs are skinchangers, but not all skinchangers are wargs.”

Warg and vargr

The term warg has a long association with wolves in fantasy, going back to The Lord of the Rings. In Middle-Earth, wargs are wolflike beasts ridden by orcs for transport and combat. Tolkien took the term from vargr, the Norse word for wolf. Since Tolkien, wolflike “wargs,” “worgs,” or “worgen” have appeared in many fantasy worlds, including Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft. It’s possible that Martin’s version was inspired by Tolkien, by some other fantasy world, or by the Norse tales of vargr, such as Fenrir, the Fen-Dweller.

In Norse mythology, the monstrous wolf Fenrir was the son of Loki and hottie frost giantess Angrboða. A prophecy said that Fenrir was destined to murder the god Odin. This is an interesting connection, since the “three-eyed raven” that Bran meets at the end of Season 4 seems inspired by Odin, the All-Father. Odin is also associated with sight and eyes, having sacrificed an eye for greater wisdom. In the tales, Odin used two magical ravens to fly around the world each day and bring him news of what they saw each night.  Does this mean that Bran, with his connection to giant wolves, is destined to kill the man living under the weirwood tree?

Warg magic in Westeros

Regardless of his inspiration, Martin is the first to use the term (as far as I know) to mean a person with a link to wolves rather than the wolf creatures themselves. In Westeros, wargs and skinchangers are associated with the ancient magic of the Old Gods and the blood of the First Men, the original human settlers of Westeros.

Like Bran, many wargs discover their powers in dreams. Only with practice and training can they use their warg abilities consciously. A personal connection with an animal makes it easier to enter the beast’s mind. That’s why Bran first experienced warging with his direwolf Summer.

His long friendship with Hodor may be one reason why Bran can skinchange into Hodor’s mind. According to Jojen, no one but Bran has been able to do this with another person. Whether he can do the same to anyone is an open question, but that would be a very powerful weapon indeed for the shattered Stark family. (He could take the “stop hitting yourself” game to the next level.)

South of the Wall, wargs are perceived as more mythical than real. Stories about wargs portray them as bestial, evil creatures who can not only control wolves but actually shapeshift into them. In the stories, wargs are typically the villains.

Warging can be extremely dangerous. Jojen warns Bran not to spend too long inside Summer because it’s so tempting to give in to the wolf’s impulses, to become more wolf than man. This is especially hard for Bran, since he can run and jump in Summer’s mind while his own body is broken.

As Jojen implies, the bond works both ways: the wolf can exert its will on the warg. If your will isn’t strong enough, the wolf can wear your skin instead. Stories of evil wargs could have been inspired by real events long ago, when a man or woman gave in to the will of their wolf. Also, if your bonded animal dies while you’re inside its mind, the experience can drive you mad. This madness may be another source of antipathy toward wargs in Westerosi folklore.

Because of these stories, wargs and skinchangers were hunted and exterminated south of the Wall. Wildlings revere them, however, so it’s possible that many wargs from the south fled north to safer territory. That seems to be the reason why the wildlings have so many skinchangers, while so far Bran is the only character in the show from south of the Wall who can claim these powers. The Starks trace their lineage from the First Men, so Bran has a connection to the Old Gods and their magic that most people in the south lack.

Westeros.org has a great list of warg references and lore, if you want to find this information in the books or read more about wargs in Westeros. (The list contains mild, nonspecific spoilers for show watchers.)

Rumors pointed to the possible absence of Bran in the upcoming season, but they have been debunked by Isaac Hempstead-Wright himself. Now that Bran has reached the end of his long journey north, we are likely to learn more about wargs and what Bran can do. Even book readers don’t know much about what’s in store for him at this point. We’ll find out this spring!

Scott is a freelance writer and copy editor, and the author of The Guild Leader’s Handbook, a guide to leadership in online gaming. He lives in Philadelphia, where he leads a fantasy and science fiction workshop. Scott roots for the Greyjoys. You can follow him @QuestVendor.

• Published on 10/03/2014 at 6:03 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:40 PM CDT