In the northern region of the Seven Kingdoms, it is said that “the North remembers.” They remember betrayals and injustices suffered, and they seek revenge. They remember that “winter is coming,” a truism passed down through generations that keeps the North vigilant. Arya becomes a fierce warrior by remembering her father’s beheading and the slaughter of her mother and brother at the Red Wedding. Every night Arya recites the names on her kill list as a constant reminder of these tragedies she seeks to avenge.
For Daenerys Targaryen—who grew up hearing that Robert Baratheon’s rebellion led to the killing of her father, brother, and young niece and nephew—it is the memory of their deaths that made her distrust the other Great Houses and drove her to claim what she believes is her rightful place on the iron throne.
In Game of Thrones, memory weaves together the past, present, and future; it defines characters’ worldviews and shapes their interactions.
The power of memory lies beyond simply preserving the past. Just like Arya and Daenerys, we too are motivated by our memories. We better understand our current and future selves by understanding our pasts. By recognizing how our past decisions influence the present, we make smarter decisions to shape our future.
We learn something new every day and hopefully apply this knowledge to improve our lives. bioGraph helps you communicate your experience on a greater scale by sharing your experiences through stories that enlighten, entertain, and inspire.
Archmaester Ebrose tells Samwell Tarly that without memories “men would be little better than dogs. They don’t remember any meal but the last, can’t see forward to any but the next. And every time you leave the house and shut the door, they howl like you’re gone forever.”
Our memories make us human by connecting our past life to our future selves and descendants. bioGraph makes it easy to put your memories into words and create life stories that last forever.
For millennia, the Night King, who embodies death, has hunted the Three-Eyed Raven, the powerful greenseer who can perceive the past, present, and future. Killing the Three-Eyed Raven would erase the memory of humankind.
“He wants to erase this world,” Bran says, “and I’m its memory.”
“That’s what death is,” Sam responds, “forgetting. Being forgotten. If we forget where we’ve been and what we’ve done, we’re not men anymore, just animals.”
Death is forgetting, but we survive well past our lifespans so long as others remember us. By writing down your memories, you can transcend death, which is nothing but forgetting and being forgotten.
You can truly live through life-writing, because life is remembering and being remembered.
