Aegor did not believe in prophecies, but that did not stop many others from believing. Instead of being a foolish, angry youth who saw those who believed in prophecies as fools and despised them, Aegor preferred to do something useful, find a way to leverage this belief.
This was precisely why he named the set of arrows he reforged Lightbringer instead of Aegor's Arrows or Night's Watch Arrows. It was not because he thought the name was cool or that stealing the prophecy's copyright was satisfying. It was because using this name made it easy for people to subconsciously accept that the owner of the arrows was the hero from the prophecy who would save humanity. This way, he could naturally and easily harness the existing influence of that well-known prophecy for his own use, greatly boosting the confidence of the Gift Army and Grey Area Citizens in achieving victory.
Seventy-one arrows. Aegor named them Lightbringer One, Lightbringer Two, up to Lightbringer Seventy-one, so that he could verify their authenticity and distinguish between them if necessary in the future.
But to leverage this influence, it was not as simple as just carving names and numbers onto the arrow shafts. He also had to spread the word, not throughout the whole world, but at least to make sure the people of the Gift and the North knew that Lightbringer had appeared.
And in this world with primitive communication methods and slow information transfer, was there a good way to quickly let a large number of residents, not just the class who controlled ravens, know about and accept an event?
There was indeed, a tournament.
Whether it was a major family announcing the birth of a new member, a Lord selecting a legal heir and wanting others to witness it, a regional overlord being bored and wanting to show off wealth or might, or even a noble planning some conspiracy or rebellion. In short, as a social activity known to everyone, tournaments in this era were a combination of modern-day military exercises and press conferences. The tournament was just a form, an excuse, an added bonus, not the goal. The true core was for the host to gather a large group of people to convey a message.
Just like the tournament Robert held when Eddard went to King's Landing to take office. The reason it was talked about by countless people as the Hand of the King's Tournament was not because the Hand wanted or paid for it, but because the theme of this tournament was to convey an important political signal. King Robert had chosen Lord Stark to be his next Hand of the King, and anyone else with ideas could give up.
Currently, the situation in the Gift, especially on the front lines of the Great Canyon, was tense, making it clearly unsuitable to recall personnel and hold a real tournament. But Queenscrown and the nearest Castle Black already had more than a third of the entire Gift Army and Grey Area Citizens gathered. Holding a simple archery competition here was already enough to widely spread the news of Lightbringer's birth and greatly boost the overall combat confidence of the human side in the Gift.
Interestingly, even when Aegor had already had a flash of inspiration and come up with a good idea, Myrcella was still able to offer him a few more suggestions.
"Seventy-one arrows, that number is neither here nor there," the Little Princess muttered softly, frowning thoughtfully on the way back. "You might as well claim you forged seventy-seven arrows. This number is very sacred in the Faith of the Seven and will definitely make many believers happily promote your story for free. Did that blacksmith master not previously make a few sample arrowheads with his own Valyrian steel material? You can buy six of them as Lightbringer Seventy-two to Lightbringer Seventy-seven, collude with him and gather enough arrows. Then wrap gold on the shafts to improve their appearance, countless people will surely flock to them."
Aegor blinked at her. He had always only seen Myrcella as a little cute child in distress who needed care, but now he realized that her ability to give suggestions was quite outstanding, and her expression while thinking was unexpectedly pleasant to look at. "That is a good suggestion, but not everyone fighting alongside me is a follower of the Faith of the Seven. I cannot tell a lie just to please this small group of people, can I?"
"You can make the story a bit longer and add other factors to accommodate the feelings of people of various faiths," Myrcella thought for a moment and immediately had a new idea. "You have to know that people will always believe what they are willing to believe. For example, if you claim that you forged the seventy-seven Lightbringers with the help of a Priestess of the Lord of Light, in this story, both followers of the Faith of the Seven and believers of R'hllor can find their own desired focus and elements that they can take out and promote everywhere."
"And what about us Northmen. We believe in the Old Gods."
Arya stomped her foot in exasperation beside them, almost shouting. This is my Master, what are you doing talking to him all the time when there is nothing wrong.
"Hmm, I am sorry, I almost forgot," Myrcella quickly apologized, lowering her head and thinking for a moment. "Then let us add some elements related to the Old Gods. In the beliefs of the Northmen and the New Gift people, what is considered sacred?"
"Heart trees." Arya blurted out, sensing a threat. If she did not show some cleverness to attract attention, she would soon be surpassed in front of her Master and become a foolish girl who could only wield swords. "We can say at the beginning of the story that Master found that sword in front of a heart tree. Anyway, Bran gave you that sword, and I can just talk to him."
"That makes sense," Myrcella agreed. "We can say that in a heart tree struck by lightning or burned by fire, Lord Aegor pulled out that unknown Valyrian steel sword, and then that destroyed weirwood gave him a dream, telling him to reforge the sword into Lightbringer."
Aegor had originally just been listening to the two little girls' discussion for fun, but as the details of the story became more complete and the content grew richer, his expression gradually became serious. The more he listened, the more reliable it seemed. Was this not creating a myth?
He found a mysterious treasure sword stuck in a giant heart tree, melted it down with the help of a priestess of the Lord of Light and reforged it into seventy-seven arrows, named Lightbringer. Adding to what he had already decided, no matter how the Night King's army was eventually repelled, the Night's Watch would announce that Lightbringer shot the Night King and ended the war.
All of this, pieced together, was a story that followers of the Old Gods, the Lord of Light, or the Faith of the Seven, and even those who did not believe in gods but had simply heard the prophecy, could find what they wanted and be willing to spread, generating immense public opinion power.
As long as it could spread throughout the world, thousands of years later, some people would definitely treat this story as part of orthodox mythology, analyzing every word and detail, trying to restore a truth that could not be restored.
"Hmph, boring," Melisandre snorted, scoffing at this kind of wanton fabrication of stories and blasphemy. Although she occasionally used some illusions and rhetoric to achieve her goals, there was one principle she could not break. She would never collude or conspire with anyone other than high-ranking priestesses to avoid damaging her own sense of mystery and power. "You can make up whatever you want, just do not put my name in it. I never participated in this discussion of yours, nor did I hear a single word."
With that, the Red Priestess flicked her sleeves and went straight back to her room.
"Do not worry about her, she will not talk nonsense and tell tales. This idea is very interesting and has value for further refinement and implementation," Aegor smiled indifferently, then turned around and instructed several trusted guards not to spread what they had heard. "It is getting late now, you two girls, come to my room after dinner. We will revise and polish this story together, and at the same time as the archery competition is held, we will spread this new myth through various means."
(To be continued.)