Summer friends will melt away like summer snow, but winter friends are friends forever.
The lines compare the loyalty of friends of convenience to the fragility of snows in the North. The universe of A Song of Fire and Ice is marked by the unusually long seasons. Summer in North are accompanied by snows, which melt in a short time. This fragility is compared to the loyalty which friends have when the friendship is based on convenience. Friends who bond during a time of duress like Winter, survive the periods of despair longer.
Men, they are the children
The Children of the Forest mention this to Bran in response to their astonishment that they are called the Children of the Forest while they are almost two hundred years old in age. The creature replies that men are truly the children as they have limited knowledge but think of their knowledge to be absolute. They fight over trivial issues and do not think of things on a broader scale.
A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand.
Daenerys thinks of this as she contemplates her future as the Queen of Meereen. Daenerys biggest edge on the people of Slaver’s Bay is her three dragons. It is due to her dragons that she could conquer Astapor and Yunkai but become the queen of Meereen. But, she discovers that the dragons have begun to hunt humans and people are coming to her everyday with burnt corpses of their loved ones for justice. The burnt bones of the corpses will keep on haunting her while she is ruling. She also discovers that the dragons are no longer under her control. Thus, she as lost the edge she had on other kingdoms. So, her rule might end prematurely as things slip in quicksand quickly.
The lion in King’s Landing is a cub, and the Iron Throne has been known to cut grown men to ribbons.
These lions by Jon Snow compare Tommen Baratheon to a lion cub as the sigil of his mother’s house is a lion. This literal meaning of this line can hold as well as the figurative one as the Iron Throne is made of multiple iron swords welded together. These swords still have their edge and can cut one deeply. But, the Iron Throne also represents the roles and responsibilities of a king who, if immature, can be destroyed by the subjects.
Kill the boy and let the man be born
These lines by Maester Aemon use the word ‘boy’ to represent Jon Snow’s innocence and soft-heartedness. Maester Aemon believes that Jon, being of gentle disposition, may not be able to tackle the responsibilities he has as the Lord Commander of Night’s Watch. He asks him to kill the boy ‘inside’ him, the boy representing Jon’s innocence and asks him to be more mature like a fully-grown and experienced man.
