“I cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye”

The saying is a childhood expression used to emphasize sincerity or truthfulness. When someone says this, they are making a promise or assuring others that they are being honest, to children it is like a pledge of honor.

At the end of young Waymar’s duel, when his sword breaks, Will thinks the scattering shards are like a rain of needles.

A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles. Royce went to his knees, shrieking, and covered his eyes. Blood welled between his fingers.

In that moment, one of those “needles” or shards ends up in Waymar’s left eye. Will sees him go to his knees, shrieking, covering his eyes and watched blood well between his fingers.

His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from his sword transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye.

What was Waymar’s broken promise?

Royces, proud descendants of the First Men, are supposed to honor the “Pact”.

The Pact was a treaty that said the children retained the standing forests and the First Men were able to settle the open lands, while agreeing not put any more weirwoods to the axe.

Before young Waymar gains the ridge, longsword in hand; he kills the young saplings, the ones that pressed too close, the ones that Will warns him about.

"The trees press close here," Will warned. "That sword will tangle you up, m'lord. Better a knife."

Will hears the cold butchery, the rustle of leaves, and muttered curses as reaching branches grabbed at his longsword and tugged on his splendid sable cloak.

Behind him, he heard the soft metallic slither of the lordling's ringmail, the rustle of leaves, and muttered curses as reaching branches grabbed at his longsword and tugged on his splendid sable cloak.

And Will sees the final blow:

"Gods!" he heard behind him. A sword slashed at a branch as Ser Waymar Royce gained the ridge...

…He stood there beside the sentinel, longsword in hand, his cloak billowing behind him as the wind came up, outlined nobly against the stars for all to see.

Waymar’s hubris will be repaid. He will bend the knee. The Old God’s will see to it.

A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles. Royce went to his knees, shrieking, and covered his eyes. Blood welled between his fingers.

Waymar will learn that nature possesses a unique ability to reestablish balance. According to traditional Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism, allowing natural processes to unfold without interference is the key to achieving a joyful life in alignment with the Tao.

Tao, which translates to "the way," signifies a path of harmony and balance. Waymar should not have marred or killed the children of the forest, those baby saplings.

It appears to me that Martin has based the “Old Gods” on ancient Chinese philosophy.

The Symbol

We see validation of this with a symbol created, using imagery, later on…

Waymar, dressed all in black, “turning in a slow circle”, in a clearing blanketed in new-fallen, moonlit snow; juxtaposed against the shade or “dark of the wood” where a “white shadow” is emerging.

It’s the Yin/Yang symbol!