285 AC, Tyrosh, Temple of Trios...
What the fuck is this, Gerold thought. Indeed, he was expecting something difficult for the last one but this was a whole new level, there were too many opposite terms. Nevertheless, he had three minutes to solve it so he decided to begin thinking about the answer.
As usual, he began with the first part for his analysis of the riddle; we are both old and young. Well, everything that is alive is both old and young, Gerold thought. Every being was destined to get old and die but Gerold felt like there was some metaphor in there. Then, he remembered a psychological term from his old world, inner child. And this was a term only for humans so it could be said that everything that was not human was out of the question as an answer.
However, this was not his old word and there were humans turned mythical creatures in this place. The first part was a perfect match for the children of the forest or in the True Tongue, those who sing the song of earth. After all, they looked like children but they were as ancient as this world so it was plausible to say that they were both young and old.
Gerold kept the two answers he found for the first in his mind and thought about the second part; we are both sinners and innocent. He decided to go with the two answers he has got from the first part of the riddle and begin to think about the innocence and sins of humans and the children of the forest. Humans were always sinful as it was their nature but were there any innocence in them? Indeed, there was but only when they were babies as Gerold himself knew the cruelty of young children.
The old resident of this body was a disfigured boy and even the boys at five namedays were mocking him for something that was not his choice. However, these boys who were mocking him at five namedays were also innocent at their first nameday.
Children of the forest were also one of the most innocent species in this world as they were of the nature of itself. However, they were not without sin. After all, they committed the greatest sin in the eyes of God, creating another race. Thus, the wrath of God rained upon them and now they were also sinners like their counterpart, humans. So, it was okay to say they too were sinners.
As none of the answers he found was eliminated, Gerold thought about the third part of the riddle; we are both ruthless and merciful. This one was especially true for humans as they would show mercy because of their emotions and they would become ruthless in times of need.
However, these were not traits of the humans, alone. Children of the forest also knew the meaning of the ruthless as they used hammers of waters twice in an attempt to stop the invasion of the First Men; once by shattering the Arm of Dorne successfully and once to stop the First Men at the Neck but the latter was a failure and resulted in the current state of the Neck. Nevertheless, they were also innocent before learning the ruthless side of the world because of the First Men.
Gerold, again, looked at the next part of the riddle; we are both revered and shunned. Revered and shunned, these were words that totally corresponded with the children of the forest. They were revered by the First Men but shunned by the Andals.
On the other hand, humans were revered by themselves and they were also shunned by themselves. There was too much discrimination in human society and there was also a strict hierarchy as a feudal system. Humans revered kings, nobles and holy people. Humans shunned poor, handicapped and defeated.
Gerold did not find the certain answer he was looking for in the part too so his thought went towards the next and the last part; we are both ugly and beautiful. These two words could be interpreted as their common meaning and metaphorical meaning was the thought in Gerold's mind. A man could be ugly outside but beautiful inside was the answers he found for this part regarding humans.
He decided to think about the children of the forest but he couldn't link them with the words of ugly and beautiful. Of course, they were beautiful on their own with being one with nature but what was ugly about them? Maybe they are ugly in the eyes of others because of their appearances, Gerold thought.
There was one minute left for Gerold to answer but still, he was not nearing to a conclusion. However, suddenly, he remembered something, the children of the forest were humans once as their appearances were changed by demons because of the wish their ancestor had asked. So the answer was human, Gerold thought. Nevertheless, he thought about the riddle again to be sure and discovered another thing, the end of the riddle; what is our name?
As every word was important and hid other meanings in riddles, Gerold tried to analyse it, carefully. Unlike the first and second riddle that said who am I and what am I, respectively, the third riddle was not talking about a singular entity so humans were plausible as an answer but the third head was also not asking what is he or who is he, it was asking its name. "Human" was not a name and names were given to the living beings when they were born or if they were animals when they were adopted. However, Gerold knew the answer was not animal so he discarded it as an answer.
There were forty seconds left and Gerold was drifting apart from the answer each passing second. There was already sweat on his brows. Suddenly, a torch-lit on Gerold's mind and a totally different answer came to his mind.
Thirty seconds were left and Gerold started to laugh, maniacally. The answer apparently was not something he was expecting.
Memories of this body's last resident flashed in front of his eyes. A young boy was playing in front of a house then the scene changed. The young boy was stroking the head of a cat with his lamb-like eyes. Then he was getting beaten by older boys than his age but instead looking at them with hatred, he was looking at them with pity in his eyes. Lastly, he was being mocked by the other children because of his mouth.
Then the memories changed to his past-self on Earth. He saw himself with bags under his eyes and wrinkles on his face. He saw himself fucking a girl in a church. He was himself extorting money from people he did not know. He saw himself getting respect because of his position as a priest. And lastly, he saw a woman he never saw, looking at him with loving and longing eyes by the corner of a street.
Then, Gerold raised his head to look at the second head and answered, "Gerold."