@@DavidLightbringer Looks like these storms are all over the southern and midwestern US. 😣 please be safe as possible if any of us are in these areas. It seems to be massive
The blood-in-the-mortar thing might also be a reference to the ancient customs and folk-tales of "Foundation Sacrifice", i.e. sacrificing an animal or human and burying them under the building to ensure it's success, the idea being that they become a sort of household spirit who protects the place. If this is was what was on GRRM's mind, then he may have inverted it, i.e. Black Harren accidentally created malevolent household spirts by "sacrificing" so many unwilling slaves in Harrenhal's construction.
If I was some up jumped minor lord who got handed Harrenhal, here's how I'd deal with it. First I'd take out a modest loan to finance some renovations. The first of which would be to tear down one or two of those huge towers, and use the masonry to build a new wall around the remaining towers. I'd occupy the remaining towers as my fortress, and open up the castle grounds to the local small folk and travelers, for use on Fair days and market days. I would of course collect dues on all such trade. I would renovate and rent out some of the outbuildings (such as the smithy and the kitchens) to local merchants and artisans. I would rent out some of the other outbuildings to accommodate travellers, such as the bath house, the stables, and the barracks building (which could make a fine tavern). All that extra income should solve the financial issues of running Harrenhal. As for the spiritual problems, I would regularly sacrifice animals in the castle godswood, and hire gardeners to maintain it to appease the old gods. While also opening it up for the free use of any of the local small folk or travelers who worship the old gods. To appease the seven, I would renovate the castle sept and invite the faith to re-consecrate it and use it as a public sept. And lastly I'd endeavor to have as many children as possible (Walder Frey hold my beer), and marry them into as many other noble houses as possible, (And I wouldn't be picky about it) to forge alliances with as many of my neighbors as possible, and to decrease the likelihood that my house would die out.
My understanding is that it costs nearly as much to demolish a stone building as it does to build one. In the 1960s the city of Philadelphia wanted to tear down their city hall to replace it with a “modern” concrete and glass box of a building but stopped when they found out how much it would cost- thank God.
@@wfox4418the main cost associated with demolition is hazardous waste removal. I doubt that debris would be treated in medieval times like asbestos or radioactive material today.
@@wfox4418 So maybe not such a modest loan. 😏 But considering that I'd still be collecting income on Harrenhal's attendant lands, and would be able to collect additional rents & dues on trade after opening up the castle grounds, I think I could make good. 😉
The Great Council of 101 AC was held in Harrenhal. What if the "curse" of Harrenhal extended to engulf the entire realm, hence the downfall of House Targaryen and the Dance of Dragons.
So was Rhaegar's big tourney where he was supposed to be planning a coup, but hooked up with a wolf girl instead 😬 Man, this place might just be bad news. Give it to me anyway, I can fix her.
It's interesting that the current person who holds Harrenhal is hanging about Sansa, who begenning to gain her own power. I think it'll be interesting if both sisters pass through and it changes them, helping them gain power in a way.
The basic non-magical element of curse of Harrenhal is simply that it's an economic millstone around the neck of whoever possesses it. It was only sustainable when Harren had the entire Riverlands as the castle's "lands", providing resources and income to keep it going. Aegon gave most of those lands back to the other Riverlords, so Harrenhal barely has enough income to run it in it's decrepit state, but certainly not enough to rebuild it or turn it into an alternative power-centre. This was very probably the deliberate point of the exercise. Now it can be used to hobble any house with rising ambitions that feels like a threat to the throne: they can be "honoured" by giving them Harrenhal, but it doesn't give them power to do actually do anything except... own Harrenhal.
Harrenhall should be the crown's fort or garrison not a castle stronghold for a house. A good option would be to rotate out the commander house every year or so or just having military rulers. On the flip side...the military could potentially revolt.
Euron showing up at Harrenhal on top of Viserion and doing atrocities to the Holy Hundred is just so horribly delicious. Euron's famous quote of From Ib to Asshai when men see my sails they pray plays off of what Jamie thinks of the Holy Hundred "They pray well, I suppose, but can they fight?"
I don't think Daemon did sleep with Nettles. I think Daemon is Nettles' father. His doting on her is described in very fatherlike terms, and his mournful character after Rhaenyra orders her death is more like the attitude of a father who has just discovered his long-lost daughter and then lost her than it is a womanizer having his latest side-chick banished.
The weirwood and children of the forest relationship ship reminds me a bit if "Ender's Game" and the pequeninos. The oily black stone sounds like fuel for all the magic in Planetos. Kinda like a cross between coal and oil/tar.
I kept noticing the quality of artwork selected to accentuate the things being covered. Of course I love all dragons but the drawings and renderings of dragons we had today are particularly beautiful to my eye. That Harrenhal thumb nail is brilliant too. It actually looks as threatening and imposing as I had pictured it from reading the books. Almost like a castle from the original Berserk anime
If Euron ends up at Harrenhal, I suspect it's Bran that he'll be battling for control of the Gods Eye. After all it's Bran's kingdom he'll be trying to claim.
I’m only part way thru the stream but I just wanted to point out that in actual Ancient Hellenic practice Persephone is very much an empowered witch queen!! the myth of Persephone’s abduction is most commonly known today but in ancient times it was the initiation myth of one particular sect/cult and broadly Persephone was primarily seen in her aspect as the Queen of the Underworld, which is very Alys River, Witch Queen of Harrenhal. But of course that all goes hand in hand with the Ice Moon/Night’s Queen archetype editing to add that if your looking at an overall arc of Persephone’s mythos, her going from imprisoned to empowered witch queen would be parallel to both Alys and Arya’s stories
David, thank you for your amazing content and all the hard work you put into your videos. Idk if you’ve heard of Unity 5 Games’ channel but they do really amazing animations of iconic asoiaf scenes involving dragons. They recreated Aegon’s burning of Harrenhal on Balerion that’s just incredible (voice acting included). Thought it was kind of fitting regarding the topic and that you might enjoy it! Edit: the voice acting is actually from Harry Lloyd narrating snippets of Targaryen history as Viserys.
Sansa is the Persephone figure. Tripped by littlefinger (whos the hades figure) the owner of harrenhal. Theres even the point in which sansa refuses littlefingers pomegranate.
My understanding of the curse of Harrenhal, at least as far as the supernatural component, is that every person who assumes lordship of Harrenhal dooms their house to extinction. Not every person to rule Harrenhal has died horribly, but every house to assume lordship of Harrenhal has ended miserably. Not only has this been the fate of every house to officially take the lordship of Harrenhal up to house Whent, but quite a few of the recent presumed lords of the castle have met the end of their family line, or set their families on a path of destruction. There's no mention of Amory Lorch or Vargo Hoat having children, so I think it's safe to assume they both died childless. I believe Gregor and Sandor are also childless, making them the last two Clegane's. Even Petyr Baelish has no legitimate children. And even if you believe that Sweet Robyn is secretly his son, Robyn's likely to die soon, possibly at Petyr's own hands. Which means when Petyr dies it will be the end of house Baelish. Thanks to their recent treacheries, House Bolton has made too many enemies to survive much longer. And the same could be said for House Lannister, at least the Lannisters of The Rock. Any Lannisters who survive Daenerys or the Long Night are unlikely to survive Tyrion, who now hates his family and has sworn vengeance on all of them. Which just leaves Tyrion, who is no spring chicken, and has already promised away much of the wealth of Casterly Rock, to buy himself out of his current troubles in Slaver's Bay. Even if Tyrion survives to the end of ADOS he's likely to be the last Lannister of The Rock, as his personal history, and present disposition leaves him unlikely to be married with children by the end.
I wonder what your thoughts on Meera Reeds story. I have always found it to be one of the biggest head scratches. The story seemingly is all true minus the use of names. Which If that is the case then then the crannogman from the tale was on the Isle over 300 years. He is surprised to see the castle in the distance when he leaves. It's possible he carried his boat hundreds of miles and entered the lake not near Harrenhall but unlikely. The hatred the Freys have for the Crannogmen (frog eaters ) makes me believe there castle was built primarily to halt the the crannogmen easy access to travel down river to the gods eye. Harrenhal being the final nail. Since leaving the trident walking over land a ways Harrenhall is blocking access from that direction. I also got the feeling that the castle Bran and Co hold up I believe it's Queens Crown tower was originally a Frey connection. Can you imagine playing Lord of the Crossing on that partial water covered walking. The quite Isle is like last stop on the trident before the bay of crabs it's quicksand version of Queens Crown it's also got magical properties and they gather things they find in the river.
Alice Harroway was probably a witch or used magic. I'm just guessing Tyanna was also a witch, hence the attraction. I don't know why those two had a falling out but the women clearly had a fight sometime during or before Alice's pregnancy. I think the torture and murder of Alice was 50% hatred by Tyanna and 50% political motivation by Magore. I'm guessing Magore killed all of the Harroways because 1)He wanted to avoid retaliation after he killed Alice 2)He suspected The Hand of attempting treason 3) Redistribution of wealth 4)If Alice & Tyanna were witches, Alice's blood had power during a sacrifice
In various religions and cultures throughout the world believe in places where the veil is thin. Basically the physical/reality realm we inhabit can easily access the spiritual/magical realm from the location. I'm sure GRRM sees these "hinges" like ley lines or ionas.
I'm late to this since ugh long so I needed to be in the right mood, but very interesting! I wasn't even aware that Catelyn was half Whent! Def added another layer to Aryas story at Harrenhal.
King Charles II: "Am I not the father of my people?" Lord Shaftsbury: "Of a good many of them, Sire."* Lucamore Strong: "Hold my white cloak..." *KCII & LS = Real conversation, allegedly.
Another Henry 8th connection to Aegon, is that Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s older sister, was Henry the 8ths mistress before Anne. There’s definitely echos of that with the Bracken sisters. Maybe it’s my religious trauma speaking, but Harrenhal with a werewood tree in its gods wood, gives me the feeling of one of those mega-churches. The trappings of piety with a rotten core inside. Like, so much land and hearths that could be used to feed the smallfolk, so many rooms that could be used to house the smallfolk, so much potential to make things better for the people that a king is supposed to protect. But all of that is used to glorify and benefit one person at the top, all the while everyone around them is suffering.
For more about the Henry VIII stuff I strongly recommend the podcast Rex Factor. They did a special episode collecting numerous theories as to why Henry VIII turned so nasty, was it the jousting accident, his upbringing, various health conditions, insecurity about other kings at the time? We'll never know for sure but it's fun to speculate.
2:15:45 And what’s even more horrifying is that Jeyne Lothston was then also rumored to be the daughter of Aegon IV and Falena. That means that instead of Aegon IV having sex with Falena and her daughter, which is gross, instead he and Falena had sex with their own daughter.
There’s a parallel between Aegon the Unworthy and Daenerys Stormborn. They both experience and sexual abuse in their younger years and eventually display hyper sexual behavior in their later years. Anyone who lives in a community that is plagued with abuse of children knows that often an indication that a child has been abused is when they begin to show signs of sexual promiscuity or hyper-sexual behavior during adolescence. I’ve always read Dany’s behavior as a trauma response and George’s way of highlighting one of the many ways that this medieval type society can be destructive to women and girls.
Fun fact, they found some mortar mixed with blood in some ruins. It actually makes the mortar stronger. Edit: Animal blood has a long history of use for construction both in Europe and Asia. Builders of the Great Wall of China used pig blood to improve the consistency and durability of their mortar. Blood was often used for mortars in the Middle Ages and later in the 18th and 19th centuries.
I think Euron is only interested in Daeny for her dragons. Once he snaggs one with Dragonbinder I suspect his plans to marry Daeny will slide to the bottom of his to do list.
In the uk we have a famous tree up by Hadrian's wall I think, it was in one of the old Robin Hood films, it was cut down by a random person with no tree knowledge. It's started regrowing from the stump, I wonder if that's what happened in the harrenhal gods wood, a stump of a tree cut down started growing again
The lesser houses are more likely to see harrenhal as a 'step up' and as a boon from the king and accept it, the bigger lords would be more likely to see it as a Trojan horse and try and get around not accepting it if they were offered it which would be unlikely because any big houses they liked they wouldn't give a bad egg to or wouldn't give it to a not friend house incase they rose up
Is it possible that some of the Witch Queen rumors & suspicions around being old is tied into the whole old crone motif & witches using magic to remain beautiful or young, bewitching men or even stealing lifeforce/power and/or drinking the blood of innocents (vampires, succubus) or using blood in their potions... It was kind of true for Melisandre...😮
I think the big reason that Jaehaerys always worked against women inheriting was because if any scenario in which they do leads to him being labeled as a usurper. 1) Women and men inherit equally (as Alysanne suggested with Daenerys being chosen over Aemon. The fact that she felt that this was something that was reasonable to ask, and how Valerian doesn’t have gendered language and how powerful in their own right Visenya and Rhaenys were, might mean that this is how it was with Valerians always, but the maesters might have fudged that history): If this was true, he'd be a usurper TWO times over. Not only would he be claiming a throne meant for his older sister, Rhaena, but he'd also have risen against the true king Maegor. If an older sister inherits before a younger brother, than the throne should be passing through Visenya before Aegon the conquer, meaning Maegor should have come before Aenys. 2) If a daughter comes before a brother (as was the Rhaenys Velaryon argument over Baelon and later Viserys and is the default in all of Westeros except on Dorne): Than it was usurpation for him to take the throne over his brother Aegon's twin daughters. Unless Aegon wasn't king before he died...but that only applies if Maegor was legitimate! So, no matter what, if the woman inherited in this situation, Jaehaerys is a usurper. So, I don't think it was him disliking his older sister Rhaena's example of women in power
3:09:38 Yes, turn Harrenhal into the Temple of R'hllor in Westeros, right across the Isle of Faces, and make Melisandre the High Priestess. The curse began with fire, perhaps it ends with fire
Do you suppose Harrenhal is named with reference to German words "herr/herren" in the sense of "master/lord/ruler?" The whole story of the castle and its occupants is like a parable about what happens to people in power (regardless of who they were beforehand, or how they achieved their position)
oh that makes a lot of sense . it's a lot better than my idea about a heron getting trapped in the Great Hall while they were debating what to name the castle 🤣🤣
If Roose gets killed by Ramsy the Larys definitely killed his father and brother her because 3 is a pattern Grey Waste always says !! The other being Tyrion /Tywin ! 38:35
It is a real world thing that traumatic brain injuries cause personality changes, irrational anger, mania paranoia. I have a neuro condition where I get pressure on my brain and my mum and bffs could always tell when it was starting to bet bad because I had less patience over stupid little things, this was probably because of the pressure and the pain, it was one of our warning signs unfortunately drs wouldn't do anything until my sight became more comprised (spinal tap to drain csf) I've been remission for a couple years now due to meds
I'm sorry this is off topic, but I'm not on any other social media sites and Carter Vail just dropped the best squisher song I've ever heard. Nimble Dick needs to check it out! 😂
So SO much of Maegor is a play upon Henry 8. 1. the fight with the prevailing religion of the land 2. the falling into a coma/being unconscious after getting a biff on the bonce. Then, after waking up, being even more erratic, awful and dangerous. 3. the struggle for an heir 4. blaming the lack of heirs on the wives, never himself 5. making any court women who he fancied be forced to have sex with him. Regardless of whether they were married, their age, if he was friends with their husband etc.. No one dared to say "no. 6. Claims that one (or more) of his wives, were having sex with other men, in hopes of becoming pregnant....with the implication that "everyone knows that the King isn't up to the job". Anne Boleyn (should be "Bullin", but the Boleyns were classic arrivistes, and thought Boleyn was classier looking. The kind of people who'd name their daughter Tiffany, which is bad enough, but then spell it Tiphannee) was accused of having boffed even her brother in order to get pregnant. Poor desperate pathetic Katherine Howard was also accused of trying to get pregnant my having sex with other people, and Henry was CERTAINLY incapable by then. She was a teenager, he was 49, morbidly obese, had open ulcerations wounds on his limbs that stank, and had trouble just getting around. Then there were the diabetes and venereal diseases. The constipation and headaches, the roaring rages, and violence, plus the usual deadly combination of thin skin and bullying. Andrew Tate in a few years. Katherine had been being sexually abused from a very young age. She was one of quite a sizable group of unwanted female orphans of titled families, who'd all been sent to live in the house of an aging female relative - who they never saw or interacted with. They were all regarded as dreadful burdens. Like most orphans, they were starved and totally at the non existent mercy of the men in the household. Those men would come into the girl's beds at night and do whatever they wanted. This was often the only thing that kept the girls alive, as these men would, on occasion bring some wine (to get them drunk) and food. Which could be their principle source of nutrition As they had no parents to provide a dowry, no marriage was possible. They would be spending their, likely to be very short, life at this place, were they not thrown out to die in the dirt when they became pregnant. Marrying Henry was thought to be "lucky" for Katherine.
Batman Allusion stuff missing from this: Petyr is Bruce Wayne: rich misjudged for his persona Cat is Catwoman: hints that they did indeed sleep together (not her first but still), also hints she (and Lysa) are manipulating him not the reverse Robin is… well… Robin the boy wonder: hints at his powers being real. It’s how Petyr gets his information and why Robin hates Hardyng but not Petyr; because Robin knows Hardyng’s motivations though visions so knows not to trust him and knows Petyr’s aren’t meant to harm him. Petyr isn’t drugging him to hurt him, it’s to shut him up and not spill the beans.
Because harenhall was blasted by dragon fire, do youthink it could be a safe place if the whitewalkers get past Winterfell and they hold a stand there...but the white walkers just explode when they go near it....
Jaehaerys was a pragmatist not a misogynist. Thanks Aenys and Maegor the Targaryen dynasty was already in a tenuous position. Having just concluded a war with the faith over their stance on incest and polygamy, I can understand why he was in no hurry to start a whole new fight with the patriarchal nobility of Westeros by trying to overturn male preference primogeniture.
Arya seeing her mom as Nymeria is only a theory? I thought it was pretty clear that's the intent of that section. That she smelled her mom, and dragged her out of the water, then she was found by the brotherhood without banners.
>.> If Arya is Batman, should we consider her ending involving her having a large family (most of the children being adopted) who all have similar training and trauma to herself?
What up @mods? I know im not super technology illiterate but I still can’t join the UA-cam member on mobile. Any help? Next step is library for desktop mode I guess 😅
Watching this while sheltering from a storm in my bathroom really sets the ambiance.
Been seeing some pretty scary stories from people in these affected areas. Glad you're still able to watch these videos and hoping you remain safe
that's pretty nuts, hope all is well
@@DavidLightbringer Looks like these storms are all over the southern and midwestern US. 😣 please be safe as possible if any of us are in these areas. It seems to be massive
Stay safe
Thanks everyone! I live in an area where the worst we got was some hail and downed trees. Thankfully we were all safe!
Can we all take a sec just to praise Tim for his input. The past month he's been on 🔥
It’s defs my fave combo, Tim’s a bit dry on his own, LML gets distracted by himself, you add the two together it’s a perfect team
The real curse of Harrenhal was the enemies we made along the way
The blood-in-the-mortar thing might also be a reference to the ancient customs and folk-tales of "Foundation Sacrifice", i.e. sacrificing an animal or human and burying them under the building to ensure it's success, the idea being that they become a sort of household spirit who protects the place. If this is was what was on GRRM's mind, then he may have inverted it, i.e. Black Harren accidentally created malevolent household spirts by "sacrificing" so many unwilling slaves in Harrenhal's construction.
I wouldn't be surprised though if there were actual blood sacrifices GRRM will.later put in his story line as all magic in GOT is blood magic.
Tbis is most likely a reference to the Great Wall in China, legendarily mortared with human blood and cement
David Lightbringer totally drinks the recommended amount of water each day.
If I was some up jumped minor lord who got handed Harrenhal, here's how I'd deal with it. First I'd take out a modest loan to finance some renovations.
The first of which would be to tear down one or two of those huge towers, and use the masonry to build a new wall around the remaining towers.
I'd occupy the remaining towers as my fortress, and open up the castle grounds to the local small folk and travelers, for use on Fair days and market days. I would of course collect dues on all such trade.
I would renovate and rent out some of the outbuildings (such as the smithy and the kitchens) to local merchants and artisans.
I would rent out some of the other outbuildings to accommodate travellers, such as the bath house, the stables, and the barracks building (which could make a fine tavern).
All that extra income should solve the financial issues of running Harrenhal.
As for the spiritual problems, I would regularly sacrifice animals in the castle godswood, and hire gardeners to maintain it to appease the old gods. While also opening it up for the free use of any of the local small folk or travelers who worship the old gods.
To appease the seven, I would renovate the castle sept and invite the faith to re-consecrate it and use it as a public sept.
And lastly I'd endeavor to have as many children as possible (Walder Frey hold my beer), and marry them into as many other noble houses as possible, (And I wouldn't be picky about it) to forge alliances with as many of my neighbors as possible, and to decrease the likelihood that my house would die out.
Good ideas
My understanding is that it costs nearly as much to demolish a stone building as it does to build one. In the 1960s the city of Philadelphia wanted to tear down their city hall to replace it with a “modern” concrete and glass box of a building but stopped when they found out how much it would cost- thank God.
@@wfox4418the main cost associated with demolition is hazardous waste removal. I doubt that debris would be treated in medieval times like asbestos or radioactive material today.
@@wfox4418 So maybe not such a modest loan. 😏 But considering that I'd still be collecting income on Harrenhal's attendant lands, and would be able to collect additional rents & dues on trade after opening up the castle grounds, I think I could make good. 😉
@@soxpeewee Whew! Guess my brilliant plan would still have a chance. 😅
The Great Council of 101 AC was held in Harrenhal. What if the "curse" of Harrenhal extended to engulf the entire realm, hence the downfall of House Targaryen and the Dance of Dragons.
oh sheeeet That was a tremendously bad idea wasn't it
So was Rhaegar's big tourney where he was supposed to be planning a coup, but hooked up with a wolf girl instead 😬
Man, this place might just be bad news. Give it to me anyway, I can fix her.
“Flower-sniffing creep,” new favorite insult unlocked
It's interesting that the current person who holds Harrenhal is hanging about Sansa, who begenning to gain her own power. I think it'll be interesting if both sisters pass through and it changes them, helping them gain power in a way.
The basic non-magical element of curse of Harrenhal is simply that it's an economic millstone around the neck of whoever possesses it. It was only sustainable when Harren had the entire Riverlands as the castle's "lands", providing resources and income to keep it going. Aegon gave most of those lands back to the other Riverlords, so Harrenhal barely has enough income to run it in it's decrepit state, but certainly not enough to rebuild it or turn it into an alternative power-centre. This was very probably the deliberate point of the exercise. Now it can be used to hobble any house with rising ambitions that feels like a threat to the throne: they can be "honoured" by giving them Harrenhal, but it doesn't give them power to do actually do anything except... own Harrenhal.
Harrenhall should be the crown's fort or garrison not a castle stronghold for a house.
A good option would be to rotate out the commander house every year or so or just having military rulers. On the flip side...the military could potentially revolt.
Euron showing up at Harrenhal on top of Viserion and doing atrocities to the Holy Hundred is just so horribly delicious.
Euron's famous quote of From Ib to Asshai when men see my sails they pray plays off of what Jamie thinks of the Holy Hundred
"They pray well, I suppose, but can they fight?"
Holy 86 now!
I don't think Daemon did sleep with Nettles. I think Daemon is Nettles' father. His doting on her is described in very fatherlike terms, and his mournful character after Rhaenyra orders her death is more like the attitude of a father who has just discovered his long-lost daughter and then lost her than it is a womanizer having his latest side-chick banished.
Please keep making your non live stream videos! I love them the most and hope it's worth the effort
The weirwood and children of the forest relationship ship reminds me a bit if "Ender's Game" and the pequeninos.
The oily black stone sounds like fuel for all the magic in Planetos. Kinda like a cross between coal and oil/tar.
A true masterpiece! You two are finding a groove.
I kept noticing the quality of artwork selected to accentuate the things being covered. Of course I love all dragons but the drawings and renderings of dragons we had today are particularly beautiful to my eye. That Harrenhal thumb nail is brilliant too. It actually looks as threatening and imposing as I had pictured it from reading the books. Almost like a castle from the original Berserk anime
Rewatching videos again while I plot out my next novel’s world, these streams are my creative safe space. ❤
If Euron ends up at Harrenhal, I suspect it's Bran that he'll be battling for control of the Gods Eye. After all it's Bran's kingdom he'll be trying to claim.
I’m only part way thru the stream but I just wanted to point out that in actual Ancient Hellenic practice Persephone is very much an empowered witch queen!! the myth of Persephone’s abduction is most commonly known today but in ancient times it was the initiation myth of one particular sect/cult and broadly Persephone was primarily seen in her aspect as the Queen of the Underworld, which is very Alys River, Witch Queen of Harrenhal. But of course that all goes hand in hand with the Ice Moon/Night’s Queen archetype
editing to add that if your looking at an overall arc of Persephone’s mythos, her going from imprisoned to empowered witch queen would be parallel to both Alys and Arya’s stories
David, thank you for your amazing content and all the hard work you put into your videos. Idk if you’ve heard of Unity 5 Games’ channel but they do really amazing animations of iconic asoiaf scenes involving dragons. They recreated Aegon’s burning of Harrenhal on Balerion that’s just incredible (voice acting included). Thought it was kind of fitting regarding the topic and that you might enjoy it!
Edit: the voice acting is actually from Harry Lloyd narrating snippets of Targaryen history as Viserys.
I recently found these. So fun 🔥
Great stream 🏰🏚️👻 , have a nice Sunday and Nettles for Nettles 🐲
Sansa is the Persephone figure. Tripped by littlefinger (whos the hades figure) the owner of harrenhal. Theres even the point in which sansa refuses littlefingers pomegranate.
Great stream as always, thanks guys!
My understanding of the curse of Harrenhal, at least as far as the supernatural component, is that every person who assumes lordship of Harrenhal dooms their house to extinction. Not every person to rule Harrenhal has died horribly, but every house to assume lordship of Harrenhal has ended miserably. Not only has this been the fate of every house to officially take the lordship of Harrenhal up to house Whent, but quite a few of the recent presumed lords of the castle have met the end of their family line, or set their families on a path of destruction. There's no mention of Amory Lorch or Vargo Hoat having children, so I think it's safe to assume they both died childless. I believe Gregor and Sandor are also childless, making them the last two Clegane's. Even Petyr Baelish has no legitimate children. And even if you believe that Sweet Robyn is secretly his son, Robyn's likely to die soon, possibly at Petyr's own hands. Which means when Petyr dies it will be the end of house Baelish. Thanks to their recent treacheries, House Bolton has made too many enemies to survive much longer. And the same could be said for House Lannister, at least the Lannisters of The Rock. Any Lannisters who survive Daenerys or the Long Night are unlikely to survive Tyrion, who now hates his family and has sworn vengeance on all of them. Which just leaves Tyrion, who is no spring chicken, and has already promised away much of the wealth of Casterly Rock, to buy himself out of his current troubles in Slaver's Bay. Even if Tyrion survives to the end of ADOS he's likely to be the last Lannister of The Rock, as his personal history, and present disposition leaves him unlikely to be married with children by the end.
I wonder what your thoughts on Meera Reeds story. I have always found it to be one of the biggest head scratches. The story seemingly is all true minus the use of names. Which If that is the case then then the crannogman from the tale was on the Isle over 300 years. He is surprised to see the castle in the distance when he leaves. It's possible he carried his boat hundreds of miles and entered the lake not near Harrenhall but unlikely. The hatred the Freys have for the Crannogmen (frog eaters ) makes me believe there castle was built primarily to halt the the crannogmen easy access to travel down river to the gods eye. Harrenhal being the final nail. Since leaving the trident walking over land a ways Harrenhall is blocking access from that direction. I also got the feeling that the castle Bran and Co hold up I believe it's Queens Crown tower was originally a Frey connection. Can you imagine playing Lord of the Crossing on that partial water covered walking. The quite Isle is like last stop on the trident before the bay of crabs it's quicksand version of Queens Crown it's also got magical properties and they gather things they find in the river.
Gods this series was strong. Hopefully it returns sooner then later
Alice Harroway was innocent! Tyanna framed her. And I doubt Tyanna's confession. Maegor's loins were cursed and he didn't want to own up to it.
Alice Harroway was probably a witch or used magic. I'm just guessing Tyanna was also a witch, hence the attraction.
I don't know why those two had a falling out but the women clearly had a fight sometime during or before Alice's pregnancy.
I think the torture and murder of Alice was 50% hatred by Tyanna and 50% political motivation by Magore.
I'm guessing Magore killed all of the Harroways because
1)He wanted to avoid retaliation after he killed Alice
2)He suspected The Hand of attempting treason
3) Redistribution of wealth
4)If Alice & Tyanna were witches, Alice's blood had power during a sacrifice
- Surrender, Titanic!
- Never!
- Icebergs float.
- Titanic does not sink.
- Your cruise line will end!
"your cruise line will end" I'm fuggin DEAD hahahahah
Is the titanic a nights king figure...?
@@caseco4979 OMG! Yes it is! Do you want to count the ways? :))))))
greeeeat video series lads. You guys got me back into reading the books!
I feel like the hinges are probably naturally occurring places on earth. I could totally see the gods eye being one of them
In various religions and cultures throughout the world believe in places where the veil is thin. Basically the physical/reality realm we inhabit can easily access the spiritual/magical realm from the location.
I'm sure GRRM sees these "hinges" like ley lines or ionas.
I'm late to this since ugh long so I needed to be in the right mood, but very interesting! I wasn't even aware that Catelyn was half Whent! Def added another layer to Aryas story at Harrenhal.
King Charles II: "Am I not the father of my people?"
Lord Shaftsbury: "Of a good many of them, Sire."*
Lucamore Strong: "Hold my white cloak..."
*KCII & LS = Real conversation, allegedly.
What happens when a quarry is filled? You get a lake!
So is the God's Eye (island) a high point in the quarry?
😮
We’re going to need a lot of wizards, witches, and priest/tesses! It would probably take years of work and mariculture warding.
Here from pt 1!!! So glad I found 😍😍😍
Another great Lml video! Learned a lot from these Harrenhal episodes. Seven Blessings to ya!
Comparing the Targaryens to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt is pretty accurate actually 😂
When you find out David can talk hoops in an intelligent way: yayyyyyyy
When you hear David praise Boston in any way, shape, or form: booooooooo
hahaha
Another Henry 8th connection to Aegon, is that Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s older sister, was Henry the 8ths mistress before Anne. There’s definitely echos of that with the Bracken sisters.
Maybe it’s my religious trauma speaking, but Harrenhal with a werewood tree in its gods wood, gives me the feeling of one of those mega-churches. The trappings of piety with a rotten core inside. Like, so much land and hearths that could be used to feed the smallfolk, so many rooms that could be used to house the smallfolk, so much potential to make things better for the people that a king is supposed to protect. But all of that is used to glorify and benefit one person at the top, all the while everyone around them is suffering.
Rewatching the theorising near the end of the stream😊
I’ve had to crack chests to message hearts. I can’t imagine cutting it out!
For more about the Henry VIII stuff I strongly recommend the podcast Rex Factor. They did a special episode collecting numerous theories as to why Henry VIII turned so nasty, was it the jousting accident, his upbringing, various health conditions, insecurity about other kings at the time? We'll never know for sure but it's fun to speculate.
2:15:45 And what’s even more horrifying is that Jeyne Lothston was then also rumored to be the daughter of Aegon IV and Falena. That means that instead of Aegon IV having sex with Falena and her daughter, which is gross, instead he and Falena had sex with their own daughter.
There’s a parallel between Aegon the Unworthy and Daenerys Stormborn. They both experience and sexual abuse in their younger years and eventually display hyper sexual behavior in their later years. Anyone who lives in a community that is plagued with abuse of children knows that often an indication that a child has been abused is when they begin to show signs of sexual promiscuity or hyper-sexual behavior during adolescence. I’ve always read Dany’s behavior as a trauma response and George’s way of highlighting one of the many ways that this medieval type society can be destructive to women and girls.
Fun fact, they found some mortar mixed with blood in some ruins. It actually makes the mortar stronger.
Edit:
Animal blood has a long history of use for construction both in Europe and Asia. Builders of the Great Wall of China used pig blood to improve the consistency and durability of their mortar. Blood was often used for mortars in the Middle Ages and later in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Another great stream thanks friends!
Night gathers and my watch begins
First to take the black!
Love the South Park reference and even more the point it makes! Thanks for that!
Another great stream !!! ❤😊 thankyou.
Great video and live stream…..would love to see you do something like this with the History of the Nightfort.
What if…”Nettles” ends up being her nickname so team green doesn’t realize she’s there?
I think Euron is only interested in Daeny for her dragons. Once he snaggs one with Dragonbinder I suspect his plans to marry Daeny will slide to the bottom of his to do list.
personally I think he wants to use her for a blood magic Nissa Nissa ritual
@@DavidLightbringer That sounds exactly like Euron's style. Falia Flowers learned the hard way how Euron's courtships end.
Loving the stream as always. You two are legends.
And a second comment just to grease the wheels of the algorithm gods!!
In the uk we have a famous tree up by Hadrian's wall I think, it was in one of the old Robin Hood films, it was cut down by a random person with no tree knowledge. It's started regrowing from the stump, I wonder if that's what happened in the harrenhal gods wood, a stump of a tree cut down started growing again
Currently running a dnd game set in this world, and Harrenhal is the end of this run, so all this lore I can sprinkle to the players is great.
Potential scorching take... is Maegor a dragon made man? Like Visenya sucks a dragon soul out of an egg and makes a baby or some shit?
On another podcast they worked out via DnD how many ravens they'd need to beat Godzilla (20,000 IIRC) via DnD rules
Harrenhal is a white elephant of a castle.
The lesser houses are more likely to see harrenhal as a 'step up' and as a boon from the king and accept it, the bigger lords would be more likely to see it as a Trojan horse and try and get around not accepting it if they were offered it which would be unlikely because any big houses they liked they wouldn't give a bad egg to or wouldn't give it to a not friend house incase they rose up
“Be content with a normal sized house.” 😂
Is it possible that some of the Witch Queen rumors & suspicions around being old is tied into the whole old crone motif & witches using magic to remain beautiful or young, bewitching men or even stealing lifeforce/power and/or drinking the blood of innocents (vampires, succubus) or using blood in their potions... It was kind of true for Melisandre...😮
really looking forward to more Alys in Fire and Blood p2!
I think the big reason that Jaehaerys always worked against women inheriting was because if any scenario in which they do leads to him being labeled as a usurper.
1) Women and men inherit equally (as Alysanne suggested with Daenerys being chosen over Aemon. The fact that she felt that this was something that was reasonable to ask, and how Valerian doesn’t have gendered language and how powerful in their own right Visenya and Rhaenys were, might mean that this is how it was with Valerians always, but the maesters might have fudged that history): If this was true, he'd be a usurper TWO times over. Not only would he be claiming a throne meant for his older sister, Rhaena, but he'd also have risen against the true king Maegor. If an older sister inherits before a younger brother, than the throne should be passing through Visenya before Aegon the conquer, meaning Maegor should have come before Aenys.
2) If a daughter comes before a brother (as was the Rhaenys Velaryon argument over Baelon and later Viserys and is the default in all of Westeros except on Dorne): Than it was usurpation for him to take the throne over his brother Aegon's twin daughters. Unless Aegon wasn't king before he died...but that only applies if Maegor was legitimate! So, no matter what, if the woman inherited in this situation, Jaehaerys is a usurper.
So, I don't think it was him disliking his older sister Rhaena's example of women in power
3:09:38 Yes, turn Harrenhal into the Temple of R'hllor in Westeros, right across the Isle of Faces, and make Melisandre the High Priestess. The curse began with fire, perhaps it ends with fire
Just started watching but Im hyped
David, you would absolutely love Warhammer 40k, Brother.
Do you suppose Harrenhal is named with reference to German words "herr/herren" in the sense of "master/lord/ruler?" The whole story of the castle and its occupants is like a parable about what happens to people in power (regardless of who they were beforehand, or how they achieved their position)
oh that makes a lot of sense . it's a lot better than my idea about a heron getting trapped in the Great Hall while they were debating what to name the castle 🤣🤣
YES! I’ve been saying that dunk is of lucamores yolk
If Roose gets killed by Ramsy the Larys definitely killed his father and brother her because 3 is a pattern Grey Waste always says !! The other being Tyrion /Tywin ! 38:35
It is a real world thing that traumatic brain injuries cause personality changes, irrational anger, mania paranoia. I have a neuro condition where I get pressure on my brain and my mum and bffs could always tell when it was starting to bet bad because I had less patience over stupid little things, this was probably because of the pressure and the pain, it was one of our warning signs unfortunately drs wouldn't do anything until my sight became more comprised (spinal tap to drain csf) I've been remission for a couple years now due to meds
Sexual trauma can cause hyper sexuality, not an excuse but a possibility-
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 great stuff ty guys
Sorry for missing the livestream, stupid work got in the way!
No nettles at least we got girl nettles lol. So we'll probably see rhaena ride sheepstealer but then I wonder what happens with morning . .
I'm sorry this is off topic, but I'm not on any other social media sites and Carter Vail just dropped the best squisher song I've ever heard. Nimble Dick needs to check it out! 😂
So SO much of Maegor is a play upon Henry 8.
1. the fight with the prevailing religion of the land
2. the falling into a coma/being unconscious after getting a biff on the bonce. Then, after waking up, being even more erratic, awful and dangerous.
3. the struggle for an heir
4. blaming the lack of heirs on the wives, never himself
5. making any court women who he fancied be forced to have sex with him. Regardless of whether they were married, their age, if he was friends with their husband etc..
No one dared to say "no.
6. Claims that one (or more) of his wives, were having sex with other men, in hopes of becoming pregnant....with the implication that "everyone knows that the King isn't up to the job".
Anne Boleyn (should be "Bullin", but the Boleyns were classic arrivistes, and thought Boleyn was classier looking. The kind of people who'd name their daughter Tiffany, which is bad enough, but then spell it Tiphannee) was accused of having boffed even her brother in order to get pregnant.
Poor desperate pathetic Katherine Howard was also accused of trying to get pregnant my having sex with other people, and Henry was CERTAINLY incapable by then. She was a teenager, he was 49, morbidly obese, had open ulcerations wounds on his limbs that stank, and had trouble just getting around. Then there were the diabetes and venereal diseases. The constipation and headaches, the roaring rages, and violence, plus the usual deadly combination of thin skin and bullying. Andrew Tate in a few years.
Katherine had been being sexually abused from a very young age. She was one of quite a sizable group of unwanted female orphans of titled families, who'd all been sent to live in the house of an aging female relative - who they never saw or interacted with. They were all regarded as dreadful burdens.
Like most orphans, they were starved and totally at the non existent mercy of the men in the household. Those men would come into the girl's beds at night and do whatever they wanted. This was often the only thing that kept the girls alive, as these men would, on occasion bring some wine (to get them drunk) and food. Which could be their principle source of nutrition
As they had no parents to provide a dowry, no marriage was possible. They would be spending their, likely to be very short, life at this place, were they not thrown out to die in the dirt when they became pregnant. Marrying Henry was thought to be "lucky" for Katherine.
Great stream! Harrenhal is tragedy
I have GOT TO HAVE that shirt Tim where did you get it??
Harren the Black is the antithesis of Aegon the Conqueror
Batman Allusion stuff missing from this:
Petyr is Bruce Wayne: rich misjudged for his persona
Cat is Catwoman: hints that they did indeed sleep together (not her first but still), also hints she (and Lysa) are manipulating him not the reverse
Robin is… well… Robin the boy wonder: hints at his powers being real. It’s how Petyr gets his information and why Robin hates Hardyng but not Petyr; because Robin knows Hardyng’s motivations though visions so knows not to trust him and knows Petyr’s aren’t meant to harm him. Petyr isn’t drugging him to hurt him, it’s to shut him up and not spill the beans.
Oh yeah, Harrenhall is the Batcave/Mansion
If the Iron islands were separated from the mainland by meteor strikes, then maybe iron islanders know a source of oily, black stone
Tickler is the riddler!
Because harenhall was blasted by dragon fire, do youthink it could be a safe place if the whitewalkers get past Winterfell and they hold a stand there...but the white walkers just explode when they go near it....
Tim, my friend, it is SO disrespectful to Rhaena to compare her to someone as unhinged and incompetent as Janice.
Jaehaerys was a pragmatist not a misogynist. Thanks Aenys and Maegor the Targaryen dynasty was already in a tenuous position. Having just concluded a war with the faith over their stance on incest and polygamy, I can understand why he was in no hurry to start a whole new fight with the patriarchal nobility of Westeros by trying to overturn male preference primogeniture.
Epic!
great video i’m bummed i missed the stream, can anyone tell me where to skip to so i dont get spoiled for hotd, i paused at 1:42:19 thanks
The thing about Harrenhal's Horror is that it is human.
Ser Pounce, Hot Pie, and the walking septon guy for top 3 chads
Oh so you get some Clariol to dye your hair a vibrant red, and suddenly you’re a witch.
i believe that's in the fine print on the package
Arya seeing her mom as Nymeria is only a theory? I thought it was pretty clear that's the intent of that section. That she smelled her mom, and dragged her out of the water, then she was found by the brotherhood without banners.
>.>
If Arya is Batman, should we consider her ending involving her having a large family (most of the children being adopted) who all have similar training and trauma to herself?
this is actually brilliant, and makes so much sense. Maynard James Plumm especially likes this idea hahaha
Harrenhal IS a crypt. The crypt of Harrens dynasty.
What up @mods? I know im not super technology illiterate but I still can’t join the UA-cam member on mobile. Any help? Next step is library for desktop mode I guess 😅
I still wonder if there's any connection between Harrenhall and five forts.
Harrenhall has five huge towers and we we got five forts
The black goat in the latest episode....
Do you think that all of Maegor’s “tower” women is a nod by George to the tower card in Tarot being doom and destruction?
did u see georges update on not a blg, winds of winter maybe for christmas? grrm feeling excited for winds again?
i asked u cause i didnt see it myself only heard it i know u will look in to it im otw to work.
Jaehaerys choosing a woman as heir would call into question his own rule as king, as Rhaena is still alive
2:07:30 no Aegon was an abuser from the very start. Remember how he slammed a dragons egg on his younger infant brother in the cradle.
Rest In Power, Brother Bill Walton Towers 😥
14:11 Blood for the Blood God.