Thank you so much for having me! It was a real honor to guest on your show. I had an absolute blast talking to you guys and getting to discuss history and Asoiaf. Let me know if you'd ever want to collab again in the future because I'd totally be down to do it again ;)
@@generaliroh8007 Not for me, I think this might be the first podcast I got through completely, because he barely talked. I don't want to insult him because I got that out already when they started the podcast, but you could say I irrationally dislike him as a host.
Really interesting stream guys. I am from Ireland and have a huge active interest in Irish folklore and archaeology. You might know this already but to me it is clear as day that the Children of the forest and how they retreated into the hills when the first men came, are inspired by the Irish Tuatha De Dannan. The parallels are insane. The people of the tuatha de dannan are a consistent myth in Ireland that comes in many forms. They were meant to be the last of the magical people, and were driven out of Ireland by the arrival of the Milesians. It is said that they created a huge storm to try to sink the Milesians ships - similar to how the children created the huge wave to try to break the land bridge. The Milesians won in the end and forced the Tuatha De Dannan to go underground. So they retreated into the hills / other realm. If you know anything about Irish culture, we have a very alive belief in the faeries - they are a huge part of our culture. People are terrified of disturbing them even to this day. From an archaeological standpoint, there have been some very interesting remains of settlements recently discovered inside the site where the Tuatha De Dannan are said to have retreated, so there is some evidence of something occurring. Very interesting to see how the oral history remembers what were probably significant events - new people from Europe taking over the people who originally lived here - in a magical context.
I know everyone else is pretty much saying this but this Collab is awesome and I never would have expected it. Great content as always from both Preston and Trey.
All the comments about Preson and Trey, yeah, yeah, I get it. But one thing that I really value about this is that Trey makes a fantastic guest because of his background. GRRM is heavy-handed in borrowing or referencing history, or twisting history in unique ways to create new outcomes. Trey is the perfect guest for analyzing both a story and a theory in that context. I really hope this isn't the the first and last time Trey guests, because I imagine this combination is about as close to the actual creative process of GRRM as it gets.
Iron Islands: In reality during the Bronze Age iron wasn't unknown. The people hadn't figured out how to turn the iron into something more useful than bronze. So it is absolutely thinkable that a place could be called Iron Islands even during the Bronze Age.
@romulusnuma116 Or the ore was very pure so little work was needed to render it into a useful material. But it being iron it rusts so ot doesn't last as long as bronze. Iron most likley was used in our own bronze age in isolated areas woth good quality iron or bog iron nodules what are easily worked. But the tools where lost since they rust. And the knowledge and ability didn't spread since the material isn't easy to find. Later these same people learned how to find iron deposits, and how to work that iron ore which was more common and it was THIS iron working what sparked off the technological spread of the use of iron. Computers where around long long before the computer age. I think we are so used to the idea of new tech like computers and nukes being made globally available in rapid time frame so we tend to think that must true of all technological progress. Whwn we make discoveries and forget them. Steel has been discovered independently 3 times atleast. Flexible glass from the Roman times is still lost to us. We just recently learned how roman concrete works. Greek fire is a mystery to us. And so on... 😅
I actually thought the burning of Shireen in the show was a spot on parallel to Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter, Iphigenia, except with the dark twist that the sacrifice didn’t work and Shireen, unlike Iphigenia, wasn’t saved by a literal deus ex machina
Stannis is totally an Agamemnon parallel. In addition to the Iphigenia/Shireen parallel, Agamemnon's brother was married to Helen of Troy. When Helen was kidnapped by or ran off with Paris - unclear how consensual it was, just like with Lyanna/Rhaegar - Agamemnon was a general in his brother's war to try to get her back.
The channel Historia Civilis has an absolutely _fantastic_ video on The Bronze Age Collapse and the possible causes and such, I highly recommend the video and the channel as a whole. He's got a video on "Can Animals Commit Crimes?" which is rather hilarious, and he's doing a fantastic series on the fall of the Roman Republic. Don't worry Preston, you're still my favorite.
Really liked his video on how Julius Caesar reformed the calendar. It was urgently needed since the calendar was so out of alignment that official winter was really autumn but probably only a megalomaniac would have had the balls to do it.
That whole channel is gold. In addition to the “Classical” history, you have The Spartan Constitution, The Iroquois Confederacy, the Trial of Charles I and it’s sequel, and the new series on Peace.
I agree that his Bronze Age Collapse video is one of the best summaries of the topic and the ideas about its causes. ua-cam.com/video/aq4G-7v-_xI/v-deo.html
@@wobh688 You can't forget Bird Mania, Strongboys, and Tunnel Bears. That's a series I hope he returns to at some point. "A list of absolutely weird but fascinating topics I came across while researching other things."
It's nice to hear you guys talk about something your so passionate about. I have never had too much of an interest in history, but I enjoy hearing the perspectives of people who are excited about things I would have trouble staying engaged with on my own.
1:14:55 As the history of feudal realms that had elective monarchies (like the Holy Roman Empire, for example) shows, it's actually *not* better than inherited monarchies. It's distinctly less internally stable and more prone to infighting. Feudal elective monarchy also really isn't democratic, not even semi-democratic. It's just another form of feudalism where the king has less and the noble houses have more power.
True. Also since all the houses still operate on a hereditary basis its likely that powerfull dynasties will still exist even if the elective system is not immediately overthrown. Just like in the HRE where elections were usualy just the richest most powerfull family being given the position of emperor.
While I think you're right about the number of languages and dialects being overly simplified in ASOIAF, I'd still say language would be vastly more similar than our medieval world was. Because they had much more cross-cultural communications than we did, due to the methods at their disposal (ravens and glass candles). This is going to create a strong incentive towards a more monocultured continent.
Not really, ravens only spread the written word, and glass candles barely exist. All interconnectivity between ravens, which are only usable by a specific educated class, would be to maintain the predominance of the written word, much like ecclesiastical Latin and its use by priests in the medieval era.
@@Jotari Glass candles don’t exist now. But they did in the past, and while they did, they would breed conformity in language. And I think you’re vastly underestimating the power that the a fast and relatively inexpensive information passing system like ravens would have had. The difference between sending a bird that could make a trip in days versus a man on foot who would take weeks or months on the road depending the distance? Total game changer. Dialects would still be there, but the benefits of a “common tongue” would’ve been much higher.
@@davidrich27 There's a grand total of four glass candles, and they're all kept at the same place. They were never used as a device of regular communication in Westeros. Maybe out in Ashai things might work that way, but not in Westeros. Yes, of course a fast communication network would be a massive game changer. I didn't dispute that at all. The issue is that it's a fast communication network controlled by a singular class of people. That means as communication it would only effect that class of people when it comes to direct communication. The fact that raven post exists won't help Gendry communicate with his penpal Hotpie. And even among the noble class the fact that it's a writing only medium means it won't do anything for the reality of diverging accents and dialects.
@@Jotari more communication means more trade. More trade means communication and coordination amongst lower classes. That is going to necessitate some common language.
@@davidrich27 We have above ravens level of communication now along with actual transport vehicles that facilitate trade and it still hasn't done anything to eliminate separate languages. Even South America, a landmass the same size as Westeros, which was colonized almost entirely by people of two very similar languages, doesn't have unified communication. And that is not posed to change any time soon. The only difference all that has brought is that most people speak English as a second language now, but for that to exist in Westeros you'd need to bring up the education levels to a modern standard.
For another historical parallel, ancient Parthians poured molten gold down Crassus's throat to mock his wealth like Viserys and his crown. Except Crassus wasn't wearing his head anymore
Also In bizantine history there was a time were a rebel during a civil war tried to attack Constantinople through a straight and was sotpped by greek fire wich is the battle of the blackwater verbatium.
There is something weird in Preston´s take on history. Modern historiography, after Annales School and similars, never accepts a historical source at face value. And in general do not focus in reconstructing a historical narrative, but tries to grasp multiple dimensions of a historical society by whatever remains there is to be treated as a source. History isn't less reliable than archeology, both have a very similar and shared metodology.
Fair enough. True, academic historians know history is full of lies and bias and are skeptical. I suppose the problem is popular perception of history.
Yes, the disconnect between pop history and academic history is so huge that sometimes it seems like they've got nothing to do with each other. Divulgative science, for instance, may sometimes be too reductionist, but generally speaking, it gets its facts right. Divulgative history, on the other hand, often just gives a non-crirical account of what sources say, or repeat older historiography without engaging with it. All those "Did you know...?" sections in the newspaper are filled with blatant lies or contradictions. "Did you know Caligula was so crazy he tried to make his horse a senator?" Suetonius says that, but most historians don't think that's true, and yet it's still a repeated fact because it's written in the sources. But that's essentially what you're doing, Preston, you're applying source criticism, you're doing the historian's job.
To elaborate, yes it's the popular perception of history, but also public facing historians (generally of lower quality) often tend to popularise biased history. Look no further than Egyptology right up until the early 2000's, to this day people still think the pyramids were build by slaves, that 'fact' was entirely popularised by historians themselves, and even still parroted by some historians still.
@@smdcuolive6700 A big problem I think is that "historian" are a very broad category. A historian specialising in classical Greece will not be a huge authority on early medieval period and vice versa. And often the confusions are introduced by people, who for some reason or another, speak outside their area of expertise.
Awesome collaboration. It's funny because I actually discovered Trey's channel after seeing a comment he left in a Preston video. I've been addicted to his videos since then
Love the parallels of ancient myth and history to Ice and Fire. Aegon I’s campaign is very similar to Brian Boru’s campaign in Ireland uniting the different petty kingdoms and subduing the Norse Vikings. Highlighting revisionist history in our world and Planetos is really fun to hear, too.
Trey vibed so naturally as an additional to the podcast... more collabs together!! I remember being so excited to see Preston and Carmine connect via UA-cam, and I love Trey's channel so this was great AND I hope only the first of many discussions! 😁
I love to think that the Bronze Age collapse having a major impact on GRRM and the books. I’ve been watching History Time’s Sea People video over and over as it was the first I even heard about them and geeked out so much when you brought it up. 🤩
Awesome conversation.. Really enjoyed it.. On the point of what the Faceless Men want in Oldtown... I don't think they're that concerned with Dany's dragons. People used to theorize all the time that they're working with the Others, and are aligned with the White Walkers, but I think that is glaringly missing a pretty obvious point. They despised the Valyrians because of the undead servitude they forced on those working the mines. The White Walkers, similarly, enslave the undead, denying them the release of death. I never see anyone come to this conclusion, even though it's basically spelled out plain as day - All men must die. Anyway, it's been quite the while since I've done any asoiaf thinking, and have fallen out of the habit of watching your videos, I'm going to do some catching up, though, I've always really enjoyed your channel... And Trey seems like someone I need to delve into, as well!
Would highly recommend the channel useful charts series on who wrote the Bible, it's a great historical look at who likely wrote the Bible, and a lot of the things you touched on he goes into more detail about
George always talks about how coming back from the dead changes his characters. I like to imagine that when Jon comes back, he is not the same character anymore. A fallen hero, an evil mirror image to his past self. Maybe, through the magic revival process, he comes back with white hair and red eyes. Which might help him claim his Targaryen heritage when he gets to that point
I love the fact that ive been watching all these youtubers for like 7+ years and just now i learn they are friends and that preston has archaeologist in his family, jeez no wonder i study archaeology now ahaha
Great discussion, great topics, great time !! 👍 Glad you got Trey on, his channel is great and you two bounced off each other very naturally as if you've been friends for years. Especially loved when you guys talked about the bronze age collapse. To add to Preston's comment about tin deposits being in western europe, I believe Elam overtaking tin reserves in the Zagros mountains had a part to play as well, depriving Babylon and upsetting Mediterranean trade to a greater extent overall. I'm surprised Carmine was so quiet (was he eating again?) 😂
So the reason The Valerians didn't go into Westeros could simply be the way history works. The Roman Empire didn't conquer Northern Italy for centuries even though they could just walk there. Instead they focused on Greece and Carthage first.
LOL... About the language, it made me realize that as a reader, I like to make up my own headcanon. At first, it was imagining all the Targaryens and Valyrians as Asians. Until I discovered Yi Ti in the Lore. Then, it was the complete disregard that Westeros certainly speaks only one language. I always imagined that the common tongue was like a kind of Latin, for the church, it is the "official language" but it is only used when speaking between different areas. It was always obvious to me that when they talk to each other Westeros in language separates into North, South, Dorne and Ironborn
I always figured it like mainland UK (since the books and the show also seem to draw heavy inspiration from this setting), where it's technically all "English" as a language, but someone with a very strong Cornish accent would sound very different to an outsider than someone with a Kentish or Yorkshire accent, to the degree that if you were not a native speaker, you might not even register it as the same language. And despite technically speaking the same language, they might even have trouble understanding each other, but if they speak slowly enough and explain around any local colloquialisms, they could likely make themselves understood. Additionally many areas (Cornwall, Wales, Scotland) do have their own language, but out of convenience everyone tends to at least understand English (and most people tend to use it as the de facto standard). And even the other languages all tend to be offsprings of proto-Celtic so before anything approaching "English" was spoken, there was still a lot of overlap in the pre-English languages despite someone from the South of England likely never having any contact with someone from the North of Scotland. This tends to happen naturally when you have an island that is full of people warring with each other - it turns out having wars is a great motivator towards needing to understand each other, because with wars come politics, marriages of convenience, hostage taking (even if it's not officially called that, e.g. Ned and Robert being fostered at the Vale is technically hostage taking, it's designed to ensure peace between otherwise antagonistic regions), etc.
@@TheDelinear all what you said is your head Canon. Because westros is not the size of England. IT IS THE SIZE OF A CONTENT and they all speak the same language WITH OUT ANY DIFFICULTY IN UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER. It is mentioned in the lore that some one from the north can understand someone from dorne no problem
This may be because of the show and video games, but I imagine that regional accents are because the Kingdoms are based off of countries we have in our world. The North is like a mixture of Scotland and Yorkshire mixed into one because they are based off of The House of York but they also are the farthest northern people in the Kingdoms. The Reach would have standard English mixed with a posh French tone (kind of like a weird pre-vowel shift situation or the Anglo-Norman French used in the British monarchy before English became the main language) because they are all about chivalry and knights and fashion and other traditionally Medieval France tropes. Dorne, having influences from across the Narrow Sea and being based off of Mediterranean countries, would have more of a Spanish tone mixed with maybe some Morocco and other North African. And as you get further inland and see the other ethic groups of Dornishmen, you'd get more of a transition to The Reach's Anglo-Norman and the Stormlands, which I would assume have a dialect similar to the Southern portion of England because it is the most heavily forested region and the Stormlands is all woods. The Royal Family (save Robert because he isn't one of the Lannisters) and the Lannisters themselves would speak Conservative RP/The Queen's English because they are the richest, the most powerful, and the most influential in the land. They would want to sound as pretentious and pompous as possible so everyone else sounds like a boorish fool compared to them.
I'm 1 hour in and every time there's a very, very small lull in the conversation, I expect Carmine to jump in, and he hasn't for what seems an impossible stretch. For some reason, besides the interesting convo, that is the absolute funniest thing to me... (not laughing át you Carmine!) Cool collab, would be nice if you guys do a few more (with Carmine, obviously!)
Ready for some Ghiscari tinfoil? Storm's End is a football stadium. George is a huge football fan, it's an oval shaped concrete building, and the tower inside was built later after people sheltered there during the apocalypse.
Are there characters that represent teams/players, maybe a particular year that explains the poisoning? Green Grace vs Dragon hmmm Packers or Jets vs someone for example..
@@mistermaestersirthomas9164 Wun Wun is named after Phil Simms (#11), the *Giants* quarterback, who beats the Dallas Cowboys (represented by Ser Patrek, who has a silver cloak with blue stars)
Yes. George has even described his Jets fandom as, "eternal torment" though he's an equal - if not greater - fan of the Giants. The "1950s Giants’ Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Coordinator were openly compared in the press to Ice and Fire, due to their contrasting personalities." DC (Ice) - Tom Landry OC (Fire) - Vince Lombardi The character of Wun Wun contains a football reference & some posit certain character/house names take inspiration from MVPs.
@@mistermaestersirthomas9164 there's an article from 2016 titled, _George R.R. Martin compares football team to White Walkers._ Turn out, George compares New England Patriots to White Walkers
Regarding the stele, you mention the Mesha Stele, which does contain BT(gap) WD which was assumed to be Beit David (house of David with no vowels, the way Semitic languages were and usually still are written). Preston rightfully points out that this is inconclusive as the gap could not have a D in it. But then the discovery of the Tel Dan Stele does refer to (gap)YHU BR (gap)K BTDWD Presumed to read Ahazyahu son of Yoram king of the house of David. Now I put it to you that there was an historical house of David who ruled Judea around the 7-8th century BCE. The debate should rather focus on if they're in fact descendants of David or if they claim descent from him. Sort of like the Spartan Agiads and Eurypontids being descendants of Heracles. This collaboration was such a pleasure to listen to. Thanks
Good point about the Tel Dan stele supporting the Mesha Stele, which itself refers to I Kings' which reports an alliance between Israel and Judah against Mesha. It all dovetails rather neatly.l
When you talked about infrastructure and stuff, it made me think about how if it wasn't for the madness, a lot of the Mad Kings actions would be remarkably modern. He suggested things like a canal to Dorne, or building a new capital city, which are actually good ideas.
Yeah...but that's the thing about Targaryens. Some of them have good ideas and would have made for great rulers but all the politics/madness/hatching dragons often took precedence. Politics will probably never change because that's how it is in the real world too. But this whole madness/need to hatch dragons thing. I can't help but think it's almost like a depiction of how obsession with magic/supernatural elements of the asoiaf world is choking it's technological advancement. Like if people weren't so obsessed with old legends and trying to emulate past dragon lords/wargs/green seers they might set their minds to science and their world might have come out of the rut of the middle ages they seem to be stuck in. The maesters are also to be blamed here. Hoarding knowledge is also choking progress. It's actually really weird that their world has not progressed from middle age to modern age. Like not even in Essos. It's definitely fishy.
My favorite parallels to history are the burning ships at Blackwater Bay, something similar happened during the punic wars I think. Then there's the red wedding which parallels something that Caracalla is said to have done.
The Storm referred to when Dany was born was likely not a real storm, but a metaphorical one such as the title A Storm of Swords. Dragonstone was stormed by men
@38:00 "I feel as though we're probably going to get Fire & Blood Volume 2 before we get Winds of Winter at this point" Carmine with the greensight lol
1:10:00 idk if you've seen that (Netflix series) called "The Affair", they take the idea of biased perspective/unreliable narrator really serious and it's super interesting. At first I didn't know they were doing it and got quite annoyed that they couldn't eep their story straight, but noce I found out. I loved it and they handled it super well. I'd love it of tha thappens with other things too. Probably not suited for the GoT spin-offs, but..who knows, maybe it would be very nice as well as daring!
If anyone is interested in fantasy, archaeology, and how it relates to history, definitely check out the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's written by an archaeologist and anthropologist. It's not so "puzzle-piece" as ASOIAF with all it's clues and hints, but there's still a lot of things like that used to tell stories in a similar way.
Yes! Finally, maybe we can talk about our actual human history, and what this literature does to challenge us about our assumptions. The themes arent just academic, the effects of our history are real. We’re in a bad place as a species, and we need to understand why.
Theres two sides to that coin,one can also say we have never been in a better place as a species,e.g if you tread on a rusty nail today theres no longer a significant chance you might die We have fewer people living in abject poverty etc. We have a serious problem with tackling climate change its true,we should invest more in R&D and deployment of Nuclear power if we profess to be serious about tackling this.
@@Ulyssestnt You're saying things aren't that bad, and we should just do more R&D, and problem solved? We've been whistling past the graveyard for decades now, I wouldn't count on technology to fix climate change at this point. We're beyond that. But its not just climate change, and our collapsing ecology. Currently, 1 in 7 humans lives in an urban slum. Over a billion human beings live without a clean source of drinking water. Those numbers are headed to be about 1 in 4 by the end of the decade. And this goes to many of the themes in this book. If we want to solve our common problems, we can't ignore reality, protect the powerful and discount the suffering of others.
@@semaera I am not in disagreement with you,I merely like to inject more nuance into discussions with smart people and I can tell you are no dummy my friend. We should by NO means ignore the people living in squalor...saw much of that and how little we cared in Afghanistan.. Our convoy drove past a non indoor plumbing squalid vilage..the day after it was leveled because of an ETAC that couldt not read a ROE card correctly. I am planning to do a tour of the developing world,film a documentary maybe dno.. i often meet afghanis driving taxis and they often tell me the russians were at least way better to live under.i often give them money.tbh probably to ease my guilt.
Very great convo, the moment that really caught my attention was referencing the GRRM quote “the hero died before the story began”. The assumption you made (Preston) was that hero is Rheagar…but personally for me several factors indicate otherwise. The two primary factors are: 1. Rheagar really caused, sparked, or at least contributed to Robert’s rebellion so how is that the stories hero 2. Rheagar is Maynce Rayder (not dead). I can write an essay on why (and it’s not just because he sowed red into his black cloak), but my simplest argument is for narrative structure tied to GRRM. Rheagar the seeming hero and traditional protag archetype loses everything and is forced to struggle, grow, and redeem himself by playing a small part in the struggles of his fellow man For the hero being referenced by GRRM in that quote I’m still contemplating, but I think likely candidates are The Mad King himself (before he lost it; read about him in the world books if you doubt me), Jon Arryn, Daemon Blackfyre, Dunk/Egg, or any of the Targ kings history looks unfavorably upon). For the Targ’s especially I think your discussion in the video above is relevant on Roman emperors and past rulers as they were likely hated because they tried to disrupt the established order beneath them, bring reforms about, or at least fight those who seized power from them. Thank you for all the great content!!
The Stormsend stonework is very similar to the stonework in Peru where no joins or mortar are visible and the stones look melded together only their not black.
35:22 and following discussion about Storms End. I think it definitely sounds like the ruins of a mixed source cogeneration power plant. The oval wall could be a dam, the main tower a nuclear cooling tower. The underground tunnels with air flows were using ground source heat pumps (this also reminds me of the nihilist city from Dying of the light). Alternatively, the underground tunnels could have been a carbon capture plant - imagine this for the end of the series - Storms End gets breached in a battle, it breaks open an underground chamber that was storing captured CO2, this gets released into the atmosphere of planetos, Bran looks to the future and sees the entire planet suffocate and burn to death. Climate change wins, Fin. Even the name fits - Storms End - the source of the storm that ends it all.
Thank you so much for having me! It was a real honor to guest on your show. I had an absolute blast talking to you guys and getting to discuss history and Asoiaf.
Let me know if you'd ever want to collab again in the future because I'd totally be down to do it again ;)
omg its trey!? what are you doing on Preston's channel?
Please please do something like this again.
This was a great episode! I just knew you, Preston and Carmine would click together :)
love your content
@@nh5264 can't help but read this in Chad summerchild's voice. Maive has a daughter?! I didn't know that!
you should have this guy back; this was a fascinating conversation
Better yet, substitute Carmine for him, forever.
@@Marci124 Preston may have the knowledge, but it’s Carmine’s charm that keeps this podcast together
@@generaliroh8007 Not for me, I think this might be the first podcast I got through completely, because he barely talked. I don't want to insult him because I got that out already when they started the podcast, but you could say I irrationally dislike him as a host.
@@Marci124 Carmine is a good counterweight, but he would be best as a host type whilst these two go crazy
@@Marci124 I agree carmine is the worst, i've never made it through this podcast before this one, but i suppose all the dullards like carmine
Really interesting stream guys. I am from Ireland and have a huge active interest in Irish folklore and archaeology. You might know this already but to me it is clear as day that the Children of the forest and how they retreated into the hills when the first men came, are inspired by the Irish Tuatha De Dannan. The parallels are insane.
The people of the tuatha de dannan are a consistent myth in Ireland that comes in many forms. They were meant to be the last of the magical people, and were driven out of Ireland by the arrival of the Milesians. It is said that they created a huge storm to try to sink the Milesians ships - similar to how the children created the huge wave to try to break the land bridge. The Milesians won in the end and forced the Tuatha De Dannan to go underground. So they retreated into the hills / other realm. If you know anything about Irish culture, we have a very alive belief in the faeries - they are a huge part of our culture. People are terrified of disturbing them even to this day. From an archaeological standpoint, there have been some very interesting remains of settlements recently discovered inside the site where the Tuatha De Dannan are said to have retreated, so there is some evidence of something occurring. Very interesting to see how the oral history remembers what were probably significant events - new people from Europe taking over the people who originally lived here - in a magical context.
Good on Carmine for letting the two take centerstage. Very tactfully done.
Thank you for actually getting why I stayed quiet lol
He's called Carmine because if you try to go over him you'll explode
@@OfficialRedTeamReview Carmine is incredibly underrated
loved that Carmine just peaced out and let the pair go crazy HAHAHAHA
Third wheeling hard
This is such a cool collaboration! I’d never expect it but it fits so well haha.
It was fascinating.
i've seen him on asoif videos before! i always hoped something would come of it!
I know everyone else is pretty much saying this but this Collab is awesome and I never would have expected it. Great content as always from both Preston and Trey.
Hes agreed to join us for House of the Dragon every now and then so get hyped!
I've been watching Trey for years and he's great! Big thanks to carmine for getting him on and making this happen
All the comments about Preson and Trey, yeah, yeah, I get it. But one thing that I really value about this is that Trey makes a fantastic guest because of his background. GRRM is heavy-handed in borrowing or referencing history, or twisting history in unique ways to create new outcomes.
Trey is the perfect guest for analyzing both a story and a theory in that context. I really hope this isn't the the first and last time Trey guests, because I imagine this combination is about as close to the actual creative process of GRRM as it gets.
Iron Islands: In reality during the Bronze Age iron wasn't unknown. The people hadn't figured out how to turn the iron into something more useful than bronze. So it is absolutely thinkable that a place could be called Iron Islands even during the Bronze Age.
Iron Islands translates to Useless Islands then which fits
They probably mined iron there so it's known as iron islands
@romulusnuma116
Or the ore was very pure so little work was needed to render it into a useful material. But it being iron it rusts so ot doesn't last as long as bronze.
Iron most likley was used in our own bronze age in isolated areas woth good quality iron or bog iron nodules what are easily worked. But the tools where lost since they rust.
And the knowledge and ability didn't spread since the material isn't easy to find. Later these same people learned how to find iron deposits, and how to work that iron ore which was more common and it was THIS iron working what sparked off the technological spread of the use of iron.
Computers where around long long before the computer age.
I think we are so used to the idea of new tech like computers and nukes being made globally available in rapid time frame so we tend to think that must true of all technological progress.
Whwn we make discoveries and forget them.
Steel has been discovered independently 3 times atleast.
Flexible glass from the Roman times is still lost to us.
We just recently learned how roman concrete works.
Greek fire is a mystery to us.
And so on... 😅
So what you’re saying is that people from a group of islands developed their entire culture around a metal that, for them, wasn’t basically useless?
I actually thought the burning of Shireen in the show was a spot on parallel to Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter, Iphigenia, except with the dark twist that the sacrifice didn’t work and Shireen, unlike Iphigenia, wasn’t saved by a literal deus ex machina
Stannis is totally an Agamemnon parallel. In addition to the Iphigenia/Shireen parallel, Agamemnon's brother was married to Helen of Troy. When Helen was kidnapped by or ran off with Paris - unclear how consensual it was, just like with Lyanna/Rhaegar - Agamemnon was a general in his brother's war to try to get her back.
The channel Historia Civilis has an absolutely _fantastic_ video on The Bronze Age Collapse and the possible causes and such, I highly recommend the video and the channel as a whole. He's got a video on "Can Animals Commit Crimes?" which is rather hilarious, and he's doing a fantastic series on the fall of the Roman Republic.
Don't worry Preston, you're still my favorite.
Really liked his video on how Julius Caesar reformed the calendar.
It was urgently needed since the calendar was so out of alignment that official winter was really autumn but probably only a megalomaniac would have had the balls to do it.
That whole channel is gold. In addition to the “Classical” history, you have The Spartan Constitution, The Iroquois Confederacy, the Trial of Charles I and it’s sequel, and the new series on Peace.
I agree that his Bronze Age Collapse video is one of the best summaries of the topic and the ideas about its causes. ua-cam.com/video/aq4G-7v-_xI/v-deo.html
@@wobh688 You can't forget Bird Mania, Strongboys, and Tunnel Bears. That's a series I hope he returns to at some point. "A list of absolutely weird but fascinating topics I came across while researching other things."
Oh man, how I love Historia Civilis.
Oh wow Trey. Didn't expect him to show up. He DID do a video or two on GOT back in the day.
It's nice to hear you guys talk about something your so passionate about. I have never had too much of an interest in history, but I enjoy hearing the perspectives of people who are excited about things I would have trouble staying engaged with on my own.
Thank you for such a glorious collaboration! I’m thrilled.
Thank Carmine, he made it happen. I'm just shocked that this is the mystery guest
1:14:55 As the history of feudal realms that had elective monarchies (like the Holy Roman Empire, for example) shows, it's actually *not* better than inherited monarchies. It's distinctly less internally stable and more prone to infighting. Feudal elective monarchy also really isn't democratic, not even semi-democratic. It's just another form of feudalism where the king has less and the noble houses have more power.
True. Also since all the houses still operate on a hereditary basis its likely that powerfull dynasties will still exist even if the elective system is not immediately overthrown. Just like in the HRE where elections were usualy just the richest most powerfull family being given the position of emperor.
While I think you're right about the number of languages and dialects being overly simplified in ASOIAF, I'd still say language would be vastly more similar than our medieval world was. Because they had much more cross-cultural communications than we did, due to the methods at their disposal (ravens and glass candles). This is going to create a strong incentive towards a more monocultured continent.
Not really, ravens only spread the written word, and glass candles barely exist. All interconnectivity between ravens, which are only usable by a specific educated class, would be to maintain the predominance of the written word, much like ecclesiastical Latin and its use by priests in the medieval era.
@@Jotari Glass candles don’t exist now. But they did in the past, and while they did, they would breed conformity in language.
And I think you’re vastly underestimating the power that the a fast and relatively inexpensive information passing system like ravens would have had. The difference between sending a bird that could make a trip in days versus a man on foot who would take weeks or months on the road depending the distance? Total game changer. Dialects would still be there, but the benefits of a “common tongue” would’ve been much higher.
@@davidrich27 There's a grand total of four glass candles, and they're all kept at the same place. They were never used as a device of regular communication in Westeros. Maybe out in Ashai things might work that way, but not in Westeros.
Yes, of course a fast communication network would be a massive game changer. I didn't dispute that at all. The issue is that it's a fast communication network controlled by a singular class of people. That means as communication it would only effect that class of people when it comes to direct communication. The fact that raven post exists won't help Gendry communicate with his penpal Hotpie. And even among the noble class the fact that it's a writing only medium means it won't do anything for the reality of diverging accents and dialects.
@@Jotari more communication means more trade. More trade means communication and coordination amongst lower classes. That is going to necessitate some common language.
@@davidrich27 We have above ravens level of communication now along with actual transport vehicles that facilitate trade and it still hasn't done anything to eliminate separate languages. Even South America, a landmass the same size as Westeros, which was colonized almost entirely by people of two very similar languages, doesn't have unified communication. And that is not posed to change any time soon. The only difference all that has brought is that most people speak English as a second language now, but for that to exist in Westeros you'd need to bring up the education levels to a modern standard.
This is such a geek fest, I love it. All my favourite stuff covered (Illiad, Bible, politeism) 😍
This is the weirdest colaboration and i love it, I love both of you guy's channels this is so out of nowhere but its amazing.
Excellent discussion about a lot of topics. Two very smart people talking for an hour and a half. This was great!
For another historical parallel, ancient Parthians poured molten gold down Crassus's throat to mock his wealth like Viserys and his crown. Except Crassus wasn't wearing his head anymore
Also In bizantine history there was a time were a rebel during a civil war tried to attack Constantinople through a straight and was sotpped by greek fire wich is the battle of the blackwater verbatium.
I’m blown away! I love Preston and I love Trey, I had no idea they knew each other. This should be good!
There is something weird in Preston´s take on history. Modern historiography, after Annales School and similars, never accepts a historical source at face value. And in general do not focus in reconstructing a historical narrative, but tries to grasp multiple dimensions of a historical society by whatever remains there is to be treated as a source. History isn't less reliable than archeology, both have a very similar and shared metodology.
Fair enough. True, academic historians know history is full of lies and bias and are skeptical. I suppose the problem is popular perception of history.
Yes, the disconnect between pop history and academic history is so huge that sometimes it seems like they've got nothing to do with each other.
Divulgative science, for instance, may sometimes be too reductionist, but generally speaking, it gets its facts right. Divulgative history, on the other hand, often just gives a non-crirical account of what sources say, or repeat older historiography without engaging with it. All those "Did you know...?" sections in the newspaper are filled with blatant lies or contradictions. "Did you know Caligula was so crazy he tried to make his horse a senator?" Suetonius says that, but most historians don't think that's true, and yet it's still a repeated fact because it's written in the sources.
But that's essentially what you're doing, Preston, you're applying source criticism, you're doing the historian's job.
To elaborate, yes it's the popular perception of history, but also public facing historians (generally of lower quality) often tend to popularise biased history. Look no further than Egyptology right up until the early 2000's, to this day people still think the pyramids were build by slaves, that 'fact' was entirely popularised by historians themselves, and even still parroted by some historians still.
@@smdcuolive6700 A big problem I think is that "historian" are a very broad category. A historian specialising in classical Greece will not be a huge authority on early medieval period and vice versa. And often the confusions are introduced by people, who for some reason or another, speak outside their area of expertise.
@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin WHOA WHAT IS PRESTON JACOBS DOING HERE
Awesome collaboration. It's funny because I actually discovered Trey's channel after seeing a comment he left in a Preston video. I've been addicted to his videos since then
Oooh I love Trey the Explainer! He's great.
This has gotten me soo excited!
Not just the length & topic but also the guest! I can already say: do this again!
What a treat. Surprised I'm just seeing this 7 months after release. Thanks guys
I had to look twice at the thumbnail and then the title. Three of my favorite people on youtube together!
Victarions chapters are my favorite as well! They're just dripping with atmosphere and its incredibly immersive...love it
Never seen Trey's stuff but this was a really good collaboration. Will check out his channel.
Voicewise, Carmine forever.
Thanks guys for a very interesting conversation 🙏
Please have Trey back! This has been one of my favorite episodes in a long time!
Love the parallels of ancient myth and history to Ice and Fire. Aegon I’s campaign is very similar to Brian Boru’s campaign in Ireland uniting the different petty kingdoms and subduing the Norse Vikings. Highlighting revisionist history in our world and Planetos is really fun to hear, too.
I wish Valyrians could have had their myths and legends fleshed out a bit more too
I'm subbed to all three of you, this is a collaboration I had never thought about but I am looking forward to it.
Trey vibed so naturally as an additional to the podcast... more collabs together!! I remember being so excited to see Preston and Carmine connect via UA-cam, and I love Trey's channel so this was great AND I hope only the first of many discussions! 😁
I love to think that the Bronze Age collapse having a major impact on GRRM and the books. I’ve been watching History Time’s Sea People video over and over as it was the first I even heard about them and geeked out so much when you brought it up. 🤩
Great stuff, guys! Informative, funny, hugely enjoyable. Please do more!
Awesome conversation.. Really enjoyed it..
On the point of what the Faceless Men want in Oldtown... I don't think they're that concerned with Dany's dragons. People used to theorize all the time that they're working with the Others, and are aligned with the White Walkers, but I think that is glaringly missing a pretty obvious point. They despised the Valyrians because of the undead servitude they forced on those working the mines. The White Walkers, similarly, enslave the undead, denying them the release of death. I never see anyone come to this conclusion, even though it's basically spelled out plain as day - All men must die.
Anyway, it's been quite the while since I've done any asoiaf thinking, and have fallen out of the habit of watching your videos, I'm going to do some catching up, though, I've always really enjoyed your channel...
And Trey seems like someone I need to delve into, as well!
Thank your for this guys! It’s grad school admission season and this collab is just what I need to take the edge off!!!
Yessss! I've been waiting for this!
Wow this is gold, love all the honest and academic discussion of history here.
Super interesting discussions, entertaining and it felt like you two really could bounce off each other. More!
My two favorite content creators together! I was thrilled to listen to this!
Would highly recommend the channel useful charts series on who wrote the Bible, it's a great historical look at who likely wrote the Bible, and a lot of the things you touched on he goes into more detail about
This is crazy, some of my favorite UA-camrs collabing
Hearing Pat Finnerty, the most important music UA-camr, mentioned by Preston was such a pleasant surprise.
George always talks about how coming back from the dead changes his characters.
I like to imagine that when Jon comes back, he is not the same character anymore. A fallen hero, an evil mirror image to his past self.
Maybe, through the magic revival process, he comes back with white hair and red eyes. Which might help him claim his Targaryen heritage when he gets to that point
This was great. Thanks guys! Would love another one of these.
I like how Martin uses a soft magic system but places it in a world bound by the logic of scientific principles
*technological systems
Fixed it for ya ;)
@@MC-el2us technological systems are magic systems...
I would say it’s a hard magic system but nobody know what the rules are or how it works
I love the fact that ive been watching all these youtubers for like 7+ years and just now i learn they are friends and that preston has archaeologist in his family, jeez no wonder i study archaeology now ahaha
And i loved how you kinda interpretated source criticism, archaeology and how this “bias”/unreliable narrator also shows up in ASOIAF
Preston, please do more videos about the history of asoiaf and historical parallels to our real world
A wonderful crossover! I love Trey the Explainer's videos. He and Preston have always resembled one another in my mind.
Its really great when two of my favorite youtubers mesh so well! Y'all are awesome
Great discussion, great topics, great time !! 👍 Glad you got Trey on, his channel is great and you two bounced off each other very naturally as if you've been friends for years. Especially loved when you guys talked about the bronze age collapse. To add to Preston's comment about tin deposits being in western europe, I believe Elam overtaking tin reserves in the Zagros mountains had a part to play as well, depriving Babylon and upsetting Mediterranean trade to a greater extent overall. I'm surprised Carmine was so quiet (was he eating again?) 😂
This is the collaboration I didn’t know I needed
Wow, wasn’t expecting the explainer to be the surprise guest. Fantastic.
This collab was bound to come true sometime, I'm thankful it was so soon!
I remembered the prof I liked who has talked about Judaic polytheism, it was Francesca Stavrakopoulou.
I am the person in the middle of the ven diagram of subscribers for you two. This is the best video ever.
Hope trey returns soon this was one hell of a interesting conversation!!!
Now, this is some quality content. Preston and Trey collab can you guys do archeology in relation to the creatures and beings in ASoIaF?
So the reason The Valerians didn't go into Westeros could simply be the way history works. The Roman Empire didn't conquer Northern Italy for centuries even though they could just walk there. Instead they focused on Greece and Carthage first.
This podcast was amazing ! We need more of these collaborations !!!
LOL...
About the language, it made me realize that as a reader, I like to make up my own headcanon. At first, it was imagining all the Targaryens and Valyrians as Asians. Until I discovered Yi Ti in the Lore. Then, it was the complete disregard that Westeros certainly speaks only one language. I always imagined that the common tongue was like a kind of Latin, for the church, it is the "official language" but it is only used when speaking between different areas.
It was always obvious to me that when they talk to each other Westeros in language separates into North, South, Dorne and Ironborn
I always figured it like mainland UK (since the books and the show also seem to draw heavy inspiration from this setting), where it's technically all "English" as a language, but someone with a very strong Cornish accent would sound very different to an outsider than someone with a Kentish or Yorkshire accent, to the degree that if you were not a native speaker, you might not even register it as the same language. And despite technically speaking the same language, they might even have trouble understanding each other, but if they speak slowly enough and explain around any local colloquialisms, they could likely make themselves understood.
Additionally many areas (Cornwall, Wales, Scotland) do have their own language, but out of convenience everyone tends to at least understand English (and most people tend to use it as the de facto standard). And even the other languages all tend to be offsprings of proto-Celtic so before anything approaching "English" was spoken, there was still a lot of overlap in the pre-English languages despite someone from the South of England likely never having any contact with someone from the North of Scotland.
This tends to happen naturally when you have an island that is full of people warring with each other - it turns out having wars is a great motivator towards needing to understand each other, because with wars come politics, marriages of convenience, hostage taking (even if it's not officially called that, e.g. Ned and Robert being fostered at the Vale is technically hostage taking, it's designed to ensure peace between otherwise antagonistic regions), etc.
@@TheDelinear all what you said is your head Canon. Because westros is not the size of England. IT IS THE SIZE OF A CONTENT and they all speak the same language
WITH OUT ANY DIFFICULTY IN UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER. It is mentioned in the lore that some one from the north can understand someone from dorne no problem
This may be because of the show and video games, but I imagine that regional accents are because the Kingdoms are based off of countries we have in our world.
The North is like a mixture of Scotland and Yorkshire mixed into one because they are based off of The House of York but they also are the farthest northern people in the Kingdoms.
The Reach would have standard English mixed with a posh French tone (kind of like a weird pre-vowel shift situation or the Anglo-Norman French used in the British monarchy before English became the main language) because they are all about chivalry and knights and fashion and other traditionally Medieval France tropes.
Dorne, having influences from across the Narrow Sea and being based off of Mediterranean countries, would have more of a Spanish tone mixed with maybe some Morocco and other North African. And as you get further inland and see the other ethic groups of Dornishmen, you'd get more of a transition to The Reach's Anglo-Norman and the Stormlands, which I would assume have a dialect similar to the Southern portion of England because it is the most heavily forested region and the Stormlands is all woods.
The Royal Family (save Robert because he isn't one of the Lannisters) and the Lannisters themselves would speak Conservative RP/The Queen's English because they are the richest, the most powerful, and the most influential in the land. They would want to sound as pretentious and pompous as possible so everyone else sounds like a boorish fool compared to them.
@@manband20 they should be speaking different languages not accents
damn I'm not the only one then who thought the common tongue had to be some kind of latin
I'm 1 hour in and every time there's a very, very small lull in the conversation, I expect Carmine to jump in, and he hasn't for what seems an impossible stretch. For some reason, besides the interesting convo, that is the absolute funniest thing to me... (not laughing át you Carmine!)
Cool collab, would be nice if you guys do a few more (with Carmine, obviously!)
You should do more videos about the history of westeros and essos and speculations about the past
Ready for some Ghiscari tinfoil?
Storm's End is a football stadium. George is a huge football fan, it's an oval shaped concrete building, and the tower inside was built later after people sheltered there during the apocalypse.
Are there characters that represent teams/players, maybe a particular year that explains the poisoning? Green Grace vs Dragon hmmm Packers or Jets vs someone for example..
@@mistermaestersirthomas9164 Wun Wun is named after Phil Simms (#11), the *Giants* quarterback, who beats the Dallas Cowboys (represented by Ser Patrek, who has a silver cloak with blue stars)
Yes. George has even described his Jets fandom as, "eternal torment" though he's an equal - if not greater - fan of the Giants. The "1950s Giants’ Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Coordinator were openly compared in the press to Ice and Fire, due to their contrasting personalities."
DC (Ice) - Tom Landry OC (Fire) - Vince Lombardi
The character of Wun Wun contains a football reference & some posit certain character/house names take inspiration from MVPs.
@@mistermaestersirthomas9164 there's an article from 2016 titled, _George R.R. Martin compares football team to White Walkers._ Turn out, George compares New England Patriots to White Walkers
@@kneau Yep. The dude absolutely loves football, haha
Regarding the stele, you mention the Mesha Stele, which does contain BT(gap) WD which was assumed to be Beit David (house of David with no vowels, the way Semitic languages were and usually still are written). Preston rightfully points out that this is inconclusive as the gap could not have a D in it. But then the discovery of the Tel Dan Stele does refer to (gap)YHU BR (gap)K BTDWD
Presumed to read Ahazyahu son of Yoram king of the house of David.
Now I put it to you that there was an historical house of David who ruled Judea around the 7-8th century BCE. The debate should rather focus on if they're in fact descendants of David or if they claim descent from him.
Sort of like the Spartan Agiads and Eurypontids being descendants of Heracles.
This collaboration was such a pleasure to listen to.
Thanks
Good point about the Tel Dan stele supporting the Mesha Stele, which itself refers to I Kings' which reports an alliance between Israel and Judah against Mesha.
It all dovetails rather neatly.l
First at "It's probably not Aliena" now with Preston, you can't avoid Trey these days. Great collab, hoping we will hear more from these three.
When you talked about infrastructure and stuff, it made me think about how if it wasn't for the madness, a lot of the Mad Kings actions would be remarkably modern. He suggested things like a canal to Dorne, or building a new capital city, which are actually good ideas.
Yeah...but that's the thing about Targaryens. Some of them have good ideas and would have made for great rulers but all the politics/madness/hatching dragons often took precedence. Politics will probably never change because that's how it is in the real world too. But this whole madness/need to hatch dragons thing. I can't help but think it's almost like a depiction of how obsession with magic/supernatural elements of the asoiaf world is choking it's technological advancement.
Like if people weren't so obsessed with old legends and trying to emulate past dragon lords/wargs/green seers they might set their minds to science and their world might have come out of the rut of the middle ages they seem to be stuck in.
The maesters are also to be blamed here. Hoarding knowledge is also choking progress. It's actually really weird that their world has not progressed from middle age to modern age. Like not even in Essos. It's definitely fishy.
Preston and Trey should do more shows together. This was amazing. I wish it was 4 hours long
Trey the Explainer!! Love him!!
My favorite parallels to history are the burning ships at Blackwater Bay, something similar happened during the punic wars I think. Then there's the red wedding which parallels something that Caracalla is said to have done.
I can certainly picture Carmine in this one all starry-eyed listening to Preston and Trey in utter admiration. I feel ya.
The Storm referred to when Dany was born was likely not a real storm, but a metaphorical one such as the title A Storm of Swords. Dragonstone was stormed by men
The crossover I never would have expected
OH MY GAWWWD Trey! I'm fangirling too much right now! This trio! 🤩😍
@38:00 "I feel as though we're probably going to get Fire & Blood Volume 2 before we get Winds of Winter at this point"
Carmine with the greensight lol
1:10:00 idk if you've seen that (Netflix series) called "The Affair", they take the idea of biased perspective/unreliable narrator really serious and it's super interesting. At first I didn't know they were doing it and got quite annoyed that they couldn't eep their story straight, but noce I found out. I loved it and they handled it super well. I'd love it of tha thappens with other things too. Probably not suited for the GoT spin-offs, but..who knows, maybe it would be very nice as well as daring!
Thanks for the show rec!
@@MissSeaShell You're more than welcome. I hope you'll like it!
Loved listening to this podcast
If anyone is interested in fantasy, archaeology, and how it relates to history, definitely check out the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's written by an archaeologist and anthropologist. It's not so "puzzle-piece" as ASOIAF with all it's clues and hints, but there's still a lot of things like that used to tell stories in a similar way.
This was fascinating I never wanted it to end
Great discussion as usual but this one was extra good
Dude yesssssss, awesome to have The Explainer himself
13:25 the Greek word Istoria literally means "inquiry" :))
This was awesome! Would love a repeat!
Please start a podcast with this guy! Amazing
great collaboration
Yes! Finally, maybe we can talk about our actual human history, and what this literature does to challenge us about our assumptions. The themes arent just academic, the effects of our history are real. We’re in a bad place as a species, and we need to understand why.
Theres two sides to that coin,one can also say we have never been in a better place as a species,e.g if you tread on a rusty nail today theres no longer a significant chance you might die
We have fewer people living in abject poverty etc.
We have a serious problem with tackling climate change its true,we should invest more in R&D and deployment of Nuclear power if we profess to be serious about tackling this.
@@Ulyssestnt You're saying things aren't that bad, and we should just do more R&D, and problem solved? We've been whistling past the graveyard for decades now, I wouldn't count on technology to fix climate change at this point. We're beyond that.
But its not just climate change, and our collapsing ecology. Currently, 1 in 7 humans lives in an urban slum. Over a billion human beings live without a clean source of drinking water. Those numbers are headed to be about 1 in 4 by the end of the decade.
And this goes to many of the themes in this book. If we want to solve our common problems, we can't ignore reality, protect the powerful and discount the suffering of others.
@@semaera I am not in disagreement with you,I merely like to inject more nuance into discussions with smart people and I can tell you are no dummy my friend.
We should by NO means ignore the people living in squalor...saw much of that and how little we cared in Afghanistan..
Our convoy drove past a non indoor plumbing squalid vilage..the day after it was leveled because of an ETAC that couldt not read a ROE card correctly.
I am planning to do a tour of the developing world,film a documentary maybe dno..
i often meet afghanis driving taxis and they often tell me the russians were at least way better to live under.i often give them money.tbh probably to ease my guilt.
Pink letter: Petyr using Robin’s visions, maybe working with Lady Barbary Dustin in a scorned collab.
Very great convo, the moment that really caught my attention was referencing the GRRM quote “the hero died before the story began”. The assumption you made (Preston) was that hero is Rheagar…but personally for me several factors indicate otherwise.
The two primary factors are:
1. Rheagar really caused, sparked, or at least contributed to Robert’s rebellion so how is that the stories hero
2. Rheagar is Maynce Rayder (not dead). I can write an essay on why (and it’s not just because he sowed red into his black cloak), but my simplest argument is for narrative structure tied to GRRM. Rheagar the seeming hero and traditional protag archetype loses everything and is forced to struggle, grow, and redeem himself by playing a small part in the struggles of his fellow man
For the hero being referenced by GRRM in that quote I’m still contemplating, but I think likely candidates are The Mad King himself (before he lost it; read about him in the world books if you doubt me), Jon Arryn, Daemon Blackfyre, Dunk/Egg, or any of the Targ kings history looks unfavorably upon).
For the Targ’s especially I think your discussion in the video above is relevant on Roman emperors and past rulers as they were likely hated because they tried to disrupt the established order beneath them, bring reforms about, or at least fight those who seized power from them.
Thank you for all the great content!!
Daemon blackfyre was opposed to daeron cos people thought daeron listened to women and dornishmen how is he the good guy
Omg One of the best cross overs
As someone who has never read or watched A song of Ice and Fire, I found this surprisingly entertaining lol
Everything about this is fantastic... I love your guys' opinions so flipping much. Plus, it's amusing to react to it at work, confusing my coworkers
this was so much fun. I would love him to be a regular host
The Stormsend stonework is very similar to the stonework in Peru where no joins or mortar are visible and the stones look melded together only their not black.
The collaboration i did not see comin i love both channels.
Loving this collaboration, already taking me back to the 2008 era of UA-cam by debunking the Bible
35:22 and following discussion about Storms End. I think it definitely sounds like the ruins of a mixed source cogeneration power plant. The oval wall could be a dam, the main tower a nuclear cooling tower. The underground tunnels with air flows were using ground source heat pumps (this also reminds me of the nihilist city from Dying of the light).
Alternatively, the underground tunnels could have been a carbon capture plant - imagine this for the end of the series - Storms End gets breached in a battle, it breaks open an underground chamber that was storing captured CO2, this gets released into the atmosphere of planetos, Bran looks to the future and sees the entire planet suffocate and burn to death. Climate change wins, Fin.
Even the name fits - Storms End - the source of the storm that ends it all.
Dreeeeeam collab! Absolutely loved this!