This came on while I was sleeping, and it made for a very interesting dream. At 16:23 when he starts talking about how it's not logical to not have a maximum human population, and how squishers farm humans, my dream took an aerial dive into the depths of Asshai, like the inside of a hollow tower, and the outer ring was all prison-like cells packed full of skeletons of humans that had burned alive in the hypothesized meteor strike. Very cool imagery.
It's so funny because every time I have autoplay on and watch youtube while sleeping I always wake up on these DL Lives idk why youtube just loves these
Another fabulous stream. Between being an old theater kid myself and praising Garth for my adhd, watching David Lightbringer and Grey Waste Tim together is like hanging out with the coolest voices in my head.
Thank you for continuing to make great ASOIAF content. I barely noticed the squishes on my first read through, but I’m more and more convinced they are off the coast of everywhere in planetos. There are so many layers and nuances to GRRM’s work.
K. We've been jerking ourselves off for twelve years trying to make sense of random bullshit that George threw in because it seemed cool at the time. David's analysis makes way more sense than anything that George might've thought of, but here we are. F*ck you, George.
As a Lovecraft fan, I hope some of those elements get played up in future ASOIAF shows or books. Definitely some of the most fascinating aspects of the world.
On the most commonly shared ASOIAF map, Ulthos is shown to be extremely dense in the shade of the evening trees. Interestingly, a short distance from Ashai.
The name Yi Ti seems to me like a reference to the Yuan-ti from Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk lore, who are snake/human hybrids created in blood rituals. Some of the stuff in Leng reminds me of them: - they live underground - mostly live in the jungle - big yellow eyes because they’re sneks - darkvision - xenophobic and suspicious (“kill all the foreigners”) The yuan-ti often inhabit the remains of the cities of ancient fallen civilisations, so if GRRM is imaging snake-people currently living in the jungles of Leng, it would imply they were not the original builders of those cities One of the popular yuan-ti religions attempts to awaken a sleeping ancient god, which I believe to be a Lovecraft reference. Another sect work to unleash a primordial serpent who is destined to devour the Sun and plunge the world into eternal darkness, which links them with the Long Night as well
Yuan-Ti may have come from South Asian mythology of things similar to Naga (which also exist in D&D). In particular Thailand has myths that they ruled the World before us. GRRM is a huge mythology buff. You can't resist a good story.
"The dragon must have three heads" - the comet and moon meteors are refered to as dragons - 3 impact sites around the world - could they have been West to East, long ago; 1st on the Iron Islands, then at the Hammer of the Waters and finally at Asshai. I'm unsure how much time is possible between these three dragon head landings, but just something I was thinking on this evening, during the stream. Thanks for the great content per usual @greywastetim and @David"Don'tCallMeLML"theDragon; excellent stream and always love this topic.
I think there were maybe 3 large meteors and a bunch of little ones, the Summer Islands kinda look like a destroyed landmass but I think the Thousand Islands were definitely destroyed by a meteor just like the Arm of Dorne, the Iron Isles/Peninsula, and Asshai
@@ChrisVillagomezDon't forget Starfall. I've heard theories that the rock the Dayne's ancestral home is on is actually a meteor. Same with the stone beneath the HighTower in Old Town. But maybe that's too many meteors lol. If not, what a horrifying event. It is no wonder why the weather is so wacky.
@@jessjess23brooks89 Nah it makes sense that when something insanely large like a moon breaking apart or 2 moons hitting each other happens that there's debris continuously raining down for years. Even in Star Wars, when the Second Death Star was destroyed the Rebels had to set up a new planetary shield for Endor due to the amount of rubble falling onto the poor Ewoks' homes
I'd really love to see an animated series about the Empire of the Dawn and the lands and peoples of Essos. Even Jaenara Belaerys flying over Sothoryos.
Bless Tim, don't worry man, easy mistake to make if you're not overly familiar with AI images. I'm an artist myself and have managed to learn to spot AI pieces now but they still occasionally catch me out. Some things to look for to spot AI imagery - Odd looking eyes and fingers, scenes and environments that have points where 'physics' seem to be broken (clouds below horizon lines etc), and oft times they'll be very painterly in style. Most importantly, Great stream as always fellas - Thank you. Really like hearing the back and forth of conversation between you both, you're enthusiasm really draws the listener in and makes me realise that my bookshelf is in need of a few more novels...
These discussions are absolutely feeding my love for history and mythology and now I want to binge documentaries on the Celtic pantheon. Also I love, LOVE how you guys address the fact that any giant empire is going to be multi-racial and multi-ethnic and point out China being aware of the Roman Empire and Rome being aware of China as a real world example. (And thank both you and Tim for your stance and comments on ai 'art'. I don't want to go into a tangent about it, but it just really means a lot to hear the harm ai 'art' does to artists, being addressed in more fandom spaces. You guys are awesome! )
What if Dawn is the ancestral sword of the Gemstone Emperors that was brought to Westeros by Amethyst Empress loyalists (Dayne ancestors) fleeing from the BSE? That has parallels (which GRRM _loves_ ) with Alyssa Velaryon taking Dark Sister in her flight from Maegor. As for the blood sacrifice I have a theory that there's a huge difference between forced blood sacrifice and sacrifices of willing subjects (which will come into the endgame imo). In YI-Tish history there's a dynasty of Eunuch Emperors who sacrifice their bits willingly upon ascension. This, again, shares narrative parallels with Varys, arguably the shadow babies and the general theme of magic powered by life/ reproductive essences/child-birth etc. being extremely powerful (although these are all part of the "dark" iteration of blood magic). Perhaps this willing sacrifice of "bits/essence etc." could be a throwback to a different, less malign version of blood magic as opposed to the BSE and the following Valyrian's concept of blood magic, that seems extremely malign with Valyrian steel consuming light in juxtaposition to Dawn that seems to refract it being an example of this difference. Also has possible parallels with the Others. If they are, say, the spirits of those exiled from the WWN who are created from willing sacrifices to become soldiers/weapons against the invaders of the WWN that pushed them out. Dawn and The Others *do* share noted physical similarities... Maybe I'm lost in the sauce but I really appreciate your work and the ones with Tim are always fantastic (Anyone reading go subscribe to his channel). I really wouldn't have thought much about this series without your work. Take care of yourselves everybody!
Weird thoughts by a biologist: What if the Old Ones/Green Men are the ancestors of both giants and children who split up to occupy different ecological niches in Westeros?
How quickly do you think they could speciate to fill those niches? I wonder if you have the time to see those changes from the time of the breaking of the arm to the Long Night, if they are separate events. I would think there would be some cataclysm to trigger it separate the breeding crunch.
We need a Grey King stream based off of your original Grey King symbolism. I like to go and listen to your first few video essays. The Grey King was some of the most compelling.
David, my dad is an old Blues Bassist who used to watch Reading Rainbow with me when I was a young mermaid. I am desperate to send him your Reading Rhaegar cover! I need a viiiiid! 😂
Love that George made it apparent that Asshai and the whole region went through a magical apocalypse, due in part to a world ending war. It has the after effects of something similar to radiation. He's made cyclical periods of upheaval a regular thing in his world. There's even periods of golden ages of discovery that civilizations go through like bronze age, iron age, and even valyerian steel age, hell even a dragon age, or black oily stone age. That different sentient races had their own age of glory or discovery and a cataclysmic end.
2:29:27 i just noticed that Stannis changed his sigil in a similar way that bittersteel changed his sigil. Goes from a stag to a firey stag, goes from a bracken horse to a firey horse. Is this astronomy or burning tree?
around 1:30:00 when you guys were talking about weirwoods existing in the far east of essos, that immediately bridged with david's idea of azor ahai corruption/inflitration of the weirnet, if the long night started /was fought mostly in essos then finished in westeros - that COULD mean the others would use the weirnet as some sort of gate to go from continent to continent. it could be that during/after the long night the weirwoods (in my mind they were and will always be extremely creepy), were simply cut down mercilessly because the enemy (others/azor ahai) used them to wage war on the whole world; if the pact of the gods eye between the children and first men was in fact the end of the long night, one of the conditions could be about not cutting down the rest of the weirwoods.
Maybe they were chased all across essos until they cross the arm, then the arm breaks, trapping them in Westeros, along with the men who chased them, so they finished chasing them north until there’s nowhere else to push them… then the andals chased the first men exactly the same way, stranding the thenns (ancestral true first men) along side the wights and others
I maybe found another Sun King. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the main god of that island - Apollo and literally Theos Helios, the embodiment of the sun. Both were worshipped in parallel. And this is the inspiration behind the Braavos Titan
Evidence-free theory: if the Children were once plentiful across Essos, that implies that weirwood trees were too. Then the Long Night meteor strikes happen and a contamination starts to spread through the Essos weirwoods (presumably starting in The Shadow) which kills most of them but in a minority of cases (with or without human/magical help) transforms them into Shade Of The Evening trees, which only survive in a few places. However the same meteor strikes also sever the Arm Of Dorne, thus saving the Westeros weirwoods from the same fate. Then later, during or immediately after The Long Night, Great Empire survivors and/or Lenghi arrive in Westeros looking for the surviving trees. In other words, this has the _effect_ of saving the Westeros weirwoods by cutting The Arm Of Dorne, but it doesn't need The Children to proactively do it.
I think the issue with most theories on this channel is that they assume a primarily mundane cause for everything, with magic tacked on as a sort of enhancing effect. David never assumes magic as the initial cause, which seems to be a major flaw as we have seen the power that magic has in its nearly extinct form. In the deep past, it very well could have had the power to shatter continents and magically irradiate cities.
Freehold, as in "The Freehold of Valyria" is a term that exists as an opposite to leasehold. The land that became known as Valyria was probably granted by decree prior to the fall of the Great Empire. Otherwise, I don't see why you wouldn't just call it Valyria or the "Nation of Valyria," "Kingdom of Valyria," something like that if you were just settling new territory, especially considering they were establishing a slave state
@@LookToWindward, sure, the point is using that name carries the implication that there is some other government around in a somewhat hegemonic position. What I'm getting at is that Valyria was probably settled and "created" during the time of the Great Empire of the Dawn
And that would fit with the legends of the Asshai'i being the first to tame dragons and teach it to the Valyrians. The Asshai'i simply passed down their teachings to their successor state
I actually agree with your assessment. But to play devils advocate it may just be due to the 40 dragon lord/sorcerer families (I’m assuming 14 of which were great houses/controlled the 14 flames), therefore the freehold may have been established to have an aristocracy of these families instead of a monarchy which would mean 1 or maybe 2 families could hold power. I always assumed this because 14 flames being controlled by 14 families would require a system that doesn’t just funnel up to the top guy like monarchy
Regarding weirwoods not being in essos. We actually get second hand information that hints at something very similar to them existing in the east. "The fabled Sea Snake, Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was the first Westerosi to visit these woods. After his return from the Thousand Islands, he wrote of carved trees, haunted grottoes, and strange silences." - The World Of Ice And Fire
That's fascinating. Every description of Weirwoods in Westeros sounds so very alive in comparison. The leaves are always rustling and the branches clacking. It feels like something is watching you. Compared to strange silences and a haunted feeling... Like all these trees in Essos got separated from the weirwood net and The Heart of Winter and now are basically a bunch of broken telephone booths.
Personally, I think these kind of topics are your best stuff. Everything you do is excellent entertainment, I just have some issues with a couple of your foundational theories. Makes it hard for me to buy in very much to things built upon those theories. But this stuff? I really think you've hit the nail on the head way more often than not! Hopefully we will find out eventually, but I'll be supporting along the way even if we're both wrong!
36:45 Our moon is very unique because of it's size in relation to us. A different planet (i.e. Planetos) may very well have moons like Mars, which are MUCH smaller, and it would be feasible in a fantasy setting. Real life it would be quite catastrophic, but we could survive, afaik
Hello David, firstly I wanted to thank you for this incredible video, which allows us to better understand the world of chronicles, and which helped me formulate some theories about the history of this world, some of which may not make sense and are just nonsense in my head, or maybe you I've already talked about them in a video on the channel that I haven't seen yet, I hope I can help a little. 1 perhaps the great empire of dawn did not have dragons at its beginning, but rather they were firebenders, this would explain the various associations of the ironborn, Lannisters, Baratheon and the meadow with the control of fire and not with dragons, I believe that dragons they were created by the bloodstone emperor from the crossing of wyverns and fire worms and the use of blood magic and alchemy, the Valyrians could even have dragon blood and were created from alchemy, which would also serve to explain As the divine emperors and other figures of that time lived so long, the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, the people of Asshai today could use some of this alchemical knowledge to transform metal into gold and use it in trade. (I had other theories but this comment is getting too long, I hope you liked it).
I really like the distributed meteor theory. It encapsulates the theme of mixing random things together and then exploring how they interact. Such that...there is not intention, only cosmic chaos that ends up resulting in interesting things. This feels very GM.
hey david, i know most of the incredible artworks (that set the word and its sights into motion) are from unseen westeros. I think the exhibition was at the end of 2018, i couldnt go because it was in germany and i live in austria, and i was way to young to go there myself. I thought about buying a catalog for the 59€ i think it was, but my family meant it was a waste of money and didnt allow me to buy it. And now in 2024, and the years since, over my re reads of asoiaf, i crave the artworks more than ever before. The catalogs cost about 600€ and a reprint or second exhibition is out of sight. So i would love to know from where do you have your digital copys of the exhibition, i couldnt find anything myself, but im not on the subreddit, or anything compareable.
they're very hard to find, you have to search pretty hard. Sven Sauer is the artist who's spearheaded the project, so searching his name and unseen Westeros is the way to get started
Maybe Stygai the Corpse City is like Yeen where it was built by the Squishers except Stygai had actual civilizations like Asshai/the GEotD arise around it, whereas Yeen really only has the Basilisk Isles relatively close-by, thus earning the Corpse City name in relation to how nothing complex lives there. It was like Yeen at first in that the city itself was just cursed, but I believe that after the Moon Meteors, either a huge chunk hit Stygai and spread the magical corruption of the Corpse City all over the peninsula, destroyed the ecosystem, and turned the rocks oily black, or a chunk was moved to Stygai by the Bloodstone Emperor/Night's King and he used evil magics to somehow enhance the corruption from the meteor which spread to the rest of the peninsula, same end result. I kind of prefer the idea that Stygai was hit by a chunk of Moon Meteor which spread the Squishers' magical corruption of Stygai everywhere. This Squisher magic is what created the Oily Black Stone at first, but the Moon Meteors spread the corruption in a way the Squishers had never been able to, kinda like the magic itself mutated or evolved in response to ASoIaF space materials. The main thing that makes me think Stygai was a Squisher city is that a river leads down to the sea from it, and that the river seems to be even more horribly corrupted than Asshai itself, almost radioactive or toxic in an alien way, like it was targetted maybe. Perhaps the Squishers' magic is part of the reason that the moon was destroyed. 3 heads of the dragon there shall be, maybe the BE/NK tried to break into the Weirwood Net, cast a powerful Squisher spell or try to recreate one, AND created either dragons, the precursor Valyrian Steel that Dawn and I think some other weapons are made out of, or both at the same time. This moshpit of magic caused an absolutely gigantic cataclysm greater than the Doom of Valyria, where I believe the very orbits of the moons or Planetos were altered, leading to the moons colliding or bouncing off each other and causing the Moon Meteors to rain down on Planetos. The Arm of Dorne, the Iron Isles, the Thousand Islands, and I believe the Summer Islands as well, were hit by chunks of Moon Meteor, shattering entire landmasses. There was massive flooding from the Narrow Sea meeting the Summer Seas which led to the Neck and other swampy or suspect places being filled with water somehow, maybe smaller meteors. This cataclysm caused enormous amounts of ash, dust, and debris to block out the sun and caused the Long Night. After this is when the Others first appeared, whether they are direct descendants of the Night's King or were created by the Children of the Forest or whatever they truly are, I believe they came to either destroy Azor Ahai, or be lead by Azor Ahai
I was having a rough day at work till I saw you uploaded. Your great content helps me make it through some grueling long hours. I don't know if you realize how you effect people's lives but l would like to thank you
If people spent half the time and effort on anything as these guys do on ASOIAF, there would be far fewer problems in the world. Dave and Tim are truly unmatched!
Submitted with all humility and as a demonstration of kinship more than critique, the Lovecraftian clues at minute 4:30 are extra-textual, not meta-textual. These are the things I think about.
I’ve been catching up on/rewatching your videos the last couple of days. I especially love anything GEotD related. It got me thinking that Huzhor Amai being the son of the last of the Fisher Queens might be a hint as to why the Amethyst Empress initially succeeded the Opal Emperor instead of the Bloodstone Emperor. Given that the Bloodstone Emperor/Azor Ahai/Huzhor Amai are most likely the same person/a monomyth based on the same person, then maybe the Opal Emperor married a Fisher Queen. The matriarchal nature of the Fisher Queens might have led to a change in the GEotD line of succession to include daughters or at least influenced the Opal Emperor to name their elder daughter (Amethyst Empress) as his heir, ahead of their younger son (Bloodstone Emperor).
Amongst the treasures that Gilbert Farwind offers at the Kibgsmoot are a horn and an accompanying armband. I think they maintained Great Empire horn/armband technology
I'm about halfway through rewatching this masterpiece of a livestream, but I just have to point out that George has an absolutely wonderful gift of weaving Lovecraft's ideas into his stories but not Lovecraft's xenophobia/racism that formed those ideas. The Black Goat is worshipped somewhere in northwestern Essos but the real Lovecraft name isn't actually used, and those who are descended from Squishers in ASoIaF really are fishy people instead of in Lovecraft where I believe they are supposed to be based on Asians
Wow I can see the inspiration for Bloodborne is all over this. The people who built the labyrinths underground for thousands of years and had bloodlust. And to serve the Great Ones as called in game. Also all the abominable experiments on the people above to ascend. This stream made me understanding Elden Ring so much! Makes sense since George RR Martin wrote the mythos for the story and world building. There’s a place called Caelid that perfectly resembles Asshai. Also all the outer gods creating chaos in the game. And the long night would be the shattering in Elden Ring. Basically the game takes place in the aftermath 5000 years after the shattering which was caused by the night of the black knives. A Demi god is killed. And a lot of meteors and falling stars that bring outer gods influencing the lands. Great game great story telling. So George RR Martin created a video game and it’s called Elden Ring. David I’m sure you’d love it :)
These horned men of Leng reminded me of my first hours in theatre studies. The class read a play where satyrs show up. And our teacher asked: What is the most typical feature of a satyr? Not the horns - it´s the phallus!
@David Lightbringer I've listened to all Danny's chapters an luv the House of The Undieing where do we hear about the" kingly ghosts " she see's men in wizard hat's so I'm confused can you plz help me LML fan
First off, thank you for the wonderful content. I watch and listen as often as possible. I'm curious if maybe the comet/meteorite is the source of magical power? Maesters said the planet once may have had regular seasons, what if the appearance of the comet set in motion the series of events that would not only put magic in the world, but put so much magic in as to cause a cataclysm. Or maybe the comets come from a magically charged planet that was destroyed. Sorry fo the long comment.
Also, given that the far Eastern Essos cultures are based on far-east Asian cultures, the Greek 'titans' come from proto-Aryan religion that is also found in Hinduism and Buddhism - war between Asuras and Devas.
My personal answer to Yeen is that it, along with asshai, were both most likely built by squishers long before the long night, and that perhaps even the great Empire of the Dawn simply found them. This would explain why both cities are directly accessible from large bodies of water, it would explain how both cities could actually be older than the long night. It would explain how the entire Colony that nymeria left in Yeen disappeared overnight. Probably taken by the squishers. I think that the Bloodstone Emperor being aware that the material fell from the sky, can be chalked up to the Empire of the dawn's magical knowledge, rather than bearing witness to the meteors. It would obviously also explain why the stone is wet and oily, if it were made to trap moisture. And the size of the stones used to build the cities would not have been nearly as cumbersome underwater. It is for all these reasons, that I firmly believe both Yeen and Asshai were most likely built by the squishers, long before the long night, when most of Planetos was submerged underwater, and then stumbled upon by the Empire of the dawn, and made into their Capital Cities, once they learned of the magical properties the oily Stone has. I also think that the Bloodstone Emperor would not have been as reverent of the Stone, if they had mastered it enough to make cities out of it. I think it's much more likely that the Bloodstone emperor was just as mystified by it as we are
I'm at 1:27:25 - lots of talk about the giants and children having similarities to the people of Leng, then about the similarities between shade trees and wierwoods - imo these are both descendents of a common ancestor ie: when the lenghy come to westeros they encounter this new environment and speciate into giants and children. Same for the wierwoods and shade trees, once those populations are split by the break in the arm of dorne they would start to speciate based on their respective environments
I think the Qartheen myth of the second moon exploding and releasing dragons is a huge point towards the asteroid hit theory and explains the shift of the dragonlords from the GEOTD to Valyria, the moon shattering and sending down the bloodstone asteroids causing the long night resulting in the dragons and their dragonlords migrating west potentially or bringing the arcane knowledge of how to tame dragons west which became shifted over the millenia to become that it brought forth dragons.
Plot twist: Asshai is just Manhattan. Literally just Manhattan. The oily black stone is just skyscrapers, it’s always dark because the timeline difference, and there are no children, because it’s night. The magic being practiced in the open are just people using their phones
I like "any kind of dark magic causes the black stone" and my headcanon has Yeen and the Basilisk Isles linked to a prior pre-Dawn Age civilization separate from GEotD that messed with the wrong spells in its own civilizational cycle and possibly created the squishers (maybe the magic flesh pits predated Ghis and all kinds of fked up hybrid races were created there including the deep ones) Although the fact every known oily stone occurs by the ocean indicates some kind of definite squisher/deep one causation.
11 minutes in, when you mentioned "hinges of the world" and you mentioned old town, perhaps Oldtown is a reflection/light inverse of Asshai: * it's a seat of great scholarly pursuits * It's one of the oldest major settlements in area * it also has a Great Empire connection with the fused black stone * The Hightower imagery of Light Additionally, you mentioned the Wall (ice) and Valyria (fire), Valyria has been gone for 4 centuries - it unleashed a century of conflict on the continent of Essos Euron is theorised to bring a dark magic calamity to Oldtown in the upcoming books, maybe this is a sign of the beginning of the end times because the hinge is being thrown out of balance no longer light (old town) and dark (asshai) but both dark and corrupted. The hinges are anchors, holding the world back from destruction. The Wall and Oldtown are the last bastions, holding back the second long night.
I can’t help but wonder if Asshai wasn’t built with regular stone and the wood of shade of the evening trees - or whatever they might have been before they were corrupted? (If the weirwoods were, then the shade trees probably were too, right?)
If you want to learn about the Color Out of Space for more context the movie annihilation from 2017 is very close and a great movie. Also horrorbabble and the avian library each did readings of the story, it’s not that long.
I had the following experience of Preston Jacobs in UA-cam comments. After watching the scene in GoT where the CoF shoves that great lump of dragonglass into the first White Walker, I asked PJ how he could still think it was technology and not magic, and he said the following: "Dragonglass is a type of stone, stone is made from silicon, which is the same stuff that computer chips are made from, therefore it was technology." I do not kid.
He did a recent vid about how Tyrion must be the character holding up Winds because those are the chapters he finds hardest to write for his fan fiction. It must take titanium balls to confuse your challenges and accomplishments as being equal to the ACTUAL AUTHOR of the series you're doing fanfic of.
Yeah thats not what he said at all, which you should know if you watched the video. He said that tyrion is grrms favourite character, he writes all tyrion chapters very poetically, tyrion always must say something clever/witty/funny which makes him guess he is the hardest to write. He than mentioned that he also has troubles writing his tyrion Fanfic.
@@Simeon123431 perhaps I misread the context, but it seemed very much the opposite of the way you frame here. He said Tyrions chapters are very difficult because they are clever/witty but nothing really happens important plot wise -- and that was within the context of him talking about the fan fiction. Like Im pretty sure his opening remarks were basically, "I've been working on the fanfic and having trouble with Tyrion chapters and I realized that he's holding up winds because...". Again, perhaps I misread that in which case I apologize, but that was my read. And in either case, he was clearly drawing a parallel between the reasons he finds it hard to write Tyrion as a character and why George does.
We've heard that the plan was originally for Dany to go to Asshai but now we won't get to see it except maybe in flashback- do you think Melissandre could be the POV that shows us what it's like?
If they were it probably would be the thenn. They're the blacksheep of the wildlings. They have a feudal system, they have advanced (for wildlings) knowledge of metallurgy, and they don't actually follow the old gods but worship their ruler. They're so far north and so isolated they couldn't have picked up any of this from the night's watch.
1:18:00 my grandfather had done a lot of DNA testing and he consistently shows up as having 2-4% Neanderthal DNA which in turn means I have some as well My parents are also distantly related and both are from Prussian ancestry so I wonder if that would boost my own results 🤔
This came on while I was sleeping, and it made for a very interesting dream. At 16:23 when he starts talking about how it's not logical to not have a maximum human population, and how squishers farm humans, my dream took an aerial dive into the depths of Asshai, like the inside of a hollow tower, and the outer ring was all prison-like cells packed full of skeletons of humans that had burned alive in the hypothesized meteor strike. Very cool imagery.
whyd you make all that up?
It's so funny because every time I have autoplay on and watch youtube while sleeping I always wake up on these DL Lives idk why youtube just loves these
"Forget about the moon part of it" something I never thought I'd hear on this channel 😂
Another fabulous stream. Between being an old theater kid myself and praising Garth for my adhd, watching David Lightbringer and Grey Waste Tim together is like hanging out with the coolest voices in my head.
Thank you for continuing to make great ASOIAF content. I barely noticed the squishes on my first read through, but I’m more and more convinced they are off the coast of everywhere in planetos. There are so many layers and nuances to GRRM’s work.
Same!
Please leave a like and a comment to support David and Tim. This is some of the most interesting ASOIAF content on UTube
Hell yerrr
I liked your comment, I guess I show myself to the door now.
liked, subscribed, commenting every other moment.
K. We've been jerking ourselves off for twelve years trying to make sense of random bullshit that George threw in because it seemed cool at the time. David's analysis makes way more sense than anything that George might've thought of, but here we are. F*ck you, George.
@@AnnabelTheGoldsmithp
Asshai and Leng is the kind of content I'm here for.
As a Lovecraft fan, I hope some of those elements get played up in future ASOIAF shows or books. Definitely some of the most fascinating aspects of the world.
On the most commonly shared ASOIAF map, Ulthos is shown to be extremely dense in the shade of the evening trees. Interestingly, a short distance from Ashai.
I had never read a ASOIAF book until I came across David's videos. Phenomenal content. You and Quinn are the fantasy GOATS.
just went through huge trauma and i just want to thank you both for what you do for us.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The name Yi Ti seems to me like a reference to the Yuan-ti from Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk lore, who are snake/human hybrids created in blood rituals. Some of the stuff in Leng reminds me of them:
- they live underground
- mostly live in the jungle
- big yellow eyes because they’re sneks
- darkvision
- xenophobic and suspicious (“kill all the foreigners”)
The yuan-ti often inhabit the remains of the cities of ancient fallen civilisations, so if GRRM is imaging snake-people currently living in the jungles of Leng, it would imply they were not the original builders of those cities
One of the popular yuan-ti religions attempts to awaken a sleeping ancient god, which I believe to be a Lovecraft reference. Another sect work to unleash a primordial serpent who is destined to devour the Sun and plunge the world into eternal darkness, which links them with the Long Night as well
I'm definitely seeing the Yuan-Ti/Yi-Ti connection too, I suspect you might be correct
Yuan-Ti may have come from South Asian mythology of things similar to Naga (which also exist in D&D). In particular Thailand has myths that they ruled the World before us.
GRRM is a huge mythology buff. You can't resist a good story.
"The dragon must have three heads" - the comet and moon meteors are refered to as dragons - 3 impact sites around the world - could they have been West to East, long ago; 1st on the Iron Islands, then at the Hammer of the Waters and finally at Asshai.
I'm unsure how much time is possible between these three dragon head landings, but just something I was thinking on this evening, during the stream.
Thanks for the great content per usual @greywastetim and @David"Don'tCallMeLML"theDragon; excellent stream and always love this topic.
I think there were maybe 3 large meteors and a bunch of little ones, the Summer Islands kinda look like a destroyed landmass but I think the Thousand Islands were definitely destroyed by a meteor just like the Arm of Dorne, the Iron Isles/Peninsula, and Asshai
@@ChrisVillagomezDon't forget Starfall. I've heard theories that the rock the Dayne's ancestral home is on is actually a meteor. Same with the stone beneath the HighTower in Old Town. But maybe that's too many meteors lol. If not, what a horrifying event. It is no wonder why the weather is so wacky.
@@jessjess23brooks89 Nah it makes sense that when something insanely large like a moon breaking apart or 2 moons hitting each other happens that there's debris continuously raining down for years. Even in Star Wars, when the Second Death Star was destroyed the Rebels had to set up a new planetary shield for Endor due to the amount of rubble falling onto the poor Ewoks' homes
I'd really love to see an animated series about the Empire of the Dawn and the lands and peoples of Essos. Even Jaenara Belaerys flying over Sothoryos.
Bless Tim, don't worry man, easy mistake to make if you're not overly familiar with AI images. I'm an artist myself and have managed to learn to spot AI pieces now but they still occasionally catch me out. Some things to look for to spot AI imagery - Odd looking eyes and fingers, scenes and environments that have points where 'physics' seem to be broken (clouds below horizon lines etc), and oft times they'll be very painterly in style.
Most importantly, Great stream as always fellas - Thank you. Really like hearing the back and forth of conversation between you both, you're enthusiasm really draws the listener in and makes me realise that my bookshelf is in need of a few more novels...
These discussions are absolutely feeding my love for history and mythology and now I want to binge documentaries on the Celtic pantheon. Also I love, LOVE how you guys address the fact that any giant empire is going to be multi-racial and multi-ethnic and point out China being aware of the Roman Empire and Rome being aware of China as a real world example. (And thank both you and Tim for your stance and comments on ai 'art'. I don't want to go into a tangent about it, but it just really means a lot to hear the harm ai 'art' does to artists, being addressed in more fandom spaces. You guys are awesome! )
To my knowledge Rome and China knew OF each other but didn't know a whole lot but perhaps I am mistaken
The AI was worth it just to see Tim die on stream (and rise harder and stronger)
What if Dawn is the ancestral sword of the Gemstone Emperors that was brought to Westeros by Amethyst Empress loyalists (Dayne ancestors) fleeing from the BSE?
That has parallels (which GRRM _loves_ ) with Alyssa Velaryon taking Dark Sister in her flight from Maegor.
As for the blood sacrifice I have a theory that there's a huge difference between forced blood sacrifice and sacrifices of willing subjects (which will come into the endgame imo).
In YI-Tish history there's a dynasty of Eunuch Emperors who sacrifice their bits willingly upon ascension.
This, again, shares narrative parallels with Varys, arguably the shadow babies and the general theme of magic powered by life/ reproductive essences/child-birth etc. being extremely powerful (although these are all part of the "dark" iteration of blood magic).
Perhaps this willing sacrifice of "bits/essence etc." could be a throwback to a different, less malign version of blood magic as opposed to the BSE and the following Valyrian's concept of blood magic, that seems extremely malign with Valyrian steel consuming light in juxtaposition to Dawn that seems to refract it being an example of this difference.
Also has possible parallels with the Others. If they are, say, the spirits of those exiled from the WWN who are created from willing sacrifices to become soldiers/weapons against the invaders of the WWN that pushed them out.
Dawn and The Others *do* share noted physical similarities...
Maybe I'm lost in the sauce but I really appreciate your work and the ones with Tim are always fantastic (Anyone reading go subscribe to his channel). I really wouldn't have thought much about this series without your work.
Take care of yourselves everybody!
Weird thoughts by a biologist: What if the Old Ones/Green Men are the ancestors of both giants and children who split up to occupy different ecological niches in Westeros?
How quickly do you think they could speciate to fill those niches? I wonder if you have the time to see those changes from the time of the breaking of the arm to the Long Night, if they are separate events. I would think there would be some cataclysm to trigger it separate the breeding crunch.
Wooooow... 🤔 this is canon for me
@robadamson1 in isolated populations, speciation can begin to occur in as little as a few dozen generations...
We need a Grey King stream based off of your original Grey King symbolism. I like to go and listen to your first few video essays. The Grey King was some of the most compelling.
Exactly why we promise to watch the Ironborn content. So here for this
You guys complement each other very well! And the live hosted by the pair of you has nice dynamics. Thanks so much for the great content!
David, my dad is an old Blues Bassist who used to watch Reading Rainbow with me when I was a young mermaid. I am desperate to send him your Reading Rhaegar cover! I need a viiiiid! 😂
Love that George made it apparent that Asshai and the whole region went through a magical apocalypse, due in part to a world ending war. It has the after effects of something similar to radiation.
He's made cyclical periods of upheaval a regular thing in his world.
There's even periods of golden ages of discovery that civilizations go through like bronze age, iron age, and even valyerian steel age, hell even a dragon age, or black oily stone age. That different sentient races had their own age of glory or discovery and a cataclysmic end.
I love you and Tim together, and talking about Asshai! Amazing content. Love it.
2:29:27 i just noticed that Stannis changed his sigil in a similar way that bittersteel changed his sigil. Goes from a stag to a firey stag, goes from a bracken horse to a firey horse. Is this astronomy or burning tree?
around 1:30:00 when you guys were talking about weirwoods existing in the far east of essos, that immediately bridged with david's idea of azor ahai corruption/inflitration of the weirnet, if the long night started /was fought mostly in essos then finished in westeros - that COULD mean the others would use the weirnet as some sort of gate to go from continent to continent. it could be that during/after the long night the weirwoods (in my mind they were and will always be extremely creepy), were simply cut down mercilessly because the enemy (others/azor ahai) used them to wage war on the whole world; if the pact of the gods eye between the children and first men was in fact the end of the long night, one of the conditions could be about not cutting down the rest of the weirwoods.
Maybe they were chased all across essos until they cross the arm, then the arm breaks, trapping them in Westeros, along with the men who chased them, so they finished chasing them north until there’s nowhere else to push them… then the andals chased the first men exactly the same way, stranding the thenns (ancestral true first men) along side the wights and others
"It'd be like if Zeus decided to bang an octopus, which he is wont to do..." CHEFS KISS TIM HILARIOUS
My mind was blown multiple times throughout this stream🤯
*Sees username*
Hmmmmmmmmmmm...
I hate that I miss so many livestreams, but thanks for always making quality content, and as usual, LOVE having Tim on. Always a pleasure gentleman.
😮 Thoughts on Tim being a Pleasure gentleman anyone
@@AStarkofWinterfell24 what?
@@LeonM4c you said it not me lol what’s a pleasure gentleman??
@@AStarkofWinterfell24 I meant watching their content is always a pleasure.
@@LeonM4c i like the idea of a pleasure gentleman more and that’s what I’m sticking with
I maybe found another Sun King. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the main god of that island - Apollo and literally Theos Helios, the embodiment of the sun. Both were worshipped in parallel. And this is the inspiration behind the Braavos Titan
Just to brighten up the shadows here!
Evidence-free theory: if the Children were once plentiful across Essos, that implies that weirwood trees were too. Then the Long Night meteor strikes happen and a contamination starts to spread through the Essos weirwoods (presumably starting in The Shadow) which kills most of them but in a minority of cases (with or without human/magical help) transforms them into Shade Of The Evening trees, which only survive in a few places. However the same meteor strikes also sever the Arm Of Dorne, thus saving the Westeros weirwoods from the same fate. Then later, during or immediately after The Long Night, Great Empire survivors and/or Lenghi arrive in Westeros looking for the surviving trees. In other words, this has the _effect_ of saving the Westeros weirwoods by cutting The Arm Of Dorne, but it doesn't need The Children to proactively do it.
Interesting!
I think the issue with most theories on this channel is that they assume a primarily mundane cause for everything, with magic tacked on as a sort of enhancing effect. David never assumes magic as the initial cause, which seems to be a major flaw as we have seen the power that magic has in its nearly extinct form. In the deep past, it very well could have had the power to shatter continents and magically irradiate cities.
Freehold, as in "The Freehold of Valyria" is a term that exists as an opposite to leasehold. The land that became known as Valyria was probably granted by decree prior to the fall of the Great Empire. Otherwise, I don't see why you wouldn't just call it Valyria or the "Nation of Valyria," "Kingdom of Valyria," something like that if you were just settling new territory, especially considering they were establishing a slave state
Freehold can also mean a type of land ownership where no tax is paid to the government.
@@LookToWindward, sure, the point is using that name carries the implication that there is some other government around in a somewhat hegemonic position. What I'm getting at is that Valyria was probably settled and "created" during the time of the Great Empire of the Dawn
@@denali1566Excellent observation!
And that would fit with the legends of the Asshai'i being the first to tame dragons and teach it to the Valyrians. The Asshai'i simply passed down their teachings to their successor state
I actually agree with your assessment. But to play devils advocate it may just be due to the 40 dragon lord/sorcerer families (I’m assuming 14 of which were great houses/controlled the 14 flames), therefore the freehold may have been established to have an aristocracy of these families instead of a monarchy which would mean 1 or maybe 2 families could hold power. I always assumed this because 14 flames being controlled by 14 families would require a system that doesn’t just funnel up to the top guy like monarchy
Regarding weirwoods not being in essos. We actually get second hand information that hints at something very similar to them existing in the east.
"The fabled Sea Snake, Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was the first Westerosi to visit these woods. After his return from the Thousand Islands, he wrote of carved trees, haunted grottoes, and strange silences." - The World Of Ice And Fire
Hey, we know that guy!
That's fascinating. Every description of Weirwoods in Westeros sounds so very alive in comparison. The leaves are always rustling and the branches clacking. It feels like something is watching you.
Compared to strange silences and a haunted feeling... Like all these trees in Essos got separated from the weirwood net and The Heart of Winter and now are basically a bunch of broken telephone booths.
Joined the live late. Love listening to discussions on the more obscure topics of ASoIaF
Zeus banging an Octopus is the kind of discourse this fandom needs more of.
Once again, great stream! Thank you David and Tim!
Gonna catch this later! Can't wait to hear the latest collaboration with our Grey boy Timmy!!
Personally, I think these kind of topics are your best stuff.
Everything you do is excellent entertainment, I just have some issues with a couple of your foundational theories. Makes it hard for me to buy in very much to things built upon those theories.
But this stuff? I really think you've hit the nail on the head way more often than not!
Hopefully we will find out eventually, but I'll be supporting along the way even if we're both wrong!
Have you watched/read the full explanation, the early stuff?
@@Slechy_Lesh If you read my comment you will have the answer to that.
Yes, I have read the foundational theories.
@@Michael-bn1oi And what did you think, what was your issues?
Really love hearing Tim's Lovecrafty input! ❤
Fun stream gentlemen! 😃 I also fear the superfruit invasion.
36:45 Our moon is very unique because of it's size in relation to us. A different planet (i.e. Planetos) may very well have moons like Mars, which are MUCH smaller, and it would be feasible in a fantasy setting. Real life it would be quite catastrophic, but we could survive, afaik
Man, you more anyone has helped bring my TTRPG game up, so thank you.
We need MORE 3 hour David and Tim streams!
You guys work so well together!!! 👏 ❤
Hello David, firstly I wanted to thank you for this incredible video, which allows us to better understand the world of chronicles, and which helped me formulate some theories about the history of this world, some of which may not make sense and are just nonsense in my head, or maybe you I've already talked about them in a video on the channel that I haven't seen yet, I hope I can help a little.
1 perhaps the great empire of dawn did not have dragons at its beginning, but rather they were firebenders, this would explain the various associations of the ironborn, Lannisters, Baratheon and the meadow with the control of fire and not with dragons, I believe that dragons they were created by the bloodstone emperor from the crossing of wyverns and fire worms and the use of blood magic and alchemy, the Valyrians could even have dragon blood and were created from alchemy, which would also serve to explain As the divine emperors and other figures of that time lived so long, the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, the people of Asshai today could use some of this alchemical knowledge to transform metal into gold and use it in trade.
(I had other theories but this comment is getting too long, I hope you liked it).
no that's an interesting idea I'll ponder it
@@DavidLightbringer I thought of other theories (as far-fetched as they are) if you want, I can write about them.
I really like the distributed meteor theory. It encapsulates the theme of mixing random things together and then exploring how they interact. Such that...there is not intention, only cosmic chaos that ends up resulting in interesting things. This feels very GM.
hey david, i know most of the incredible artworks (that set the word and its sights into motion) are from unseen westeros. I think the exhibition was at the end of 2018, i couldnt go because it was in germany and i live in austria, and i was way to young to go there myself. I thought about buying a catalog for the 59€ i think it was, but my family meant it was a waste of money and didnt allow me to buy it. And now in 2024, and the years since, over my re reads of asoiaf, i crave the artworks more than ever before. The catalogs cost about 600€ and a reprint or second exhibition is out of sight. So i would love to know from where do you have your digital copys of the exhibition, i couldnt find anything myself, but im not on the subreddit, or anything compareable.
they're very hard to find, you have to search pretty hard. Sven Sauer is the artist who's spearheaded the project, so searching his name and unseen Westeros is the way to get started
Loved this one :) And the chat was fire too
Rewatching older videos while I try not to lose my shit over the current state of the world. ❤ ASOIAF content is my safe place.
My current hypothesis: the Great Empire of the Dawn SACRIFICED Asshai to create energy for their generation of new beasts: DRAGONS!
when tim said "the artist's name is midjourney" i damn near choked on my tea because his pure, absolute earnestness 😂😂
that was a moment
I missed a few streams so now I’ve got a marathon of lml content to binge!
Love your content. Much appreciated. By the way, you guys rock.
Thank you for all your work. Love spending my weekend with you guys❤
Amazing stream. I absolutely love environmental world story telling.
Maybe Stygai the Corpse City is like Yeen where it was built by the Squishers except Stygai had actual civilizations like Asshai/the GEotD arise around it, whereas Yeen really only has the Basilisk Isles relatively close-by, thus earning the Corpse City name in relation to how nothing complex lives there. It was like Yeen at first in that the city itself was just cursed, but I believe that after the Moon Meteors, either a huge chunk hit Stygai and spread the magical corruption of the Corpse City all over the peninsula, destroyed the ecosystem, and turned the rocks oily black, or a chunk was moved to Stygai by the Bloodstone Emperor/Night's King and he used evil magics to somehow enhance the corruption from the meteor which spread to the rest of the peninsula, same end result. I kind of prefer the idea that Stygai was hit by a chunk of Moon Meteor which spread the Squishers' magical corruption of Stygai everywhere. This Squisher magic is what created the Oily Black Stone at first, but the Moon Meteors spread the corruption in a way the Squishers had never been able to, kinda like the magic itself mutated or evolved in response to ASoIaF space materials. The main thing that makes me think Stygai was a Squisher city is that a river leads down to the sea from it, and that the river seems to be even more horribly corrupted than Asshai itself, almost radioactive or toxic in an alien way, like it was targetted maybe. Perhaps the Squishers' magic is part of the reason that the moon was destroyed. 3 heads of the dragon there shall be, maybe the BE/NK tried to break into the Weirwood Net, cast a powerful Squisher spell or try to recreate one, AND created either dragons, the precursor Valyrian Steel that Dawn and I think some other weapons are made out of, or both at the same time. This moshpit of magic caused an absolutely gigantic cataclysm greater than the Doom of Valyria, where I believe the very orbits of the moons or Planetos were altered, leading to the moons colliding or bouncing off each other and causing the Moon Meteors to rain down on Planetos. The Arm of Dorne, the Iron Isles, the Thousand Islands, and I believe the Summer Islands as well, were hit by chunks of Moon Meteor, shattering entire landmasses. There was massive flooding from the Narrow Sea meeting the Summer Seas which led to the Neck and other swampy or suspect places being filled with water somehow, maybe smaller meteors. This cataclysm caused enormous amounts of ash, dust, and debris to block out the sun and caused the Long Night. After this is when the Others first appeared, whether they are direct descendants of the Night's King or were created by the Children of the Forest or whatever they truly are, I believe they came to either destroy Azor Ahai, or be lead by Azor Ahai
love when tim joins, thanks you homies for such delicious content! praise garth
I was having a rough day at work till I saw you uploaded. Your great content helps me make it through some grueling long hours. I don't know if you realize how you effect people's lives but l would like to thank you
💚💚💚
If people spent half the time and effort on anything as these guys do on ASOIAF, there would be far fewer problems in the world. Dave and Tim are truly unmatched!
Submitted with all humility and as a demonstration of kinship more than critique, the Lovecraftian clues at minute 4:30 are extra-textual, not meta-textual. These are the things I think about.
I’ve been catching up on/rewatching your videos the last couple of days. I especially love anything GEotD related.
It got me thinking that Huzhor Amai being the son of the last of the Fisher Queens might be a hint as to why the Amethyst Empress initially succeeded the Opal Emperor instead of the Bloodstone Emperor.
Given that the Bloodstone Emperor/Azor Ahai/Huzhor Amai are most likely the same person/a monomyth based on the same person, then maybe the Opal Emperor married a Fisher Queen.
The matriarchal nature of the Fisher Queens might have led to a change in the GEotD line of succession to include daughters or at least influenced the Opal Emperor to name their elder daughter (Amethyst Empress) as his heir, ahead of their younger son (Bloodstone Emperor).
Amongst the treasures that Gilbert Farwind offers at the Kibgsmoot are a horn and an accompanying armband. I think they maintained Great Empire horn/armband technology
oh great catch I'll have to reread that part
I love how deep you guys dive on SOIAF lore…. lol
Been enjoying some of your videos recently after hearing some legend named Alt Schwift X mention your theories
Love a good long video. I’m half way through and I got a lot of kitchen prep done. The 2nd half will carry me through cleanup.
Well didn’t get me through all the cleaning. But right up to the mopping so pretty good! Rest those voices.
Thanks for your content guys
Great stream! 💚Deep lore is always a great discussion
I'm just here to to leave a comment because I'm obsessed with Ur channel
Loved it so much I had to listen again today!
I'm about halfway through rewatching this masterpiece of a livestream, but I just have to point out that George has an absolutely wonderful gift of weaving Lovecraft's ideas into his stories but not Lovecraft's xenophobia/racism that formed those ideas. The Black Goat is worshipped somewhere in northwestern Essos but the real Lovecraft name isn't actually used, and those who are descended from Squishers in ASoIaF really are fishy people instead of in Lovecraft where I believe they are supposed to be based on Asians
well said
Wow I can see the inspiration for Bloodborne is all over this. The people who built the labyrinths underground for thousands of years and had bloodlust. And to serve the Great Ones as called in game. Also all the abominable experiments on the people above to ascend. This stream made me understanding Elden Ring so much! Makes sense since George RR Martin wrote the mythos for the story and world building. There’s a place called Caelid that perfectly resembles Asshai. Also all the outer gods creating chaos in the game. And the long night would be the shattering in Elden Ring. Basically the game takes place in the aftermath 5000 years after the shattering which was caused by the night of the black knives. A Demi god is killed. And a lot of meteors and falling stars that bring outer gods influencing the lands. Great game great story telling. So George RR Martin created a video game and it’s called Elden Ring. David I’m sure you’d love it :)
These horned men of Leng reminded me of my first hours in theatre studies. The class read a play where satyrs show up. And our teacher asked: What is the most typical feature of a satyr? Not the horns - it´s the phallus!
new fan of both of yours! subscribed and notified!
Love your live streams and videos!
@50:20 I swear to the old gods and the new to watch your Ironborn videos!
I was hoping to catch this live. UA-cam at the time as 10pm, sorry I missed it.
@David Lightbringer I've listened to all Danny's chapters an luv the House of The Undieing where do we hear about the" kingly ghosts " she see's men in wizard hat's so I'm confused can you plz help me LML fan
Watching them grow their ability to have a streamlined conversation and interact is, almost, better than the topic.
First off, thank you for the wonderful content. I watch and listen as often as possible.
I'm curious if maybe the comet/meteorite is the source of magical power? Maesters said the planet once may have had regular seasons, what if the appearance of the comet set in motion the series of events that would not only put magic in the world, but put so much magic in as to cause a cataclysm.
Or maybe the comets come from a magically charged planet that was destroyed.
Sorry fo the long comment.
I’m kinda sad you cut off Tim’s explanation of the Dionysius Baratheon parallels, it was really interesting 😢
Also, given that the far Eastern Essos cultures are based on far-east Asian cultures, the Greek 'titans' come from proto-Aryan religion that is also found in Hinduism and Buddhism - war between Asuras and Devas.
My personal answer to Yeen is that it, along with asshai, were both most likely built by squishers long before the long night, and that perhaps even the great Empire of the Dawn simply found them. This would explain why both cities are directly accessible from large bodies of water, it would explain how both cities could actually be older than the long night. It would explain how the entire Colony that nymeria left in Yeen disappeared overnight. Probably taken by the squishers. I think that the Bloodstone Emperor being aware that the material fell from the sky, can be chalked up to the Empire of the dawn's magical knowledge, rather than bearing witness to the meteors. It would obviously also explain why the stone is wet and oily, if it were made to trap moisture. And the size of the stones used to build the cities would not have been nearly as cumbersome underwater. It is for all these reasons, that I firmly believe both Yeen and Asshai were most likely built by the squishers, long before the long night, when most of Planetos was submerged underwater, and then stumbled upon by the Empire of the dawn, and made into their Capital Cities, once they learned of the magical properties the oily Stone has. I also think that the Bloodstone Emperor would not have been as reverent of the Stone, if they had mastered it enough to make cities out of it. I think it's much more likely that the Bloodstone emperor was just as mystified by it as we are
Your point with A.I is sooo valid!! I do love the A.I with pets wearing costumes 😅😅😅
I'm at 1:27:25 - lots of talk about the giants and children having similarities to the people of Leng, then about the similarities between shade trees and wierwoods - imo these are both descendents of a common ancestor ie: when the lenghy come to westeros they encounter this new environment and speciate into giants and children. Same for the wierwoods and shade trees, once those populations are split by the break in the arm of dorne they would start to speciate based on their respective environments
that's a cool idea I'll give it some thought. I think it's plausible
I think the Qartheen myth of the second moon exploding and releasing dragons is a huge point towards the asteroid hit theory and explains the shift of the dragonlords from the GEOTD to Valyria, the moon shattering and sending down the bloodstone asteroids causing the long night resulting in the dragons and their dragonlords migrating west potentially or bringing the arcane knowledge of how to tame dragons west which became shifted over the millenia to become that it brought forth dragons.
Nissa Nissa is a strange name, we've only see one (hehe) other person with a similar one.
That's right, Wun Wun the Giant. Nissa Nissa was a Giantess.
Another amazing stream!
another amazing stream both of you rock
Plot twist: Asshai is just Manhattan. Literally just Manhattan. The oily black stone is just skyscrapers, it’s always dark because the timeline difference, and there are no children, because it’s night. The magic being practiced in the open are just people using their phones
Are you going to talk about Patchface in the Ironborn triology, since he is pretty clearly linked to the drowned god
I like "any kind of dark magic causes the black stone" and my headcanon has Yeen and the Basilisk Isles linked to a prior pre-Dawn Age civilization separate from GEotD that messed with the wrong spells in its own civilizational cycle and possibly created the squishers (maybe the magic flesh pits predated Ghis and all kinds of fked up hybrid races were created there including the deep ones)
Although the fact every known oily stone occurs by the ocean indicates some kind of definite squisher/deep one causation.
11 minutes in, when you mentioned "hinges of the world" and you mentioned old town, perhaps Oldtown is a reflection/light inverse of Asshai:
* it's a seat of great scholarly pursuits
* It's one of the oldest major settlements in area
* it also has a Great Empire connection with the fused black stone
* The Hightower imagery of Light
Additionally, you mentioned the Wall (ice) and Valyria (fire), Valyria has been gone for 4 centuries - it unleashed a century of conflict on the continent of Essos
Euron is theorised to bring a dark magic calamity to Oldtown in the upcoming books, maybe this is a sign of the beginning of the end times because the hinge is being thrown out of balance no longer light (old town) and dark (asshai) but both dark and corrupted. The hinges are anchors, holding the world back from destruction. The Wall and Oldtown are the last bastions, holding back the second long night.
Don't even know why, but i'm looking forward to this channel getting 100k subscribers
I can’t help but wonder if Asshai wasn’t built with regular stone and the wood of shade of the evening trees - or whatever they might have been before they were corrupted? (If the weirwoods were, then the shade trees probably were too, right?)
If you want to learn about the Color Out of Space for more context the movie annihilation from 2017 is very close and a great movie.
Also horrorbabble and the avian library each did readings of the story, it’s not that long.
1:22 - if you've ever seen a very determined bantam rooster mount a Brahma hen, or a chihuahua try it out on a great dane, you'd know acrobatics.
I had the following experience of Preston Jacobs in UA-cam comments. After watching the scene in GoT where the CoF shoves that great lump of dragonglass into the first White Walker, I asked PJ how he could still think it was technology and not magic, and he said the following: "Dragonglass is a type of stone, stone is made from silicon, which is the same stuff that computer chips are made from, therefore it was technology."
I do not kid.
He did a recent vid about how Tyrion must be the character holding up Winds because those are the chapters he finds hardest to write for his fan fiction. It must take titanium balls to confuse your challenges and accomplishments as being equal to the ACTUAL AUTHOR of the series you're doing fanfic of.
Yeah thats not what he said at all, which you should know if you watched the video. He said that tyrion is grrms favourite character, he writes all tyrion chapters very poetically, tyrion always must say something clever/witty/funny which makes him guess he is the hardest to write. He than mentioned that he also has troubles writing his tyrion Fanfic.
@@Simeon123431 perhaps I misread the context, but it seemed very much the opposite of the way you frame here. He said Tyrions chapters are very difficult because they are clever/witty but nothing really happens important plot wise -- and that was within the context of him talking about the fan fiction. Like Im pretty sure his opening remarks were basically, "I've been working on the fanfic and having trouble with Tyrion chapters and I realized that he's holding up winds because...". Again, perhaps I misread that in which case I apologize, but that was my read. And in either case, he was clearly drawing a parallel between the reasons he finds it hard to write Tyrion as a character and why George does.
I guess its a question of interpretation. I dont remember either which way he phrased it, just that i understood it as i mentioned above
I've been a Preston fan for a long time, but some of the roads he goes down are just plain wrong 😅
We've heard that the plan was originally for Dany to go to Asshai but now we won't get to see it except maybe in flashback- do you think Melissandre could be the POV that shows us what it's like?
that could happen, but I'm thinking Marwin is bringing a glass candle to Meereen and that Dany will use it for that purpose
I'd love to hear speculation about adventurers from the north coast of the GEOTD settling in North Westeros (now north of the wall), Skagos etc.
If they were it probably would be the thenn. They're the blacksheep of the wildlings. They have a feudal system, they have advanced (for wildlings) knowledge of metallurgy, and they don't actually follow the old gods but worship their ruler. They're so far north and so isolated they couldn't have picked up any of this from the night's watch.
Yes! Another good one!
Pyke “had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean”. Is that leading into the ocean so the deep ones could come and go as they please?
the lads are back 🤌🏽🤌🏽
1:18:00 my grandfather had done a lot of DNA testing and he consistently shows up as having 2-4% Neanderthal DNA which in turn means I have some as well
My parents are also distantly related and both are from Prussian ancestry so I wonder if that would boost my own results 🤔