fun fact: apparently siege equipment is a relatively new thing for the dragon age universe. there was no need. earthshaking magic was just a lot easier.
Arrows, I guess. Honestly it always struck me as kind of moronic, but that's the in-game lore. The real answer is likely that the Devs just really like the idea of castles and didn't think things through. Tends to happen in bioware games nowadays.
Elves made it, so they probably assumed stupid shemlen didn't have enough magic to tear down their walls. The tevinter came and took the near-monopoly on powerful magic, and kept enough anti-magic defenses to target enemy mages. The andraste came, wrecked stuff, died, and her followers enslaved the mages (hypocrites). Kings still used them as siege weapons, but they needed to rent them from the chantry AFAIK. Then the Quanari came, blew stuff up, and people got the idea to throw large rocks from a mechanical device from them. Apparently people outside Thedas are much more technologically advanced, but don't come to Thedas because it's such a !@#$-hole. Blights, darkspawn, dragons...
Warlord_Pipsqueak It certainly keeps the rabble out. Considering Thedas wildlife, that alone could also justify walling your city/fort. And even if a mage coudl tear a wall down with ease, anyone who doesn't have one is !@#$ed. Piracy, raiders, these were some of the earliest threats to independent Mediterranean city states. Something similar could prompt their construction.
The "false floor" looks more like a grate floor so that if you dumped boiling oil down the murder hole it doesn't flood the place but actually falls through, it's self cleaning so you can keep dumping more and more down there.
You could also remove it completely and just have a large hole attackers would have to cross after breaching the drawbridge and portcullis and then have another portcullis to assault, also the diamond shaped holes in the merlons might be murder holes rather than arrow slits
jmjon9 yeah so basically the diamonds and grate can useful drainage and the grate could potentially be taken out before the battle instead of being some complicated trap door
Yes, perhaps it does not have a contraption, but under siege it can be removed. So in the case the attackers break the defenses, there is no floor to walk on.
16:02 it's primarily so you can jump from Leliana's rookery onto Sola's desk, trust me, i've done it enough times, and also, the castle is perfect for the sole reason of it having a wine cellar.
@@supervegito2277 fav scene is when Dorian is complaining about the selection of books available in the library and throws a book over his shoulder OVER THE LEDGE. It 100% hit Solas
Yes but as it is basically only ONE way for attackers to get close to the walls. over the bridge all the holes that are not directly over the bridge would be useless for pouring oil through And on a side note as far as i know Oil was not that commonly used for this as it was expensive. and you need large amounts. pouring 2 litre down a murder hole does not do much. Even one barrel of oil would not be much for castle defense. You would need to have several barrels at least. and that would be costly and a waste of oil that can be used to so much else Molten sand i think was often used as it is cheap and effective. even just boiling water would work fairly way if you don't have anything else. its not as effective as oil or sand but cheaper and still having gallons of boiling water poured over you is NOT very pleasant :)
TheCalcaholic I could be wrong. i am no expert on the subject but that is what i red somewhere And it would be cheap. would probably take more to melt sand than boil up oil or water but it should be very effective. i would not want to have molten sand poured down over my back :)
Something to take in mind is who built Skyhold - Elves to supposedly protect a holy site of some sort. From what we've seen from DA Elven architecture is that they prefer aesthetics to space efficiency due to there being no real serious threat that would have made it past the outer wall at the time of construction, which is likely why it is so well defended. Another thing is remember is that this isn't set in the middle ages just because they live in castles and use swords and engineers will have been forced to consider more offensive variable like a goddamn fireball or strike of lightning from mages in an attacking force as this is high fantasy and so designs will differ rather than Bioware's designers not understanding how a castle works. Also maybe another reason for the change in the castle's interior lack of space us is this is more like a temple fortress rather than a military stronghold and the towers having the strutting out tops is due to the ancient Elves wanting to intimidate and appear more imposing on the local aggressors - tribal avaar that would lack the technology for an effective siege.
The ancient Elves did not build Skyhold. The structure and design shows Fereldan (human) influences. The Elves only traveled to and held the grounds to a holy standard. After their fall, humans took up residence and flattened the peak to place a castle there. A good example of a fortress that the ancient Elves *did* build (likely with magic and not actual labor) is Suledin Keep. Edit: (*Spoilers Ahead*) The lore mentions that Tarasyl'an Te'las (Skyhold's original name) was once the site of rituals for Elves for the Humans leveled it. (*SPOILERS*) Based on what Solas tells you in Trespasser, there was a keep or stronghold that he and his followers used, and Skyhold was were he created the Veil.
The mountain terrain kinda makes it near impossible to march large armies at the castle anyways. Any defenses not near the entrance to the castle would kinda be a waste.
qwerty qwerty pretty much yeah the only way too the castle seems to be From a small narrow valley and cliffsides. its Basically impossible to take. No army can come close. let alone fit.
Well, you'd want a few, since flying enemies are a potential issue in the Dragon Age world. Dragons, mages and when Skyhold was built griffins hadn't yet died out.
I'd love to see Skyhold in its prime, holding off such an attack. I might exclude dragons however, since they seem to just be too excessive, and if an army somehow has a dragon in their arsenal, you might as well just surrender the castle immediately. That's like bringing a nuke to a machete fight. But yeah, I'd want to see how people in Dragon Age used to defend against mages and griffins. I imagine most castles had their fair share of mages to hopefully counteract highly destructive spells that could topple the castle defenses, and maybe they deployed special weaponry that would not only have the range to handle approaching griffins, but also the tracking ability, since I imagine griffins are very nimble and quick in the air.
I came here to ask this- I’d love to hear Shad’s thoughts on Caer Bronach, Griffon Wing Keep. Adamant would be hard because you only get to be there during a single battle
I think the diamond shape on the battlements might be to pour boiling oil? Im not entirely sure but that was my first through, due to the downward slope of them, reminded me of a pipe.
that would be lack in forsight within the creation of the game...that grate wouldn't be there if it wasn't a death trap...the "little" things always get overlooked due to game release deadline...
@@PenheartKings Instead of a death trap it could simply be a removable floor the defenders can lift up to make it harder for attackers to get through the gate house as they need to build or lay down their own bridge under fire just to reach the second portcullas before they can think about breaking down the second portcullas.
I honestly discount accessability as reason for criticism. It's a video game after all and it's a design chioce to give player the abilty to go everywhere... or not. In "real life" the tower would all be accessable of course and there would be no doors who simply don't open, thats just a spot where level designers found nothing to put in or, as you mentioned, did not want to get the player turned around.
Also anachronisms like the oven: Dragon Age is medieval-ish, not in the actual Middle Ages. There's also plate armor and longswords everywhere, but no spears or polearms (I think) like there would be in the Middle Ages. So...yeah. I know where you are coming from, but come on, it's still fantasy.
6:40 the worst part about this is that horses would never even be able to get into the castle, because at no point in time would a horse want to risk dropping a hoof through one of the holes in the grating while walking, which would very likely break the leg or so.
Sephyrias Simple. lookout: the merchants have arrived! Gatehouses: any horses!? lookout: yes! Gatehouse: alright raise the gates and Bring out the planks!
+Brian Griffin the holes are big enough for a horse to risk breaking a leg by slipping, which means it will refuse as to a horses mind, broken leg/ankle=death. same thing with cows and other cattle, besides, with the murder hole above, having an inner floor of tared planks over that deadfall would be even more effective and eliminate the need for those ledges as burning pitch or coals dropped from above on attackers would ignite the floor and in short order weaken the planks to collapse under any eventual survivors and dispose of the bodies in the process.
Telsion Imagine the worst forms of chemical warfare from ww1, ww2, and vietnam. Now imagine you can make something that defies physics because magic. Mustard gas, Agent orange, whatever nasty chemicals we have IRL have a far worse version in Thedas because magic.
+Shadiversity another problem with that false floor gatehouse is that horses and cattle just won't cross a grate like that for reasons of self preservation. A simple wooden floor would have served better and eliminated the need for those inside battlements and any kind of mechanical means to open the floor as dumping burning sulphur or tar through the murder hole would do that trick.
college of winterhold is still cool and an unique castle since its being defending by mages, not soldiers so the castle is made fit for mages which is cool
That's actually normal,, castles had backdoors. In Solitude the other door goes through a narrow tower, no way for attackers to get through such a small opening, too easy to defend. Just like with backdoors and such in actual castles.
Mouldy catSkin Well i think you're exaggerating, Solitude could be inspired by and english/Anglo-Saxon city, which is little yes but surely not only a castle. Although in Solitude there are two castles inside the cities: Castle Dour snd Blu Palace, so the city is not so little, it's the capital of Skyrim. For example Markarth is basically a castle. For sure the cities in Cyrodiil and High Rock are much bigger, though in those nations there are less villages. Skyrim has more little villages, like Rorikstead etc...
If we castle invaders need to climb a mountain side or fly a gorgoyle to get in, we might as well just climb or fly straight through a throne room window and stab Prince Lothric to death while Lorian can't see what's going on. And I wouldn't call that a siege. Heh.
Well as far as I remember, M&B: Warband (I played a couple years ago, so I might be wrong) didn't really have any sort of castle design past having a wall and a spawn place. From what I remember, it didn't really include any sort of castle design. Pls correct me if I'm wrong though
You are wrong, I haven't played in a while but I distinctly remember one rhodoks castle that's a pita to assault because you have to walk on this small elevated piece of land while you are always flanked to the right by walls on which the AI tends to place crossbowmen. I think it's this one, Tevarin castle: vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/5/57/Tevarin_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160617121950 Here's another interesting one: ua-cam.com/video/YPpeZVfA5Jw/v-deo.html And another one: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/a/a9/Almerra_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161024204203
In regards to the false floor in the gatehouse...what if it is not a trap door style. what if it is just a grated floor that doesn’t open up? Note the murder hole on top. If a raiding force charged the first gate and got into that anti chamber, how unpleasant would it be if the space below the grated floor was filled with oil? as an attacking force gets trapped in that anti chamber, a torch is dropped from the murder hole above and woosh.
I was thinking that It might just be flooring that can be removed during a siege. Then the attackers would have to construct some form of walkway or bridge to cross the gap and provide a suitable floor from which to break through the second portcullis. All the defenders would have to do, is remove the grate covering the murder hole above, and drop a sizeable boulder down onto the attacker's bridge, which would probably be enough to smash it into pieces.
@@drewforchic9083 the hole under the floor is way too deep for that to be useful. You'd need to fill it with the equivalent of a modern oil tanker to be usefil.
It is a good alternative theory. It would still scare all type of animals, though. Horses, cows and the like do not like to tread on grated surfaces. At all. In real life grates covering ditches are a popular way of creating a gate that only vehicles or humans can cross, but not animals.
@@bavarianpotato no, you just have to fill it a couple inches or so with oil, just let the fire and smoke choke out the horde of attackers trapped inside.
I know I’m pretty late to the show, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 gold pieces... My favorite thing in all of Skyhold, has to be the library in the bottom of the keep. Unfortunately never remodeled or used by a companion. I find the whole spot to just be fantastic.
Also from Witcher 1 and 2. After I watched some of Shad's videos, I payed extra attention to the Kaedweni camp's design and noted the gatehouse design (there's a perpendicular corridor between outer and inner doors).
you talk about these like they are only for war but some of the castles are used as palaces or to display power and wealth and since founders of skyhold are long lost in hystory it might as well be center of power of lost kingdom soo it would make sence that not everything is designed-for-war-perfectli
+Shadiversity I don't think the "arrow slits" mentioned around 9:40 are supposed be for arrows. They are right above the gate and look more like holes to pour boiling water or oil through to attack people below at the gate.
Leo Alvarado Exactly. I haven't yet done all the DLC, so I hope that's somewhat better. The base game's story had a lot of potential, but it just turned out to be disappointing.
James Wadland Corypheus has a massive army of Red Templars and Venatori, dozens of corrupted Grey Wardens, and a dragon so deadly people thought it was a Archdemon... and instead chooses to play politics in Halamshiral. Leliana even jokes about this in Trespasser.
He had already laid siege to Haven, and I figured a large amount of his forces perished in the avalanche. Plus, I think it was personal for him at that point after the player confronted him in Haven, so I could perfectly see him being very irrational by that point.
I thought you missed out on the opportunity to point out the forward gatehouse. There is one at the beginning of the bridge, and while we cant access it, the fact that it is there I feel should give points.
I think what we got confused on (I did, at least,) was the request for Shad to do Redcliff. I thought Senator Servious was saying that Redcliff wasn't Origins- which of course, it is.
I believe that the grates are designed to be taken away rather than to act as a trap floor and that they are also there for drainage. I think that the diamonds are meant to allow defenders to drop oil and stones onto the enemy safely.
Andrew Coetzee Something else that I have noticed is that the place is actually been left in a state of disrepair for hundreds of years, so the fact that the towers are not being used as efficiently as possible might have to do with them using wood to make the floors, and the rooms that are not accessible might just be in extremely bad disrepair.
John D. Shad explains how it's difficult to even just wait them. Yeah the bridge is fucked but there's probably rope or whatever to create a makeshift bridge to send scouts for supplies and reinforcements out
This my objection too, one main function castles is the ability to control an area by being a place that holders can sally from. Take the bridge out entirely and the defenders are marooned until another force retakes the surrounding area and spends a great deal of effort and time rebuilding it. One attacking force can tie up 2 with that entrance design.
Bacon Fish I don't know if this thinking is correct, but I think of castles as staging areas for military campaigns. It seems pretty pointless to have a castle way up in the mountains. Like with the Eyrie in ASoIaF, in order to get into the Vale of Arryn you have to take a road that runs right past the Eyrie, so if you try to ignore the castle you're basically begging to be attacked from behind. Of course I could be way off base due to playing too many strategy video games.
My guess on the holes at the base of the merlons is that those are oil chutes rather than inadequate arrow slits or machicolations. They are built like funnels to be poured into from above, and would completely protect the ..oil-guy, while the crenels are well enough covered by archers if needed to repel ladders. The holes on the outside of the merlons also show stains of something that has fallen/dripped/been poured through, so there you go. ;)
Gotta say, this should be required watching if you're doing a Dragon Age fanfic and want to play off the "How can we improve Skyhold like it's been built upon and improved upon before?" angle well. +1 kudos to you sir, very educational.
I really love your videos! I've learned so much about castle design thanks to you. Are there any plans for future reviews of video game castles like Kear Morhen, Kaer Trolde (or even the city Novigrad itself) from The Witcher 3? Many of the issues you found in this review are addressed there. Thanks for your awesome videos!
The Diamond holes at 9:40 i have always thought about as something they used for boiling fluid, oil or something to cover the people outside the main gate, and then you can fire a fire arrow at them. I have never thought of them as the ting you shot arrows trough. They are probably meant to drop things over the attacker, not for shooting.
18:48 Cast-iron ovens aren't even close to the worst technological anachronism in Dragon Age. This is a world that ostensibly has printing presses (and apparently universal literacy without the existence of any educational system,) but none of the revolutionary social, political and economic effects that should result.
Meh the entirety of Thedas seems to be a Feudal Theocracy regardless if you follow the Chantry or the Qun. Besides universal literacy does not equal social revolution all the time. I mean look at China it's educational standards are actually quite good but it's society is basically still stuck in the days of Emperors and whatnot.
China's never had universal literacy, no country in reality ever has. Zhongguo's overall sophistication and level of education has been consistently higher than that of the West throughout history, but that's tangential. That's a fundamentally different society on so many levels you could get a post-graduate degree just writing about one of them. China has never been a mirror image of Europe. The Chantry is a really hamfisted allusion to the Catholic church, and Europe was never politically unified under some Papal Theocracy. The Qun is some kind of mongrel of Confucianism and Communism that doesn't adequately reflect either of its parent ideologies, which isn't even keeping in mind that neither of them is actually a religious belief system, they're both socio-political management schemes superimposed on existing spiritual belief systems. The appearance of the printing press in Europe was a definitive historic turning point; if one lazily bases their fantasy world on medieval Europe and includes the printing press in that universe, they've done nothing more than demonstrate their failure to understand history. The relatively rapid spread of information (or misinformation,) was the greatest catalyst for the end of all things medieval, as well as the beginning and expansion of the age of Enlightenment. You can't have medieval stasis when you have a revolutionary catalyst like the printing press active in your metaphorical flask. It's like saying dropping pure sodium into water will result in nothing but a few ripples, while someone demonstrates the violent chemical reaction that occurs when elemental sodium comes into contact with water.
countrybluegrass And I am saying 2016 isn't really all that different from the 14th century. We've traded Kings for Politicians but they both fail in the same way. We're still killing each other over ideology and belief. Sure the modern amenities have made overall life easier and we're better educated then a middle ages serf but really we're still running in the same hamster wheel that serf was. Just cause the cage is gold doesn't change the fact we're still in a cage. Socially and I would argue culturally we've moved very little in the last 1000 years. Racism, xenophobia, chauvinism, nationalism, and worse are still the name of the game. The modern age is really no different then the middle ages were.
Great video!I really liked it, and learned new things about castles :) Just one point - the circular area (where the library is), the fact that it's so open and big and seemingly irrational in it's design, from a realistic point of view - they at least try to explain that in-game. If you remember, when you first get to Skyhold, there is a note on the scaffolding near where Solas is, and it says that the builders (the ones repairing the castle for the inquisition) think this area is weirdly big, and have no idea what it's original purpose may be. There are similar "clues" that the structure held big, unknown things in the first conversation with Harrit (the blacksmith guy) in the under-croft, and in a note in the second, destroyed part of the prison.
My chief complaint is that Skyhold is too far removed from anything...it is out of the way enough that the enemy can freely ravage the surrounding countryside and even occupy it while your troops are essentially stuck atop a mountain. It is a stronghold that will never fall because the enemy needs not engage.
there actually is something like a false floor in a castle here in Romania, it is called "cetatea Neamt" and it has this bridge with a trap on it, the trap is part of the bridge and it would open and let enemies fall down if they ever tried to cross the bridge
I think when it comes to defences, one must keep in mind the use of magic. The holes in the crenellations might be for staffs and not harrows. They would allow a mage to stick their staffs through and fire Fire balls and other AOE spells at the attackers. The lack of walls between the gates could be covered through magic and the grate might also be supported by magic or have some magical use. We know little of the one who used and who built skyhold. Considering no one knew of it other then solas, it could date back to ancient elves, Andrasté or some other magically inclined race. The crenellations being extended out could be to stop or make it much more difficult for Darkspawns or other monsters to climb. I think when looking into fantasy Castel, it’s good to keep in mind the difference between our world and the fantasy world as they could explain some things that don’t make sense in our world.
Nice video! I noticed so many things I hadn't bothered thinking about. It would be so cool if the designers had mapped the entirety of the castle (more rooms, etc) so we'd have more of Skyhold to stroll around in! Can we suppose that the Inquisition kinda flubbed the rebuilding process, or at least did not complete it (so didn't bother rebuilding all of the levels in the towers, etc)? Given that the inner parts of Skyhold were mostly in pieces when we got to it.
Shieldmate To my knowlege that castle depicted in the game is actually a 1:1 recreation as that particular castle (I forget the name) as it existed in 1403
I think the weird floor is the second half of the murder hole, I don't know how common it was, but I do know they used to dump hot pitch down murder holes, so that grating makes some sense
The castle is in a very good position _tactically_. But the strategic value of putting a castle into a craggy mountain range is somewhat questionable. The point of fortifications is to protect something, or to block access. If the enemy can just ignore your castle, it's useless. The only thing you could protect up there is the nice view, and high mountains are plenty inaccessible already, even without castles on top. Moving armies through would be a logistical nightmare anyway (probably Hannibal's most under-appreciated feat - the Romans thought it to be impossible for an army to cross the Alps with good reason). It may kinda make sense as a base of operations, like Alamut for the Assassins, but even then you'd usually prefer to be located a bit more accessibly. Having to trek through miles of narrow mountain paths every time you want to visit the next city would get old rather quickly, I imagine.
Apparently it was stated above it was meant to protect one holy site, and with teleporters everywhere (terrible idea, CDC's worse nightmare) you could take a short walk through multiple cities in an hour. The inqusition uses it as a administrative center, and bypass the mountains with their communications. Essentially leliana found magic carrier pigeons in the same vein as Mabari, and magic communications are established later on. The guards are there 24/7, since the Inqusition focuses on mobile armies since they don't have enough men to hold land.
Venser's Prodigy Okay, then they _are_ in a similar situation as the Assassins. Credit to whoever wrote the story then. Well, except for the castles with teleporters thing - in that situation, D&D-style dungeons built as a killbox around the teleporter room start making a lot more sense (unless you put the teleporter a bit outside the castle).
If I had built that castle in that location.. there would be tunnels under the castle and through the surrounding mountains (or I would pick an existing cave network to build upon).. with a connection to pure flowing water and hidden escape/re-supply routes that come out somewhere discreet, but still defensible and easier to access than trekking through the mountains. Of course, in case of the tunnels being broken into and for some reason not defensible - there would be fail-safe mechanisms to block them off. (Yes... I realize carving tunnels for any real distance through solid rock is shitloads of work and would probably take longer to build than the castle itself.... hmmm... unless they start building the tunnels first, and use the material from there as building blocks for the actual castle. But anyway.. if you're gonna bother building an awesome castle in an awesome location... then for the love of god, put hidden tunnels under it!)
The holes in the merlons are for dropping hot water, or oil, you can see it is in a cone shape suitable for fluids to flow thro them and they are in the proper down angle too ;) That is the machicolations you said it does not have, i don't understand why you didn't understand this, it is right there, it's just in a different style :-\
I don't know if anyone mentioned it but some of this diamond shaped holes over the gate house and bridge could be to pour any burning hot liquid in it. Although that would only make tiny streams. But to me they look like they are designed for this. And the higher ones could be rainwater gutters? (Btw how did castles handle massive rainfalls?) Dear lord I love your videos! I wanna design a castle on my own (for some reasons) and I grab as many informations, as I can. You wouldn't happen to know some good literature about castles with floorplans and what to put in a castle at all? (Like stalls for horses, cows and so on, toilet, kitchen, great hall, private rooms, sleeping and working.) The only thing I have is a book for childs and it does a pretty solid job but I want to learn more. (It's this one btw: www.amazon.de/gp/product/3831025002/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )
im pretty sure the diamond shapes in the walls at 9:50 are for pouring boiling oil through as they are slanted aswell as having a small area for pouring into so you wont spill anything
Could you take a look at the witchers castle (Kaer Morhen, Witcher 1 and 3)? It has a gatehouse like a water-gate and I believe 3 inner yards with obstacles guiding you zick-zack so that you spend a good time in the open to be shot at from every direction... It had also two fortified positions before the castle, which were abandoned early. According to the lore the biggest shortcoming was its size so that maintenance (together with their habit of building too high) and number of guards were always too low. Thus the castle is almost a ruin before it has to stand the siege.
Thin walls for the windows on the player housing area would be okay unless the enemies set up siege equipment inside the castle itself which seems impractical, and the cast iron ovens are explainable by the game being within it's own timeline, impacted by magic. Magic being something that usually is represented as the antithesis of technology, halting technological progress tremendously in many areas. This could easily result in more modern conventions existing within classical structures.
I'd say that your 'false floor' is designed to keep cavalry out or any type of war animal. and it does serve as a good way to prevent the floor from getting kicked up by the hot oil and coals form the murder hole.
That would be the castle I designed myself, you can see it in these videos: ua-cam.com/video/b6mGXwSk5x4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/ZBn7f3H-eqM/v-deo.html
I figured it out. The holes in the merlons are to drain water out when it rains. You can see that this happens at 11:00 by the texture around the holes.
False floor: I'd add that horse hooves would totally fall through. You'd want a tighter grate, if it could be done safely as you'd mentioned. Merlons: maybe hot oil funnels or drainage, NOT arrow slits?
Another possibly serious issue I'd point out would be remote location. Castles were often built in strategic locations as to be able to project power and control over the surrounding territory and settlements. However, Skyhold seems extremely remote. Whilst certainly impressive, I question the hold's strategic value. Moving troops and resources to and from the castle could become difficult due to the mountains, and the distance also complicated its use as a headquarters due to the difficulty of communicating effectively with those around you. (because of its remote location, I can also imagine its management and maintenance costs would be skyhigh! No pun intended.)
This is a problem lots of fantasy castles have. A huge castle atop a huge snowy mountain looks awesome, but is pretty useless strategically and probably not that comfortable to live in.
If memory serves, it kinda guards the border between Orlais and Ferelden, and should one of those decide to invade the other, having a nigh-impenetrable fortress and a supply hub right on your enemy's doorstep would be beneficial. That said, the one who created it hardly inmgined any kind of border being there in a millenia.
I think the entrance "murder hole" might be a boulder hole that drops a heavy boulder to break the floor the idea being that the false floor can suport daily use but a trebuchet shot or boulder falling 3 stories will snap it
6:39 maybe you can make that false floor differenly a little. i imagine a false floor thats built like 2 side ways drawbridges but hinges on the side, then you support them with wooden beams from the underside. then i would fasten chains with big rocks to the bottom of the beams, and when enemy is in the gate house, i would have someone push the rocks out with levers. rocks fall down, pull the beams with them. false floor opens.
Wow, don't know why but I watched this in one breath, usually don't enjoy that type of content much but u did a really great job here, sir. Any chance u make same video about Kaer Morhen from Witcher series? It's very much 'accessible' in Witcher 3 game (with is masterpiece itself, in my opinion). Would be really interesting to hear your analysis on that castle.
That drawbridge makes no sense to me. It bridges nothing. There is no gap. Also, the raised platform is a horrible weakness, because anyone breaching the inner gate will be able to climb up to those platforms (just getting a boost from another soldier would do it), automatically nullifying the second gate.
Regarding the drawbridge: I seem to recall that at some point we do see the castle with the bridge up and there is a void beneath it. The edges of the stone causeway are continuous (which is why it looks confusing when the bridge is down) but the roadway itself isn't. As for the platforms inside the gatehouse...yeah, I got nothing.
Yeah, when I saw those damn cast iron ovens I was completely enraged. I sent at least 27 e-mails to the developers complaining about how they didn't have cast iron ovens in Medieval Europe and the assholes never wrote me back. The game is set in Medieval Europe right?... Thedas? What's a Thedas?
I know right? I can't believe it. I keep trying to tell them that dragons, mages, the Chantry, lyrium bombs, spirits, the Fade, etc. didn't exist in the Medieval period. I'm not trying to be rude, but this is a fantasy game, not a medieval simulation. While the game is based on the medieval age, it is a different world with different cultures who can have different innovations at a different rate than we did.
My main issue, and of course i'm not that knowledgeable about the structural design of medieval (large stone) castles, is the accessibility and option to repair parts of it. This is indeed an opinion of options of a game rather than the functionality of the caste, though it bothers me more than it should. Like the mentioned towers having no lower floors (and way too big access holes for inconveniently places, small, ladders); the players HUGE tower having only one accessible floor, with unused space in the stairwell(with possible rooms visible); the guest part (connection between Grand Hall and player tower) having only two rooms repaired; the hallway towards the council room being left broken and drafty; and not to mention all the clutter left all around, to break your legs or neck during a raid (not to mention, not aesthetically pleasing to my neurotic mind xD). Though comparing with the castles i've seen in real life, it does a really good job. Other than some castle functions that have been made more aesthetically more pleasing (like the platforms in the gatehouse), it has a decent castle feel to it.
Great video. I see your Inquisitor has white hair. Same here. It's unusual, but tons of people seem to go that way. It just seems appropriate somehow. One thing you didn't mention that's kind of mind-boggling: if you go down to the jail, which is maybe 10 meters down from the peak of the mountain, you can see that there's a waterfall coming out of a grate in one of the walls. Not a small flow of water, but an actual waterfall. And while it would certainly be very handy to have for supply and sanitation reasons, how is it possible to have that much water at the very top of a mountain? Magic? It has to be magic, right?
Will you do Kaer Mohren or Kaer Trolde from the Witcher? Will you do anything from the Witcher? Also I do not think that the ovens are something to criticize as DA universe isnt set in the medieval period but in the dragon age.
Few things that bugged me about Skyhold: 1. The grate floor in the gate house must be fun for horses to ride over... 2. Although it has a layered design, there is no gate or even fortified door in the arch at 00:15, it is even possible to take a different set of stairs to get to the upper courtyard. There are also no crenellations on the battlements seperating the lower from the higher courtyard. 3. The access to the kitchens along the library also completely undermines any attempts at layered defenses; you have a wide, gently sloped stair going up to the door, perfect for bringing your battering ram along. 4. The side of the garden facing the inner courtyard is simply walled off; if there were battlements there as well, the upper courtyard would become significantly easier to defend, because as it stands now, as soon as an attacker has taken the upper courtyard, he has taken the castle.
Wonderful to see this video! I played a ton of Inquisition and have thought a lot about this place. Just a note - I don't think the "False Floor" is a trap door in the looney toons sense. I don't see any mechanism that would allow it to be opened suddenly while opponents stand on it. It just looks like some metal grates sitting on a recessed area. Instead, I imagine that when the defenders anticipate a siege, they simply send some burly men out to... remove the floor. They pick up the grates and drag them into the castle proper before closing the gate. This makes the gatehouse even more ludicrously impenetrable - even if you get through the first portcullis, there's literally no floor inside, aside from some thin platforms along the edges.
Awesome analysis man. Would love to see you take a jab at some castles from the Witcher series, such as Kaer Morghen, Kaer Trolde, or Castle La Valette.
the fact that some doors can't be opened and some parts of the castle are not accessible isn't a fault in the design it's because the game story didn't took place in those areas and they needed to spare Gbytes and for the same reason they gave to the castle a general realistic look but without going in too much detail.
Nice video. A couple of more thoughts: 1. Torches are bad enough indoors, but outdoors and during the day?? 2.1. Outside there's just ice and snow with no sign of vegetation, how the hell there's a garden inside? 2.2. It must be so cold out there that they'd need massive fireplaces and stoves and huge amounts of wood just to keep a surviving temperature. 2.3. At that height in the mountains the castle (and the road as well) would need constant maintenance work, because the temperature excursions and the water freezing in the small gaps tend to crack and displace the stones. 3. I suppose that big spaces are there mainly to have enough room to properly place and move the camera, they could be smaller if the perspective was in first person. 4. Does she really need to walk so sexy?
1 - ikr? 2.1 - True - no greenhouse there. 2.2 - Especially with bare stone walls - no tapestries to help keep in the warmth. 2.3 - That may explain the level of damage/neglect - too much work, not enough people. 3 - Agreed, first person would be more immersive, but would also be harder to see around your character. 4 - yes. :-)
Emanuele Rusconi c'è erba dentro perché, come ribadito più volte nel gioco, è pieno di magia che probabilmente tiene lontano anche il freddo. Tant'è che la stanza di Cullen ha il tetto bucato e più volte mi sono chiesta "ma non muore di freddo ?" . insomma, la magia risponde a due delle tue domande. Diciamo che la Lore del gioco in questo caso ha un ruolo fondamentale. Se fosse stato un castello del mondo reale immagino che tutti si sarebbero muniti di quanto serviva. Oppure nessuno avrebbe mai costruito qualcosa del genere ahahah
Have you tried *Reign of Kings*? I'd like you to build a castle in that game to specification worthy of the name castle under your architectural knowledge and best practicality for use in-game. Side-Note: Its very weird, but you can run up some pretty steep hills, only the very extreme steep hills cannot be climbed. There are Islands you can build on and so effectively you can have a mote and drawbridge. Lastly Stormwall is 2.5x bigger map than Crownland. Also, unfortunately for Crownland, Stormwall is 10x better map in terms of terrain. But I'll let you decide. I'd love to see your thoughts on Castle Building in that game.
Id say with the castle Being so so defensible and Being desiegned possibly by Fantasy mages(who are known to Favor Aesthetics and open areas so very much) The castle could very well have been primarily desiegned for aesthetics since Noone would think they could ever take the castle since the importants parts are more or less covered.
I always assumed the "arrow slits" in the merlons on Skyhold's walls were actually badly designed gargoyles, because I couldn't imagine how anyone could shoot through them with any useful field of "fire". But either way they're odd.
the Hobbits. You know: boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew........ no wait that's potatoes. Hobbits, you know, people are always taking hobbits to Isengard. He's taking 'em, she's taking them, they're taking the hobbits to Isengard all the damn time.
fun fact: apparently siege equipment is a relatively new thing for the dragon age universe. there was no need. earthshaking magic was just a lot easier.
But if they had something that powerful to just destroy castle walls, why build walls?
Arrows, I guess. Honestly it always struck me as kind of moronic, but that's the in-game lore. The real answer is likely that the Devs just really like the idea of castles and didn't think things through. Tends to happen in bioware games nowadays.
Elves made it, so they probably assumed stupid shemlen didn't have enough magic to tear down their walls. The tevinter came and took the near-monopoly on powerful magic, and kept enough anti-magic defenses to target enemy mages. The andraste came, wrecked stuff, died, and her followers enslaved the mages (hypocrites). Kings still used them as siege weapons, but they needed to rent them from the chantry AFAIK. Then the Quanari came, blew stuff up, and people got the idea to throw large rocks from a mechanical device from them. Apparently people outside Thedas are much more technologically advanced, but don't come to Thedas because it's such a !@#$-hole. Blights, darkspawn, dragons...
Venser's Prodigy
Well, the elves fought with each-other and it doesn't explain why every human city and castle has walls. Tradition maybe?
Warlord_Pipsqueak
It certainly keeps the rabble out. Considering Thedas wildlife, that alone could also justify walling your city/fort. And even if a mage coudl tear a wall down with ease, anyone who doesn't have one is !@#$ed. Piracy, raiders, these were some of the earliest threats to independent Mediterranean city states. Something similar could prompt their construction.
I love how nerdy and well-researched this is. It really scratches an itch I didn't even know I had.
The "false floor" looks more like a grate floor so that if you dumped boiling oil down the murder hole it doesn't flood the place but actually falls through, it's self cleaning so you can keep dumping more and more down there.
You could also remove it completely and just have a large hole attackers would have to cross after breaching the drawbridge and portcullis and then have another portcullis to assault, also the diamond shaped holes in the merlons might be murder holes rather than arrow slits
Nasmr also helps with the blood of foes. Dripping down the Grate. Same with ash if you dump oil and burn it lol
jmjon9 yeah so basically the diamonds and grate can useful drainage and the grate could potentially be taken out before the battle instead of being some complicated trap door
Yes, perhaps it does not have a contraption, but under siege it can be removed. So in the case the attackers break the defenses, there is no floor to walk on.
But why would you want the oil to quickly be removed? Why wouldn't you want the oil to flood the place to do maximum damage?
16:02 it's primarily so you can jump from Leliana's rookery onto Sola's desk, trust me, i've done it enough times, and also, the castle is perfect for the sole reason of it having a wine cellar.
I wonder how many heart attacks I've been giving Egg Head during all these years of jumping from the rookery.
@@empty-voiid What about the Flamboyant Vint?
Dorian is on the middle floor and ought to have seen someone falling past him.
@@supervegito2277 I'm usually jumping off right in front of him. He should be used to it by now XD
@@supervegito2277 fav scene is when Dorian is complaining about the selection of books available in the library and throws a book over his shoulder OVER THE LEDGE. It 100% hit Solas
The "arrow slits" on the wall look more like they're supposed to be used to pour oil or something similar onto attackers.
Fun Fact, The Picture he showed to show correct use, actually had a similar hole :D
I thought the same thing.
Yes but as it is basically only ONE way for attackers to get close to the walls. over the bridge all the holes that are not directly over the bridge would be useless for pouring oil through
And on a side note as far as i know Oil was not that commonly used for this as it was expensive. and you need large amounts. pouring 2 litre down a murder hole does not do much.
Even one barrel of oil would not be much for castle defense. You would need to have several barrels at least. and that would be costly and a waste of oil that can be used to so much else
Molten sand i think was often used as it is cheap and effective. even just boiling water would work fairly way if you don't have anything else. its not as effective as oil or sand but cheaper and still having gallons of boiling water poured over you is NOT very pleasant :)
Interesting... I read that Oil, Tar and boiling water were used. Never heard of sand, though.
TheCalcaholic I could be wrong. i am no expert on the subject but that is what i red somewhere
And it would be cheap. would probably take more to melt sand than boil up oil or water but it should be very effective. i would not want to have molten sand poured down over my back :)
Something to take in mind is who built Skyhold - Elves to supposedly protect a holy site of some sort. From what we've seen from DA Elven architecture is that they prefer aesthetics to space efficiency due to there being no real serious threat that would have made it past the outer wall at the time of construction, which is likely why it is so well defended. Another thing is remember is that this isn't set in the middle ages just because they live in castles and use swords and engineers will have been forced to consider more offensive variable like a goddamn fireball or strike of lightning from mages in an attacking force as this is high fantasy and so designs will differ rather than Bioware's designers not understanding how a castle works. Also maybe another reason for the change in the castle's interior lack of space us is this is more like a temple fortress rather than a military stronghold and the towers having the strutting out tops is due to the ancient Elves wanting to intimidate and appear more imposing on the local aggressors - tribal avaar that would lack the technology for an effective siege.
Well Said Morgan.
Also, it was said that later occupants of the Skyhold, the humans, built on the original castle.
The ancient Elves did not build Skyhold. The structure and design shows Fereldan (human) influences. The Elves only traveled to and held the grounds to a holy standard. After their fall, humans took up residence and flattened the peak to place a castle there. A good example of a fortress that the ancient Elves *did* build (likely with magic and not actual labor) is Suledin Keep.
Edit: (*Spoilers Ahead*) The lore mentions that Tarasyl'an Te'las (Skyhold's original name) was once the site of rituals for Elves for the Humans leveled it. (*SPOILERS*) Based on what Solas tells you in Trespasser, there was a keep or stronghold that he and his followers used, and Skyhold was were he created the Veil.
@@AquaswanOfficial wow
Good take. Context matters
The mountain terrain kinda makes it near impossible to march large armies at the castle anyways. Any defenses not near the entrance to the castle would kinda be a waste.
Pyroskies That also might explain that why are some of the walls so thin for no one is going to attack from that direction.
qwerty qwerty pretty much yeah the only way too the castle seems to be From a small narrow valley and cliffsides. its Basically impossible to take. No army can come close. let alone fit.
Well, you'd want a few, since flying enemies are a potential issue in the Dragon Age world. Dragons, mages and when Skyhold was built griffins hadn't yet died out.
I'd love to see Skyhold in its prime, holding off such an attack. I might exclude dragons however, since they seem to just be too excessive, and if an army somehow has a dragon in their arsenal, you might as well just surrender the castle immediately. That's like bringing a nuke to a machete fight.
But yeah, I'd want to see how people in Dragon Age used to defend against mages and griffins. I imagine most castles had their fair share of mages to hopefully counteract highly destructive spells that could topple the castle defenses, and maybe they deployed special weaponry that would not only have the range to handle approaching griffins, but also the tracking ability, since I imagine griffins are very nimble and quick in the air.
David Lopez I would imagine dome like roofs with tons of arrow slits for bows and ballistas.
Could you do other Dragon Age Castles? You explore Therinfall Redoubt, Suledin Fortress, Griffon Wing Keep.
Max Anthony I want to know about the keep in dragon age awakening
Or the blood
Teddy Couch RIP Adamantine
Or Adamant Fortress.
I came here to ask this- I’d love to hear Shad’s thoughts on Caer Bronach, Griffon Wing Keep. Adamant would be hard because you only get to be there during a single battle
I think the diamond shape on the battlements might be to pour boiling oil? Im not entirely sure but that was my first through, due to the downward slope of them, reminded me of a pipe.
that's actually a good point. kudos. :)
Or drains, but what I want to know is what the game does when you press X next to them? Relieve yourself?
To me that false floor doesn't really look openable, however just imagine lighting a fire under it and closing the gate behind attackers...
or maybe its for dropping the oil from the hole on the roof, so all the oil drains away?
that would be lack in forsight within the creation of the game...that grate wouldn't be there if it wasn't a death trap...the "little" things always get overlooked due to game release deadline...
ThaSoulz slowly boiling them alive... I love it!
@@PenheartKings
Instead of a death trap it could simply be a removable floor the defenders can lift up to make it harder for attackers to get through the gate house as they need to build or lay down their own bridge under fire just to reach the second portcullas before they can think about breaking down the second portcullas.
Kakarot this is the best and most logical theory regarding this.
In Finland there is a castle called the castle of Turku that has that kind of trap on the floor in gate house.
I honestly discount accessability as reason for criticism. It's a video game after all and it's a design chioce to give player the abilty to go everywhere... or not. In "real life" the tower would all be accessable of course and there would be no doors who simply don't open, thats just a spot where level designers found nothing to put in or, as you mentioned, did not want to get the player turned around.
Also anachronisms like the oven: Dragon Age is medieval-ish, not in the actual Middle Ages. There's also plate armor and longswords everywhere, but no spears or polearms (I think) like there would be in the Middle Ages. So...yeah. I know where you are coming from, but come on, it's still fantasy.
Yeah I would put the ovens down to it's origins as an Elf castle, Solus might be even smarter then we realised he is.
If you played the game, you would know *wink*
He said he didn't fault them for it, he's just mentioning everything that doesn't make historical sense.
The combo of "the dawn will come" and the reveal of Skyhold was one of the most epic chain of cutscenes in video games
Now I want to play Dragon Age ^^
"The game designers clearly didn't want you to get lost in this castle" well they failed miserably ^^
6:40 the worst part about this is that horses would never even be able to get into the castle, because at no point in time would a horse want to risk dropping a hoof through one of the holes in the grating while walking, which would very likely break the leg or so.
Sephyrias
Simple.
lookout: the merchants have arrived!
Gatehouses: any horses!?
lookout: yes!
Gatehouse: alright raise the gates and Bring out the planks!
+Blue★
Or they could just have made the grates as planks instead.
those holes are pretty small...horses wouldn't have any issue crossing them.
That could also be a good thing though.
+Brian Griffin the holes are big enough for a horse to risk breaking a leg by slipping, which means it will refuse as to a horses mind, broken leg/ankle=death.
same thing with cows and other cattle, besides, with the murder hole above, having an inner floor of tared planks over that deadfall would be even more effective and eliminate the need for those ledges as burning pitch or coals dropped from above on attackers would ignite the floor and in short order weaken the planks to collapse under any eventual survivors and dispose of the bodies in the process.
It´s also pretty impressive that the outer wall works as some sort of climate barrier so it can be summer on the inside and winter outside
Magic
@@FlashBangBANGz Damn it, Merasmus!
9:43 to throw boiling oil down on the attackers maybe?
That's exactly what I thought. It clearly looks like it's meant to funnel oil to the bridge. Make it rain.
but its so small, the oil would run down the wall, and not flow on the attakers/bridge :/, BUT i did thought at that too first
I don't think they would use oil, as said above it would go to the wrong spot. Alchemical warfare on the other hand...
Venser's Prodigy whatcha mean with the alchemical part?
Telsion
Imagine the worst forms of chemical warfare from ww1, ww2, and vietnam. Now imagine you can make something that defies physics because magic. Mustard gas, Agent orange, whatever nasty chemicals we have IRL have a far worse version in Thedas because magic.
This is amazing.
Thanks mate, I'm honoured you liked it ^_^
+Shadiversity another problem with that false floor gatehouse is that horses and cattle just won't cross a grate like that for reasons of self preservation. A simple wooden floor would have served better and eliminated the need for those inside battlements and any kind of mechanical means to open the floor as dumping burning sulphur or tar through the murder hole would do that trick.
Shadiversity how do you get your casual wear that blue color? mine are a boring pale white color.
With the Tresspaser DLC you get a wardrobe in your room, where you can change your casual wear.
These vidoes (Skyhold,Whiterun,Lord of the Rings, GOT) are unbelievable awesome. I hope many will follow :)
College of Winterhold
Fort Dawnguard
Kaer Morhen
Would love to see any of these in a vid :D
College of Winterhold isn't really a castle, and most of Winterhold fell into the sea. I'd rather Solitude or Windhem.
Kaer Morheen has a very good layout.
college of winterhold is still cool and an unique castle since its being defending by mages, not soldiers so the castle is made fit for mages which is cool
Also kaer trolde
You would have to be an idiot to try to attack a mages college.
Diamond-shaped holes for pouring hot oil on attackers. That is what they look like to me.
Will you show Witcher 3 cities at some point? :D
MRKapcer13 ya witcher 3 is probably the most realistic castles and cities
Compyouserve 1990 Yeah, and if Shad wants to focus on castles/fortresses then Kaer Morhen and Kaer Trolde
Was thinking about this today lol
Watching him rip apart Novigrad would be fun.
John D. why would he it's quite an realistic city
Solitude!!! (From skyrim) I mean it's essentially a castle, even though they call it a city
In his Whiterun video he mentioned he would cover other cities from Skyrim and Oblivion eventually
Solitude is a terrible castle once you discover the door that leads right into the midle of the city...there are actually 2 doors doing that.
Mod it.
That'll fix it...
I mean, it doesn't make it official, but y'know...
That's actually normal,, castles had backdoors. In Solitude the other door goes through a narrow tower, no way for attackers to get through such a small opening, too easy to defend. Just like with backdoors and such in actual castles.
Mouldy catSkin Well i think you're exaggerating, Solitude could be inspired by and english/Anglo-Saxon city, which is little yes but surely not only a castle. Although in Solitude there are two castles inside the cities: Castle Dour snd Blu Palace, so the city is not so little, it's the capital of Skyrim. For example Markarth is basically a castle. For sure the cities in Cyrodiil and High Rock are much bigger, though in those nations there are less villages. Skyrim has more little villages, like Rorikstead etc...
Please do Lothrick Castle!
Its so epic! 😊
From Dark Souls 3
It is impossible to besiege because it is impossible to enter unless you can fly. Believe me, I tried.
End of review.
Heh.
Lautrec of Carim Greirat climed it tho. 🤔
Lautrec of Carim Plus dragons, gargoiles and giant grows might help. Sieges possibly work to.
If we castle invaders need to climb a mountain side or fly a gorgoyle to get in, we might as well just climb or fly straight through a throne room window and stab Prince Lothric to death while Lorian can't see what's going on. And I wouldn't call that a siege.
Heh.
9:54 aren't those for dropping oil/rocks on the enemies below without exposing the archers?
a pseudo-meticulation*
Also, could you review some of the castles in Mount & Blade: Warband?
Well as far as I remember, M&B: Warband (I played a couple years ago, so I might be wrong) didn't really have any sort of castle design past having a wall and a spawn place. From what I remember, it didn't really include any sort of castle design.
Pls correct me if I'm wrong though
Peregrin Took
I meant the external design, you are pretty much right, there are few inside areas that can be acessed.
You are wrong, I haven't played in a while but I distinctly remember one rhodoks castle that's a pita to assault because you have to walk on this small elevated piece of land while you are always flanked to the right by walls on which the AI tends to place crossbowmen.
I think it's this one, Tevarin castle: vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/5/57/Tevarin_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160617121950
Here's another interesting one: ua-cam.com/video/YPpeZVfA5Jw/v-deo.html
And another one: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/a/a9/Almerra_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161024204203
In regards to the false floor in the gatehouse...what if it is not a trap door style. what if it is just a grated floor that doesn’t open up? Note the murder hole on top. If a raiding force charged the first gate and got into that anti chamber, how unpleasant would it be if the space below the grated floor was filled with oil? as an attacking force gets trapped in that anti chamber, a torch is dropped from the murder hole above and woosh.
I was thinking that It might just be flooring that can be removed during a siege. Then the attackers would have to construct some form of walkway or bridge to cross the gap and provide a suitable floor from which to break through the second portcullis. All the defenders would have to do, is remove the grate covering the murder hole above, and drop a sizeable boulder down onto the attacker's bridge, which would probably be enough to smash it into pieces.
I'd always figured the false floor was a just drain for burning oil from the murderhole above, but the idea of igniting it afterwards is even better.
@@drewforchic9083 the hole under the floor is way too deep for that to be useful. You'd need to fill it with the equivalent of a modern oil tanker to be usefil.
It is a good alternative theory. It would still scare all type of animals, though. Horses, cows and the like do not like to tread on grated surfaces. At all. In real life grates covering ditches are a popular way of creating a gate that only vehicles or humans can cross, but not animals.
@@bavarianpotato no, you just have to fill it a couple inches or so with oil, just let the fire and smoke choke out the horde of attackers trapped inside.
I know I’m pretty late to the show, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 gold pieces...
My favorite thing in all of Skyhold, has to be the library in the bottom of the keep. Unfortunately never remodeled or used by a companion. I find the whole spot to just be fantastic.
please review some castles and keeps from the witcher 3 their awesome plsplslsplskatanapls
and cities btw
Also from Witcher 1 and 2.
After I watched some of Shad's videos, I payed extra attention to the Kaedweni camp's design and noted the gatehouse design (there's a perpendicular corridor between outer and inner doors).
if i was a game designer and i would make/design a castle, i would ask you to improve the weaknesses!!
your knowledge is just phenomenal ;)
Thanks heaps mate!
you talk about these like they are only for war but some of the castles are used as palaces or to display power and wealth and since founders of skyhold are long lost in hystory it might as well be center of power of lost kingdom soo it would make sence that not everything is designed-for-war-perfectli
And that's the reason why the original holders were defeated
JonatasMonte no they had normal castles at the borders where the enemy was
Good video man, but... Not everything humans do is functional, SO MUCH of what humans do is purely arbitrary or focused on aesthetics.
This is very true.
+Shadiversity I don't think the "arrow slits" mentioned around 9:40 are supposed be for arrows. They are right above the gate and look more like holes to pour boiling water or oil through to attack people below at the gate.
*aren't?
If only we got an actual, on foot siege on Skyhold in the base game, am I right?
James Wadland Rather than that disappointing ending with that villain throwing a hissy fit at the wall.
Leo Alvarado Exactly. I haven't yet done all the DLC, so I hope that's somewhat better. The base game's story had a lot of potential, but it just turned out to be disappointing.
James Wadland Corypheus has a massive army of Red Templars and Venatori, dozens of corrupted Grey Wardens, and a dragon so deadly people thought it was a Archdemon... and instead chooses to play politics in Halamshiral. Leliana even jokes about this in Trespasser.
He had already laid siege to Haven, and I figured a large amount of his forces perished in the avalanche. Plus, I think it was personal for him at that point after the player confronted him in Haven, so I could perfectly see him being very irrational by that point.
8:30 that door becomes available later in the game after you attend the winter palace ball
I thought you missed out on the opportunity to point out the forward gatehouse. There is one at the beginning of the bridge, and while we cant access it, the fact that it is there I feel should give points.
It's not origins its inquisition
It's actually both. And the construction in each is noticeably different.
Skyhold is only seen in Inquisition, but it was obviously just a little error he made. The video's title recognizes that it's in Inquisition.
I think what we got confused on (I did, at least,) was the request for Shad to do Redcliff. I thought Senator Servious was saying that Redcliff wasn't Origins- which of course, it is.
Kaotiqua no I meant Skyhold
Senator Servious
Mah bad then! :D
Witcher 3 Castles/fortresses and cities please!
I bought the game especially to review the castles, so they're one the way ^_^
I believe that the grates are designed to be taken away rather than to act as a trap floor and that they are also there for drainage. I think that the diamonds are meant to allow defenders to drop oil and stones onto the enemy safely.
Gordon Fields or bombs i mean it is dragon age world so a bomb could be rolled through there. either way sky hold is nearly imposbil to take by force.
Andrew Coetzee Something else that I have noticed is that the place is actually been left in a state of disrepair for hundreds of years, so the fact that the towers are not being used as efficiently as possible might have to do with them using wood to make the floors, and the rooms that are not accessible might just be in extremely bad disrepair.
More likely it was game play. Npthing in room 219 so dont make it spend that time else where
Andrew Coetzee I know, but it is a plausible explanation.
I thought the main impracticality of the grate flooring was that the holes were large enough for a person to get their feet caught in.
I hope Kaer Morhen is on your "to do" list :)
Or maybe even Crow's Perch, seen that Kaer Morhen is a ruin and Crow's Perch is just in a bad state :p
I kind of want to see him play medieval engineers to make his view of a perfect castle, then give us a tour of it.
It would be hard to resupply this castle.
Like:
1) Undermine a section of the bridge.
2) Go home and let the defenders starve to death.
John D. Although it isn't shown in game, I suspect there is more than one way in and out
John D. Shad explains how it's difficult to even just wait them. Yeah the bridge is fucked but there's probably rope or whatever to create a makeshift bridge to send scouts for supplies and reinforcements out
Darkgeasss not big enough for supplies to feed the castle
This my objection too, one main function castles is the ability to control an area by being a place that holders can sally from. Take the bridge out entirely and the defenders are marooned until another force retakes the surrounding area and spends a great deal of effort and time rebuilding it. One attacking force can tie up 2 with that entrance design.
Bacon Fish I don't know if this thinking is correct, but I think of castles as staging areas for military campaigns. It seems pretty pointless to have a castle way up in the mountains. Like with the Eyrie in ASoIaF, in order to get into the Vale of Arryn you have to take a road that runs right past the Eyrie, so if you try to ignore the castle you're basically begging to be attacked from behind. Of course I could be way off base due to playing too many strategy video games.
Here we see the character design Shad likes. Oh, and he spends some time rambling about a castle or something.
Hey, if he's got to look at some character's arse for hours on end while he plays, it may as well be one he likes looking at. :-)
Playing/looking at Skyrim and now this makes me want to play Dragon Age again (fuck)
My guess on the holes at the base of the merlons is that those are oil chutes rather than inadequate arrow slits or machicolations. They are built like funnels to be poured into from above, and would completely protect the ..oil-guy, while the crenels are well enough covered by archers if needed to repel ladders. The holes on the outside of the merlons also show stains of something that has fallen/dripped/been poured through, so there you go. ;)
Gotta say, this should be required watching if you're doing a Dragon Age fanfic and want to play off the "How can we improve Skyhold like it's been built upon and improved upon before?" angle well.
+1 kudos to you sir, very educational.
I really love your videos! I've learned so much about castle design thanks to you. Are there any plans for future reviews of video game castles like Kear Morhen, Kaer Trolde (or even the city Novigrad itself) from The Witcher 3? Many of the issues you found in this review are addressed there. Thanks for your awesome videos!
Hey shad, I think that an analysis of Kaer Morhen would be awesome.
The Diamond holes at 9:40 i have always thought about as something they used for boiling fluid, oil or something to cover the people outside the main gate, and then you can fire a fire arrow at them.
I have never thought of them as the ting you shot arrows trough. They are probably meant to drop things over the attacker, not for shooting.
18:48 Cast-iron ovens aren't even close to the worst technological anachronism in Dragon Age. This is a world that ostensibly has printing presses (and apparently universal literacy without the existence of any educational system,) but none of the revolutionary social, political and economic effects that should result.
Meh the entirety of Thedas seems to be a Feudal Theocracy regardless if you follow the Chantry or the Qun. Besides universal literacy does not equal social revolution all the time. I mean look at China it's educational standards are actually quite good but it's society is basically still stuck in the days of Emperors and whatnot.
China's never had universal literacy, no country in reality ever has. Zhongguo's overall sophistication and level of education has been consistently higher than that of the West throughout history, but that's tangential. That's a fundamentally different society on so many levels you could get a post-graduate degree just writing about one of them. China has never been a mirror image of Europe.
The Chantry is a really hamfisted allusion to the Catholic church, and Europe was never politically unified under some Papal Theocracy. The Qun is some kind of mongrel of Confucianism and Communism that doesn't adequately reflect either of its parent ideologies, which isn't even keeping in mind that neither of them is actually a religious belief system, they're both socio-political management schemes superimposed on existing spiritual belief systems.
The appearance of the printing press in Europe was a definitive historic turning point; if one lazily bases their fantasy world on medieval Europe and includes the printing press in that universe, they've done nothing more than demonstrate their failure to understand history. The relatively rapid spread of information (or misinformation,) was the greatest catalyst for the end of all things medieval, as well as the beginning and expansion of the age of Enlightenment. You can't have medieval stasis when you have a revolutionary catalyst like the printing press active in your metaphorical flask. It's like saying dropping pure sodium into water will result in nothing but a few ripples, while someone demonstrates the violent chemical reaction that occurs when elemental sodium comes into contact with water.
countrybluegrass And I am saying 2016 isn't really all that different from the 14th century. We've traded Kings for Politicians but they both fail in the same way. We're still killing each other over ideology and belief. Sure the modern amenities have made overall life easier and we're better educated then a middle ages serf but really we're still running in the same hamster wheel that serf was. Just cause the cage is gold doesn't change the fact we're still in a cage.
Socially and I would argue culturally we've moved very little in the last 1000 years. Racism, xenophobia, chauvinism, nationalism, and worse are still the name of the game. The modern age is really no different then the middle ages were.
Great video!I really liked it, and learned new things about castles :)
Just one point - the circular area (where the library is), the fact that it's so open and big and seemingly irrational in it's design, from a realistic point of view - they at least try to explain that in-game. If you remember, when you first get to Skyhold, there is a note on the scaffolding near where Solas is, and it says that the builders (the ones repairing the castle for the inquisition) think this area is weirdly big, and have no idea what it's original purpose may be. There are similar "clues" that the structure held big, unknown things in the first conversation with Harrit (the blacksmith guy) in the under-croft, and in a note in the second, destroyed part of the prison.
7:20 lol dragon age origins :P
My chief complaint is that Skyhold is too far removed from anything...it is out of the way enough that the enemy can freely ravage the surrounding countryside and even occupy it while your troops are essentially stuck atop a mountain. It is a stronghold that will never fall because the enemy needs not engage.
there actually is something like a false floor in a castle here in Romania, it is called "cetatea Neamt" and it has this bridge with a trap on it, the trap is part of the bridge and it would open and let enemies fall down if they ever tried to cross the bridge
I think when it comes to defences, one must keep in mind the use of magic. The holes in the crenellations might be for staffs and not harrows. They would allow a mage to stick their staffs through and fire Fire balls and other AOE spells at the attackers. The lack of walls between the gates could be covered through magic and the grate might also be supported by magic or have some magical use. We know little of the one who used and who built skyhold. Considering no one knew of it other then solas, it could date back to ancient elves, Andrasté or some other magically inclined race. The crenellations being extended out could be to stop or make it much more difficult for Darkspawns or other monsters to climb.
I think when looking into fantasy Castel, it’s good to keep in mind the difference between our world and the fantasy world as they could explain some things that don’t make sense in our world.
Makes me want to play around in Medieval Engineers...
Nice video! I noticed so many things I hadn't bothered thinking about. It would be so cool if the designers had mapped the entirety of the castle (more rooms, etc) so we'd have more of Skyhold to stroll around in!
Can we suppose that the Inquisition kinda flubbed the rebuilding process, or at least did not complete it (so didn't bother rebuilding all of the levels in the towers, etc)? Given that the inner parts of Skyhold were mostly in pieces when we got to it.
I look forward to see you rate a castle from Kingdom Come: Deliverance when it comes out.
Shieldmate To my knowlege that castle depicted in the game is actually a 1:1 recreation as that particular castle (I forget the name) as it existed in 1403
I've been keeping my eye on Kingdom Come for a while now ^_^
So happy when I saw that you had done a video on Skyhold from DA:I.
can't wait to see Novigrad from Witcher 3, also Kaer Morhen but it's an old castle...
ilficherrimolori You can imagine how Kaer Morhen looked like before it became a ruin though
Bartosz N I know, otherwise I wouldn't suggest it
I think the weird floor is the second half of the murder hole, I don't know how common it was, but I do know they used to dump hot pitch down murder holes, so that grating makes some sense
The castle is in a very good position _tactically_. But the strategic value of putting a castle into a craggy mountain range is somewhat questionable. The point of fortifications is to protect something, or to block access. If the enemy can just ignore your castle, it's useless.
The only thing you could protect up there is the nice view, and high mountains are plenty inaccessible already, even without castles on top. Moving armies through would be a logistical nightmare anyway (probably Hannibal's most under-appreciated feat - the Romans thought it to be impossible for an army to cross the Alps with good reason).
It may kinda make sense as a base of operations, like Alamut for the Assassins, but even then you'd usually prefer to be located a bit more accessibly. Having to trek through miles of narrow mountain paths every time you want to visit the next city would get old rather quickly, I imagine.
It's an old elven castle, as to their motivations Solas never said.
Apparently it was stated above it was meant to protect one holy site, and with teleporters everywhere (terrible idea, CDC's worse nightmare) you could take a short walk through multiple cities in an hour. The inqusition uses it as a administrative center, and bypass the mountains with their communications. Essentially leliana found magic carrier pigeons in the same vein as Mabari, and magic communications are established later on. The guards are there 24/7, since the Inqusition focuses on mobile armies since they don't have enough men to hold land.
Venser's Prodigy Okay, then they _are_ in a similar situation as the Assassins. Credit to whoever wrote the story then.
Well, except for the castles with teleporters thing - in that situation, D&D-style dungeons built as a killbox around the teleporter room start making a lot more sense (unless you put the teleporter a bit outside the castle).
maybe in the tower on the other side of the bridge that would explain its function for good luck getting a road up there
If I had built that castle in that location.. there would be tunnels under the castle and through the surrounding mountains (or I would pick an existing cave network to build upon).. with a connection to pure flowing water and hidden escape/re-supply routes that come out somewhere discreet, but still defensible and easier to access than trekking through the mountains. Of course, in case of the tunnels being broken into and for some reason not defensible - there would be fail-safe mechanisms to block them off.
(Yes... I realize carving tunnels for any real distance through solid rock is shitloads of work and would probably take longer to build than the castle itself.... hmmm... unless they start building the tunnels first, and use the material from there as building blocks for the actual castle. But anyway.. if you're gonna bother building an awesome castle in an awesome location... then for the love of god, put hidden tunnels under it!)
The holes in the merlons are for dropping hot water, or oil, you can see it is in a cone shape suitable for fluids to flow thro them and they are in the proper down angle too ;)
That is the machicolations you said it does not have, i don't understand why you didn't understand this, it is right there, it's just in a different style :-\
I don't know if anyone mentioned it but some of this diamond shaped holes over the gate house and bridge could be to pour any burning hot liquid in it. Although that would only make tiny streams. But to me they look like they are designed for this. And the higher ones could be rainwater gutters? (Btw how did castles handle massive rainfalls?)
Dear lord I love your videos!
I wanna design a castle on my own (for some reasons) and I grab as many informations, as I can.
You wouldn't happen to know some good literature about castles with floorplans and what to put in a castle at all? (Like stalls for horses, cows and so on, toilet, kitchen, great hall, private rooms, sleeping and working.)
The only thing I have is a book for childs and it does a pretty solid job but I want to learn more.
(It's this one btw: www.amazon.de/gp/product/3831025002/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )
im pretty sure the diamond shapes in the walls at 9:50 are for pouring boiling oil through as they are slanted aswell as having a small area for pouring into so you wont spill anything
Could you take a look at the witchers castle (Kaer Morhen, Witcher 1 and 3)? It has a gatehouse like a water-gate and I believe 3 inner yards with obstacles guiding you zick-zack so that you spend a good time in the open to be shot at from every direction... It had also two fortified positions before the castle, which were abandoned early. According to the lore the biggest shortcoming was its size so that maintenance (together with their habit of building too high) and number of guards were always too low. Thus the castle is almost a ruin before it has to stand the siege.
Thin walls for the windows on the player housing area would be okay unless the enemies set up siege equipment inside the castle itself which seems impractical, and the cast iron ovens are explainable by the game being within it's own timeline, impacted by magic. Magic being something that usually is represented as the antithesis of technology, halting technological progress tremendously in many areas. This could easily result in more modern conventions existing within classical structures.
The arrow slits might be meant to pour oil in, to burn the attackers
I'd say that your 'false floor' is designed to keep cavalry out or any type of war animal. and it does serve as a good way to prevent the floor from getting kicked up by the hot oil and coals form the murder hole.
Love you Castle Reviews, I learn a lot from them. Now if it's not too much of a bother might I ask what is one of your favorite fictional castles?
That would be the castle I designed myself, you can see it in these videos:
ua-cam.com/video/b6mGXwSk5x4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/ZBn7f3H-eqM/v-deo.html
this channel is awesome. it just fits right in there, ala skallagrim for castles
I'd love to see you do Kaer Mohren from the Witcher 3
It's on the list ^_^
of all the castles in video games, this one i love the most
I figured it out. The holes in the merlons are to drain water out when it rains. You can see that this happens at 11:00 by the texture around the holes.
I was always under the impression that they were meant to be used as runnels for hot oil and the like.
They're too high for that. The water would have to flow up a step to get into the drain.
False floor: I'd add that horse hooves would totally fall through. You'd want a tighter grate, if it could be done safely as you'd mentioned.
Merlons: maybe hot oil funnels or drainage, NOT arrow slits?
Another possibly serious issue I'd point out would be remote location.
Castles were often built in strategic locations as to be able to project power and control over the surrounding territory and settlements.
However, Skyhold seems extremely remote. Whilst certainly impressive, I question the hold's strategic value.
Moving troops and resources to and from the castle could become difficult due to the mountains, and the distance also complicated its use as a headquarters due to the difficulty of communicating effectively with those around you.
(because of its remote location, I can also imagine its management and maintenance costs would be skyhigh! No pun intended.)
This is a problem lots of fantasy castles have. A huge castle atop a huge snowy mountain looks awesome, but is pretty useless strategically and probably not that comfortable to live in.
If memory serves, it kinda guards the border between Orlais and Ferelden, and should one of those decide to invade the other, having a nigh-impenetrable fortress and a supply hub right on your enemy's doorstep would be beneficial.
That said, the one who created it hardly inmgined any kind of border being there in a millenia.
I think the entrance "murder hole" might be a boulder hole that drops a heavy boulder to break the floor the idea being that the false floor can suport daily use but a trebuchet shot or boulder falling 3 stories will snap it
6:39 maybe you can make that false floor differenly a little. i imagine a false floor thats built like 2 side ways drawbridges but hinges on the side, then you support them with wooden beams from the underside. then i would fasten chains with big rocks to the bottom of the beams, and when enemy is in the gate house, i would have someone push the rocks out with levers. rocks fall down, pull the beams with them. false floor opens.
Wow, don't know why but I watched this in one breath, usually don't enjoy that type of content much but u did a really great job here, sir. Any chance u make same video about Kaer Morhen from Witcher series? It's very much 'accessible' in Witcher 3 game (with is masterpiece itself, in my opinion). Would be really interesting to hear your analysis on that castle.
WOW! can you also look at castle redcliffe from Dragon Age Origins? and perhaps Orzimar would be interesting to figure out as well.
Orzammar isn't really a castle though, its just an underground city.
Would love to see a vid in which you compare the differences of asian and european/western castles.
That drawbridge makes no sense to me. It bridges nothing. There is no gap.
Also, the raised platform is a horrible weakness, because anyone breaching the inner gate will be able to climb up to those platforms (just getting a boost from another soldier would do it), automatically nullifying the second gate.
Regarding the drawbridge: I seem to recall that at some point we do see the castle with the bridge up and there is a void beneath it. The edges of the stone causeway are continuous (which is why it looks confusing when the bridge is down) but the roadway itself isn't.
As for the platforms inside the gatehouse...yeah, I got nothing.
Velexia Ombra or just more stability and thickness
I wonder how his face looked like the first time Solas say "SKYHOLD!".
Yeah, when I saw those damn cast iron ovens I was completely enraged. I sent at least 27 e-mails to the developers complaining about how they didn't have cast iron ovens in Medieval Europe and the assholes never wrote me back.
The game is set in Medieval Europe right?... Thedas? What's a Thedas?
A Thedas is A "THE Dragon Age Setting".
I know right? I can't believe it. I keep trying to tell them that dragons, mages, the Chantry, lyrium bombs, spirits, the Fade, etc. didn't exist in the Medieval period.
I'm not trying to be rude, but this is a fantasy game, not a medieval simulation. While the game is based on the medieval age, it is a different world with different cultures who can have different innovations at a different rate than we did.
I'm pretty sure that Skipton Castle in the UK had a false floor in the gatehouse; but it wasn't a grating.
My main issue, and of course i'm not that knowledgeable about the structural design of medieval (large stone) castles, is the accessibility and option to repair parts of it. This is indeed an opinion of options of a game rather than the functionality of the caste, though it bothers me more than it should.
Like the mentioned towers having no lower floors (and way too big access holes for inconveniently places, small, ladders); the players HUGE tower having only one accessible floor, with unused space in the stairwell(with possible rooms visible); the guest part (connection between Grand Hall and player tower) having only two rooms repaired; the hallway towards the council room being left broken and drafty; and not to mention all the clutter left all around, to break your legs or neck during a raid (not to mention, not aesthetically pleasing to my neurotic mind xD).
Though comparing with the castles i've seen in real life, it does a really good job. Other than some castle functions that have been made more aesthetically more pleasing (like the platforms in the gatehouse), it has a decent castle feel to it.
love these videos
I'm happy to please.
Can you do Windhelm's Defenses or better yet Solitude in Skyrim??
Shadiversity can you go into more details that you were showing and not showing?
Great video. I see your Inquisitor has white hair. Same here. It's unusual, but tons of people seem to go that way. It just seems appropriate somehow.
One thing you didn't mention that's kind of mind-boggling: if you go down to the jail, which is maybe 10 meters down from the peak of the mountain, you can see that there's a waterfall coming out of a grate in one of the walls. Not a small flow of water, but an actual waterfall. And while it would certainly be very handy to have for supply and sanitation reasons, how is it possible to have that much water at the very top of a mountain? Magic? It has to be magic, right?
Will you do Kaer Mohren or Kaer Trolde from the Witcher? Will you do anything from the Witcher? Also I do not think that the ovens are something to criticize as DA universe isnt set in the medieval period but in the dragon age.
Shad, 1:10, you missed the second gate house. Great video, love D.A.I.
Few things that bugged me about Skyhold:
1. The grate floor in the gate house must be fun for horses to ride over...
2. Although it has a layered design, there is no gate or even fortified door in the arch at 00:15, it is even possible to take a different set of stairs to get to the upper courtyard. There are also no crenellations on the battlements seperating the lower from the higher courtyard.
3. The access to the kitchens along the library also completely undermines any attempts at layered defenses; you have a wide, gently sloped stair going up to the door, perfect for bringing your battering ram along.
4. The side of the garden facing the inner courtyard is simply walled off; if there were battlements there as well, the upper courtyard would become significantly easier to defend, because as it stands now, as soon as an attacker has taken the upper courtyard, he has taken the castle.
Wonderful to see this video! I played a ton of Inquisition and have thought a lot about this place.
Just a note - I don't think the "False Floor" is a trap door in the looney toons sense. I don't see any mechanism that would allow it to be opened suddenly while opponents stand on it. It just looks like some metal grates sitting on a recessed area.
Instead, I imagine that when the defenders anticipate a siege, they simply send some burly men out to... remove the floor. They pick up the grates and drag them into the castle proper before closing the gate. This makes the gatehouse even more ludicrously impenetrable - even if you get through the first portcullis, there's literally no floor inside, aside from some thin platforms along the edges.
Awesome analysis man. Would love to see you take a jab at some castles from the Witcher series, such as Kaer Morghen, Kaer Trolde, or Castle La Valette.
the fact that some doors can't be opened and some parts of the castle are not accessible isn't a fault in the design it's because the game story didn't took place in those areas and they needed to spare Gbytes and for the same reason they gave to the castle a general realistic look but without going in too much detail.
Nice video.
A couple of more thoughts:
1. Torches are bad enough indoors, but outdoors and during the day??
2.1. Outside there's just ice and snow with no sign of vegetation, how the hell there's a garden inside?
2.2. It must be so cold out there that they'd need massive fireplaces and stoves and huge amounts of wood just to keep a surviving temperature.
2.3. At that height in the mountains the castle (and the road as well) would need constant maintenance work, because the temperature excursions and the water freezing in the small gaps tend to crack and displace the stones.
3. I suppose that big spaces are there mainly to have enough room to properly place and move the camera, they could be smaller if the perspective was in first person.
4. Does she really need to walk so sexy?
1 - ikr? 2.1 - True - no greenhouse there. 2.2 - Especially with bare stone walls - no tapestries to help keep in the warmth. 2.3 - That may explain the level of damage/neglect - too much work, not enough people. 3 - Agreed, first person would be more immersive, but would also be harder to see around your character. 4 - yes. :-)
Regarding the plants and temperature: magic did it. No, really.
LOL :-D
Emanuele Rusconi c'è erba dentro perché, come ribadito più volte nel gioco, è pieno di magia che probabilmente tiene lontano anche il freddo. Tant'è che la stanza di Cullen ha il tetto bucato e più volte mi sono chiesta "ma non muore di freddo ?" .
insomma, la magia risponde a due delle tue domande. Diciamo che la Lore del gioco in questo caso ha un ruolo fondamentale. Se fosse stato un castello del mondo reale immagino che tutti si sarebbero muniti di quanto serviva. Oppure nessuno avrebbe mai costruito qualcosa del genere ahahah
the false floor you could support with removable wooden beams.
Do Kaer Morhen from the Witcher 1 and 3
Have you tried *Reign of Kings*? I'd like you to build a castle in that game to specification worthy of the name castle under your architectural knowledge and best practicality for use in-game.
Side-Note: Its very weird, but you can run up some pretty steep hills, only the very extreme steep hills cannot be climbed. There are Islands you can build on and so effectively you can have a mote and drawbridge.
Lastly Stormwall is 2.5x bigger map than Crownland. Also, unfortunately for Crownland, Stormwall is 10x better map in terms of terrain. But I'll let you decide. I'd love to see your thoughts on Castle Building in that game.
Please do solitude
Sure ^_^
Shadiversity thanks shad. I really like your content.
The outer gatehouse leads nowhere. At least I never saw the stairs out of it, and it really bugged me.
Id say with the castle Being so so defensible and Being desiegned possibly by Fantasy mages(who are known to Favor Aesthetics and open areas so very much) The castle could very well have been primarily desiegned for aesthetics since Noone would think they could ever take the castle since the importants parts are more or less covered.
I always assumed the "arrow slits" in the merlons on Skyhold's walls were actually badly designed gargoyles, because I couldn't imagine how anyone could shoot through them with any useful field of "fire". But either way they're odd.
Lol isenguard would be interesting
Anyplace you would take hobbits to is interesting.
What did you say??
the Hobbits. You know: boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew........ no wait that's potatoes. Hobbits, you know, people are always taking hobbits to Isengard. He's taking 'em, she's taking them, they're taking the hobbits to Isengard all the damn time.
TO ISENGARD-GARD-GARD-GARD-GARD-GARD
Isengard in the books actually has multiple layers of walls. The film portrayed it pretty poorly.