It really does feel to me like the idea of the wall being built the way I think gives a big step toward more concrete theories of the end game. That along with how well it tracks onto a lot of parts of the story makes me feel more confident in it.
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff do you think the Others are specifically trying to obtain the Horn of Joramun in order to break the Wall? First they attack the fist of the first men where Ghost finds it. Then after the mutiny at Craster’s the Others go after Sam who is carrying it. Now that the horn is south of the wall, they’re preparing a massive attack on Hardhome, the only real port city north of the wall where they could potentially send wights on ships to go retrieve it or even partially invade the North by circumventing the Wall, if that’s even possible for the Others to do
What I feel that all other ASOIAF predictors get wrong and what you get right is theme of everything. GRRM baked his own themes and personal politics in everything he writes. People are more interested in the surface level and not the deeper meaning of what he is trying to say. Bravo. You've got me interested in the series again in a big bad way.
I agree there is something weird implied with those leeches. Constantly slow source of king's blood... Lady Dustin says they leeched all his emotion. Gotta be something weird he is up to
hey, "The Wall is Trees" guy! I might have some evidence to help you out in Arya's 2nd ASoS chapter when she meets Anguy and Lem and Tom o'Sevens...check out how Anguy preps his arrows in the ground. George isn't gonna give us so much imagery for nothing, this actually gives me more confidence in your crazy idea 🤪
I thought of the far north immediately when I thought about the idea of the candles being in a different location. George said that we would see more of the north in the Winds and that some characters would venture far more north than ever before and if the heart of winter is the Nightfort and all of the corruption is centred around the Wall, then what would be the point of going to "the end of the world" which Bran saw in that falling dream vision sequence, if not to search for the candles?
I thought more on this and I’m starting to think Lightbringer is not a flaming sword in the traditional sense but instead a lit glass candle / obsidian blade. If Azor Ahai and Night’s King parallel ideas are to be believed and Azor Ahai is a person that somehow used a “flaming sword” to drive back the Others. Could the flaming sword that defeated the Others be the glass candle(s?) used in the creation of the Wall?
Hmmmmm, I have heard the idea that Dawn may be a Giant, White glass candle. That, or I think, an older, white version of dragonflies and spell forged blade. Like what the Valeryians tried to do, but there's came out black. Maybe .
@@plasmiusphantom maybe the tower at Old Town? The flames are in part at least made up of a glass candle? Maybe it has something to do with the fused black stone at its base as well?
Possible theory on where the glass candles might be being kept... the collapsed section of the Winterfell crypts. I haven't thought about it deeply - it just occurred to me this literal moment, but you were talking about whether the shadows can even be killed, bc what if their glass candles are being held elsewhere, so I was wondering where that might be. It would have to be somewhere away from the Wall -- but not too far, because what if they needed to be accessed for some reason? I can't think of any places north of the wall that we've been introduced to that would be a safe place to store them - and besides, that would put them in reach of the others, who presumably would want to steal back their own candles, if that's what's keeping them tethered to an unwanted immortality. So, south of the wall, then. And Winterfell almost certainly had something to do with the end of the last Long Night, was involved with the Rat Cook and the Night King and the last time the Horn of Joramun was used. And their crypts have a section that's older than the rest of the keep, were built by Brandon the Builder ----- and have a section in the oldest deepest parts that are inaccessible. If there are glass candles connected to the others being hidden anywhere, my money is on there.
I just formed the idea that the heat in the roots of the weirwood in winterfells walls is taken from the weirwoods in the wall. That is how they produce the cold: like a fridge they dont generate cold, they take away the heat and they put it to places like winterfell via their connected roots. The Others bring the cold because they suck out the warmth because they are like you said actually shadows of people bound to weirwoods by dragon glass.
You are so bang on with these theories. Hearing you tie it all like this is unraveling knots I've had in my head for literal decades. Thanks for that . Wouldn't surprise me if Bran the Builder, Lan the Clever etc all the famous historical ancestors of the houses are the actual people strapped the the wall trees. Maybe they've influenced their descendants to do various things too, much how Bran seems to be reliving the deeds of many previous Brans.
I agree with you. When I saw that Naomi’s character was named Lan The Clever, her hair, eyes, dress.. I knew she was the original Lannister. Bran the Builder, I’d have to go look at the original cast of Blood Moon to see if anyone else matches up.
This is random but I just wanted to mention it. What if you drank from the horns instead of blowing in it. Odin drinks from a horn in a Norse story. It just made me think of it
So would you drink blood from it? What if it were king's blood? Or dragon's blood? Would it go well with mutton or venison? How many good ratings would it get on GrubHub? Martin needs to release the next book quick so we know!
I do not think the weirnet has any ‘original’ consciousness. I think that it’s either that the souls of CotF gradually naturally remained as an ambient energy within nature, and slowly, as their consciousness evolved, this energy signature accumulated, and consciousness grew, until it could be sensed, felt, harmonized with. It’s either just that, or the weirnet is the ambient consciousness energy of all creatures : animals included. Just as peat and soil are the accumulated and merged dead bodies of plants and animals, the weirnet is that but with souls.
Melisandre says that the Wall is one of the "hinges of the world" that weirwood/wall diagram looks just like a hinge. Also, the Wall always gets bigger bc the weirwoods always growing.
Hey Michael! One of your videos came across my feed and I just wanted to say I am really impressed with your channel. I like your clean and precise explanations. Keep up the good work! I'll keep watching!
I think there might be a connection between dragonglass and black blood. We have Clegane (black blood for a face), we have Coldhands (black hands), the wights during Jon’s vows (black blood), we have Valyria/the Doom (black blood of demons), and we have Mel (blood on her thigh). These are all people your theories speculate could have black candle associations. The thing is that that COULD just be George, but we do have red blood too, so it’s not like he just calls blood black. There’s also the very real possibility that the original NW were immortal too (potentially like Coldhands), and they are ‘taking the black’ (into their chest??). I think there could be something there.
I've always been waiting for the GRRM punchline when it came to magic bloodlines, whats the catch, whats the subversion or perversion? And this is such a satisfying answer from GRRM, i wonder if you are secretly his assistant.
I believe I have something to add to your theory: It’s evident George is influenced in part by the Hyperion Cantos in the land of the Shrykes at the Five Forts. The crucified (greenseers?) within the weirwoods inside the wall would be a good mirror for the character Durè who is infected with the Cruciform, and thus given immortality and ends up crucified in the fire. Having said that, I think it’s entirely possible that this blood magic ritual doesn’t “create” the Others, but kicks them out of the Weirwood “net”. The blood magic ritual expels the Weirwood spirit and is instead replaced with the essence or spirit of the greenseer who is attached crucifixion style to the Weirwoods inside the wall, so for each of those trees, now exists an Other who is the true spirit of the Weirwood expelled into some form of partial physical being. This ties in with the children “turning the trees to warriors”. It does, however raises the question of why Bran the Builder would have built the wall, what was its purpose? Were the Others an unforeseen consequence of this gigantic Blood magic ritual? If this did create the Others, why the need for the wall in the first place? Further examining these kinds of questions about this theory could possibly be the key to delving a bit further into it and fleshing it out further. I have seen a tonne of evidence to show the possibility of the first Night’s King being a Stark. Perhaps this *was* Bran the Builder? I’m not sure if there’s much to that, just a thought. I don’t know if all the evidence matches up but it at least tracks as to *why* he would create the wall, as it gives him his army of Others to further his power.
Furthering the Hyperion parallel - the mechanism of the blood magic ritual could mirror the Cruciform further, as Hyperion shows that Durè burns endlessly, while the Cruciform revives him. The mirror here could be that the glass candle wound endlessly drips the blood of the victim into the Weirwood, the glass candle imbues immortality and therefor revives the victim and the blood continuously feeds the blood magic ritual of the wall to keep the process going. The same as what you already mentioned but could be more of a possible way that the actual mechanics of the process work
So, could the motives of the Others be related to the dwindling of the Night's Watch? In theory, there are 19 castles along the wall but, only 3 still manned. If we assume there used to be sacrifices at each one is it possible the Others/Weirwoods that are inside the wall are starting to die due to a lack of blood? Could the Others be coming further south to save their brothers trapped in the wall from death?
Bit of a tangent, is the reason no women are allowed at the Citadel is because no guy would think of stabbing themselves with a glass candle in order to activate it? They are left alone with it in an empty room. A candle shape isn't inherently sharp. I guess it could be smashed to create a shard but there aren't any tools to do so. I don't mean to say that women are more likely to cut themselves - intentionally or accidentally. Rather, at a certain time of the month a woman bleeds and the candle is a perfect shape to be in contact with this (trying to censored as much as possible). Women would get this to work better and more easily than men. If the maesters are wanting to prove that magic doesn't exist then what better than to set up the glass candle trial in this way? They can, knowingly or unknowingly, set up a gender based discrimination in the process. One at the Citadel going through the maester training is a woman. The Sphinx. She might be able to get the candle to light. She is also a bastard daughter from Dorne so hers would be king's blood. This hasn't been published yet, but I could see it working.
The Glass Candles can serve and activate if used as a dildo? I buy it, this seems like something George would do, he also went out of his way to portray the Sand Snake and Dorn in general as more liberal thinking, and one of them is at the Citidal next to a lit Glass Candel (even though she yet to have a go at it officially but she is hanging with the Mage)
This could tie in with why they’re able to walk about and attack. Around the southern realms they deliberately chopped down the weir wood trees adopting other gods. This broke the network they were bound to leaving them immortal with a grudge to bear against the living. Did the children of the forest create this network and had Bran the builder create a magic wall to keep people SOUTH giving them a safe haven North of the wall to live perhaps? Over time people have forgotten the deal and gone over the wall.
I feel like “The Others” are named that for a reason. The show used “White Walkers” almost exclusively because the show made them MONSTERS- however, in the books, I don’t think they are monsters at all. They’re different. They’re “other”. Though many humans fear things that are different- different doesn’t inherently mean “evil”. They’re just OTHER than us. I truly hope GRRM finishes the books- or, at the very least, creates an outline and allows a team to help him get the last two books finished so that many of our questions can be finally answered. Also- I’m new to your channel and SO IMPRESSED with your work. I’ve had many thoughts and theories that are similar to yours (esp concerning the Westwood trees/wall/etc) and nothing on UA-cam even came close. I appreciate you and your channel! You’ve got a new sub in me, and I’m recommending you to all my ASoIaF fan friends. Keep on doing your thing!
What if the others are like non-men or elves. Like the original beings of the realm but they are cursed with immortality and became erratic over time. r Scot Bakker in the prince of nothing series has great books delving into this topic
I still like the theory that the white walkers are a silicone based alien species/bacteria(?) That infects dead bodies and that the dragon glass was just their starter force
Compromise around the idea that the weirwoods are an alien hive mind that lives in the trees that control everyone, casts the shadows(others) to scare everyone into submission, makes everyone worship them, and has installed a culture of sacrifice to them? Cuz TBH it sounds to me like by the end of the series that option will still be on the table. Alien hivemind living in trees is on the list of what might the weirwood hivemind be originally.
I love most of it besides the ‘others are shadows’ theory. Unless the early seasons of the TV show are to be ignored, The Others have physical form. They also have the ability to rather than sacrifice babies, turn them into white walkers. I personally think it makes more sense that the baby is being connected to the corrupted Weirwood spirit hive mind. This has happened over the centuries and grew their number.
I do like these videos, but the book mechanics and the show mechanics don't seem to work the same way. I'm not disagreeing, there might be a good reason. Sam stabs an Other and it melts, the heat wakes and leave the glass. This makes sense for their Coldhands explanation. But it doesn't for their Nightking. Somehow the glass in this instance is drawing heat out. Yes, I would assume if you put water on a piece of the glass that's stabbing an Other it would act as a coldsink and freeze the water. But it's melting the Other. Such a Wall would probably be difficult for fire or a shadow of fire to pass. It would probably act the opposite or Bran's description of Summer's pain as a hot kettle. The extreme cold I would expect to make something made of fire recoil from it. But by the same reasoning, you would expect it to be a natural environment for a cold shadow allowing it to pass. To me it would seem like you'd need the opposite of obsidian to make an Other. You'd need a heatsink. Something like a milk glass that draws the heat in. This could them be drawn into the tree making the Other colder and powering the pump by heating the tree. Sorry that's a bit incoherent, bit of a stream of though.
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff The blood needs to go into the tree somehow. Plant the tree under the moon door and the splat oozes into the soil. I think Ned was washing the blood into the water in the God's wood after any beheadings and the Weir would take it up.Probobly doesn't take much. Blood is power. Maybe you don't even need to kill the person. Just the blood? idunno But, yeah, the wier look like trees, they aren't trees and they need human blood. Look at the giant weir at Whitetree. Some crazy stuff going on there and that tree is Huge.
@@plasmiusphantom That wood was brought there. I wonder where from and what resides inside it. Weirwood has strong powers and, what, holds people's souls? I think Robin can sense them in the wood. Have you read "Song for Lya". I think it says a lot about weirwood. Different mechanism in that tale, but same idea. Maybe being sacrificed to the weir isn't alalll bad
Grrm has said that Others are like different life form. That statement doesn't really make think them as magical creation.
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The undying one is the Three Eyed Raven, who has been using the bodies of greenseers and wargs, possibly fellow children of the forest to stay alive. I believe that he is the main enemy, and Ice ( the White Walkers led by Jon Snow) and Fire (Danny and her Dragons) will need to come together to kill him for good. For me it doesn’t make sense that the wall made of ice was built to keep the Others (literally ice beings, the cold, winter itself) out. I think the wall was built by the Others to keep the Three Eyed Raven in the north, away from the realmS of men. The others are waiting for the Prince that was promised, the next King of Winter (the Son of ice and fire, Jon Snow) who leads them to war against the warg king aka Three Eyed Raven aka Bran the Broken. And here comes in full circle, a “bastard” Stark killing his half brother, an actual Stark, THE Stark of Winterfell. But I also love your theory, it’s really fascinating to see how different conclusions can be drawn from the same clues! This is why George is one of the best writers in my opinion 😍 4:18
Tbh I don't find theories on this channel convincing. I feel the grand picture should be something that looks complex on surface but has some beauty and harmony beneath it. I see the complexity in these theories but not the beauty. However I like the idea of Others not being this pure evil existential threat but something else, may be even potential allies. The idea of ice wall made to keep out ice demons also looks absurd so the purpose of wall must surely be something different. I like the idea of of weirwood hivemind and the wall and winterfell being made using weirwoods but all the glass candle stuff and humans crucified to it and Melisandre and blah blah recieving visions from there seems too much with no beauty to it.
I wish it wasnt Glass Candles, cuz , its just Obsidian. It would have been better if it were AMBER. Amber from the Weirwoods, at least that would explain it as a source of the magic and Life Force.
the giving death could also tie back into geoffy- he says he gave ed his mercy by a quick death, we all just thought it was him being sadistic but what if it was a very early piece of foreshadowing, which we know grrm loves to do
I like the idea of the Great Other (not the Night King) being the White Walker leader than the Night King. And the Great Other being something like an oldest Weirwood tree inside the frozen North or an entity that come from a corrupted dying weirwood tree. Or.... The first face of Death/many faces god. Who's better command the dead if not the Death itself.
The horn bind the dragon to the owner of the horn not the blower. What if the soul of the person who blows the become imbued to the dragon it binds while being under the control of the owner of the horn?
strapping your soul to a glass candle(stone) would make sense since you think stone and wood are the oldest of magics. would make sense that the moon used to harbor souls, more stone magic.
Hi Michael. I discovered your videos last night while on mind altering substances, I HATE that creepy weirwood tree image you use in all of these videos; it may haunt my dreams. other than that....i've not been this invested in ASOIAF theory videos since I first discovered preston jacobs, alt shift x, red team review etc. Love your work.
The big issue I’m having with you being stuck on the glass candles. The others showed up before the comet and the dragons, which we are told is what has lit the glass candle we’ve been able to see and possibly others. So how is that the Others have been somewhat around during this time? we’ve been told that magic left the world when the dragons did or that’s what the maetsters say right? Also I think you might find more nuggets and clues in rereading fire in blood when the queen tries to take silver wing over the wall.
I'm also very puzzled by the timeline. The wall was built to protect humanity (poor Free Folk) from the Others. If the Others are the people crucified to the trees to make the wall, then why did we even bother to make it? That doesn't make sense to me. Plus, it doesn't approach why we have differently timed seasons. George has confirmed its a magical explanation, so it stands to reason that the cause of our years long winters would also piss off the malevolent ice spirits. I have a lot more questions about motives and the timeline if this turns out to be the case
There are disputes over the actual timeline for the Long Night. Some maesters say it was only 4000/5000 years before the current story rather than 8000/10000. If this is true, then Valyrian Freehold would have been established. OR Dragons existed before Valyria (possibly Great Empire of the Dawn)
So in the last book (So far) the wall is crying a lot more then usual, which could be because nobody is dying there anymore. The watch and wildlings have stopped fighting so the trees aren't getting much blood. And those who does die gets burned. Although it does end with them getting a few gallons of pure Stark blood.
I’m liking the direction you are taking but I have a couple questions. If this process creates the Others, why do it then? Also why is Blood Raven trying to stop it? From all implications he is being controlled by the children or this hive mind however you want to interpret it. If the Undying are the shadow bound form of these people stuck in the wall, are they also manifesting as the Others?
Could the flames at the tower in Old Town be or have some part of the mechanism mayhaps, a large glass candle? Could that be somewhere the flames are always lit (for the time being)?
I'm not sure you talked about this or not. But I was thinking this might be the reason for the "end" of giants. Maybe to grow such a huge weirwood tree, as tal as the wall. They would need a massive blood sacrifice, like a giant. How many giants might have been huntend, killed, and buried along the line of the wall.
What if the horn Dragon Binder doesn't kill the person blowing it, but it takes their essence and transfers it into an already living dragon like a warg taking their second life? How many souls can fit? Do you just melt in into the consciousness in there and merge with all of them? Do you kick one out? We know the horn that the guy blew for Euron killed him. But what happened to his consciousness?
That is a super interesting thought, the idea of a sacrifices for magic is for sure a thing, and I do think there are people souls in the dragons on some level so that would be very interesting if that was part of the point of the horn
As for the idea of huge weirwoods being the deep infrastructure of the Wall... remember what the Horn of Joramunn is supposed to be able to do? Bring down the Wall and awake giants from the earth...
I wonder how exactly it is supposed to do that to the wall. I can't see it being immediate blow the horn and it collapses over the next minute. But I can easily see it's frequency shattering the obsidian and making it useless. Without the transfer from the trees the others bodies will weaken and die out. Without them the wall will melt. This could take months or even a couple years to make a hole significant enough to make a difference. It also might have a limited range. I'd give it no better than a mile or so range at best. My guess also that the Horn will need to be blown either 3 or 4 times. Once is not likely to be enough.
I love these theories and stuff but I unfortunately I don't think we'll ever get a conclusive answer. GRRM has had plenty of time to finish the next novel, if not the entire series. The show wasn't interested in addressing the more fantasy aspects of the story. More pointedly, if it's not sourced from an actual, published, GRRM novel...it's just expensive fanfiction.
I've watched through this series twice now and still can't figure out when the wall is built and who built it in your theory timeline. Was it before the pact, after the pact, did man build it with the help of the children, did the children put the others in there, did man do it themselves without help? Is the wall good or bad?? Forgive me im an idiot but at one point it seems like a good/weird thing and at other times it's a bad/weird thing.
Ok so why go through all that in the first place especially if creating the wall creates these shadows that are so dangerous? Why build it in the first place thereby creating the danger the wall is needed to keep out?
Here are my thoughts on that so far. I do agree the timeline needs to be made sense of at some point I probably need to do a video on it. Asha Greyjoy remembers a story she heard about the time the children turned the trees to warriors to fight the first men. My current best guess is something like the COTF make others to wipe man out of Westeros. Then some human learns how to do it and makes more others to fight for man against the COTF. Suddenly both sides have angry ice demons who will destroy them so they come together with the green men to make the pact and then build the wall to trap the demons they made in the north. Possibly with another creation of some more others coming with the Night's Queen and Night's King who learned how to make them while ruling from the Nightfort.
This is a good point. I wonder has she ever crossed the wall herself? The dragon could go to the wall but wouldn't cross it. I wonder if she is similar. Also wights were brought across or wighted across when they attack the lord commander in castle black so I also wonder what loophole there is there.
If these trees are within the wall and they provide the magic for the white walkers then why would the knight king send the undead dragon to destroy the wall that supported their life force magic.
There was a weird paragraf on arya chapter right before she got her eye sight back,where she drank something that felt like her throat was on fire....wild fire??
start with 1 fool add water ???? add mermaids??? let soak for 3 days. Leave on the beach to bake in the sun. When he starts singing you can take him off the beach he is done.
Just starting this video but I've been binging this playlist and you frequently speculate on your speculations. That said, i think you are onto something. Unfortunately, you take some very sound theories and consistently leap from them into foil territory. The nightfort/wall absolutely doesn't need to be the heart of the worldtree and that the people bound in the heart tree north of the wall should still be sufficient because of the interconnectedness of the weirwood net. Also, you could benefit from writing an actual script for your videos because you ramble and repeat yourself a lot.
lol, your theories are a MILLION times better than preston jacobs. he thinks the world is apocalyptic, from the waaaaay distant future and dragon glass shoved in the white walkers is actually some sort of short circuit electrical reaction, lol.... and what makes me laugh is preston is so confident in his own BS he spews on his channel! 🤣😅😂
Preston Jacobs makes more sense than this johnny come-lately sorry hehe BUT both misses the whole GRRM point: The White Walkers are the Military Industrial Complex-es/terror cells, that take your child/son and turn them into killers... The Children of the Forest created them of course, in GRRM's allegorical writing, but they are still killers without faces... And well families will have to feed their kids into the meat grinder....just look at the modern world, right now
LOL I dont know how you can compare this guy to Preston Jacobs??? Preston is very analytical and has theories backed up by written evidence, which he doesnt try to put every theory into one video; this guy is ALL over the place with as many theories as he can think of, at any one time
Weirwoods I believe could be literal Children of the Forest. The amount of personification George gives them, even more than just the face, is staggering. The Children already seem half plant, so I imagine their final form could be a literal weirwood. A bit tinfoil but I always wondered how Bran can only warg into animals, but then also warg into this certain plant... it makes more sense to me that Bran is able to warg into weirwood trees, despite being plants, because they are not just plants but used to be people and still are but unable to interact, only watch. A "child of the forest" sounds a lot like a tree. Then this would make weirwood paste basically blood magic. This would also explain why weirwood never rots, because it is the flesh of Children of the Forest who live over 10,000 years. At the end of their life, I could imagine being ceremonially turned into a literal tree would be a great honor for the Children. The faces were not carved by knife but are the actual faces of the Children.
These videos make it feel like Winds already came out and now we’re discussing Dream of Spring theories lol
It really does feel to me like the idea of the wall being built the way I think gives a big step toward more concrete theories of the end game. That along with how well it tracks onto a lot of parts of the story makes me feel more confident in it.
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff do you think the Others are specifically trying to obtain the Horn of Joramun in order to break the Wall? First they attack the fist of the first men where Ghost finds it. Then after the mutiny at Craster’s the Others go after Sam who is carrying it. Now that the horn is south of the wall, they’re preparing a massive attack on Hardhome, the only real port city north of the wall where they could potentially send wights on ships to go retrieve it or even partially invade the North by circumventing the Wall, if that’s even possible for the Others to do
High compliment!
Your theories are so good that I actually don't want to watch them because it feels like spoilers 😂
What I feel that all other ASOIAF predictors get wrong and what you get right is theme of everything. GRRM baked his own themes and personal politics in everything he writes. People are more interested in the surface level and not the deeper meaning of what he is trying to say. Bravo. You've got me interested in the series again in a big bad way.
That crucifixion sounds a lot like House Bolton's flaying and Lord Roose's leeching 😊
I agree there is something weird implied with those leeches. Constantly slow source of king's blood... Lady Dustin says they leeched all his emotion. Gotta be something weird he is up to
hey, "The Wall is Trees" guy!
I might have some evidence to help you out in Arya's 2nd ASoS chapter when she meets Anguy and Lem and Tom o'Sevens...check out how Anguy preps his arrows in the ground. George isn't gonna give us so much imagery for nothing, this actually gives me more confidence in your crazy idea 🤪
This is the only channel who can both explain stark blood + craster blood
Are the glass candles in the heart of winter? “The light at the end of the world”
I have one possible idea for a place they could be but I might have to save it for a future video.
I thought of the far north immediately when I thought about the idea of the candles being in a different location. George said that we would see more of the north in the Winds and that some characters would venture far more north than ever before and if the heart of winter is the Nightfort and all of the corruption is centred around the Wall, then what would be the point of going to "the end of the world" which Bran saw in that falling dream vision sequence, if not to search for the candles?
Or in the crypts of Winterfell. This is way Winterfell stays warm and this is way the Others want to go to Winterfell.
I thought more on this and I’m starting to think Lightbringer is not a flaming sword in the traditional sense but instead a lit glass candle / obsidian blade. If Azor Ahai and Night’s King parallel ideas are to be believed and Azor Ahai is a person that somehow used a “flaming sword” to drive back the Others. Could the flaming sword that defeated the Others be the glass candle(s?) used in the creation of the Wall?
Hmmmmm, I have heard the idea that Dawn may be a Giant, White glass candle.
That, or I think, an older, white version of dragonflies and spell forged blade. Like what the Valeryians tried to do, but there's came out black.
Maybe .
@@plasmiusphantom maybe the tower at Old Town? The flames are in part at least made up of a glass candle? Maybe it has something to do with the fused black stone at its base as well?
Possible theory on where the glass candles might be being kept... the collapsed section of the Winterfell crypts.
I haven't thought about it deeply - it just occurred to me this literal moment, but you were talking about whether the shadows can even be killed, bc what if their glass candles are being held elsewhere, so I was wondering where that might be. It would have to be somewhere away from the Wall -- but not too far, because what if they needed to be accessed for some reason? I can't think of any places north of the wall that we've been introduced to that would be a safe place to store them - and besides, that would put them in reach of the others, who presumably would want to steal back their own candles, if that's what's keeping them tethered to an unwanted immortality.
So, south of the wall, then. And Winterfell almost certainly had something to do with the end of the last Long Night, was involved with the Rat Cook and the Night King and the last time the Horn of Joramun was used. And their crypts have a section that's older than the rest of the keep, were built by Brandon the Builder ----- and have a section in the oldest deepest parts that are inaccessible. If there are glass candles connected to the others being hidden anywhere, my money is on there.
Yooooooooooooo
I love it
I just formed the idea that the heat in the roots of the weirwood in winterfells walls is taken from the weirwoods in the wall. That is how they produce the cold: like a fridge they dont generate cold, they take away the heat and they put it to places like winterfell via their connected roots. The Others bring the cold because they suck out the warmth because they are like you said actually shadows of people bound to weirwoods by dragon glass.
You are so bang on with these theories. Hearing you tie it all like this is unraveling knots I've had in my head for literal decades. Thanks for that .
Wouldn't surprise me if Bran the Builder, Lan the Clever etc all the famous historical ancestors of the houses are the actual people strapped the the wall trees.
Maybe they've influenced their descendants to do various things too, much how Bran seems to be reliving the deeds of many previous Brans.
I agree with you. When I saw that Naomi’s character was named Lan The Clever, her hair, eyes, dress.. I knew she was the original Lannister. Bran the Builder, I’d have to go look at the original cast of Blood Moon to see if anyone else matches up.
I look forward to your videos more than any others right now on UA-cam.
feels like this guy unlocked something in my mind, everything he says makes so much sense yet I had never heard these theories before
Best video yet. It’s all coming together in such a sensible and logical way. Excellent series
This is random but I just wanted to mention it. What if you drank from the horns instead of blowing in it. Odin drinks from a horn in a Norse story. It just made me think of it
Yes, I also thought it may be used in a different way than is thought by the characters. Good connection with Odin.
So would you drink blood from it? What if it were king's blood? Or dragon's blood? Would it go well with mutton or venison? How many good ratings would it get on GrubHub? Martin needs to release the next book quick so we know!
I do not think the weirnet has any ‘original’ consciousness. I think that it’s either that the souls of CotF gradually naturally remained as an ambient energy within nature, and slowly, as their consciousness evolved, this energy signature accumulated, and consciousness grew, until it could be sensed, felt, harmonized with. It’s either just that, or the weirnet is the ambient consciousness energy of all creatures : animals included. Just as peat and soil are the accumulated and merged dead bodies of plants and animals, the weirnet is that but with souls.
That's hot 🔥 🙏
Melisandre says that the Wall is one of the "hinges of the world" that weirwood/wall diagram looks just like a hinge. Also, the Wall always gets bigger bc the weirwoods always growing.
Great videos! I’m not sure if I’m with you on every point but I love the energy. I’m here for it.
I honestly believe you have cracked it. This makes so much sense.
Hey Michael! One of your videos came across my feed and I just wanted to say I am really impressed with your channel. I like your clean and precise explanations. Keep up the good work! I'll keep watching!
this theory is insane its all coming together
I think there might be a connection between dragonglass and black blood. We have Clegane (black blood for a face), we have Coldhands (black hands), the wights during Jon’s vows (black blood), we have Valyria/the Doom (black blood of demons), and we have Mel (blood on her thigh). These are all people your theories speculate could have black candle associations.
The thing is that that COULD just be George, but we do have red blood too, so it’s not like he just calls blood black.
There’s also the very real possibility that the original NW were immortal too (potentially like Coldhands), and they are ‘taking the black’ (into their chest??). I think there could be something there.
I've always been waiting for the GRRM punchline when it came to magic bloodlines, whats the catch, whats the subversion or perversion? And this is such a satisfying answer from GRRM, i wonder if you are secretly his assistant.
I believe I have something to add to your theory:
It’s evident George is influenced in part by the Hyperion Cantos in the land of the Shrykes at the Five Forts.
The crucified (greenseers?) within the weirwoods inside the wall would be a good mirror for the character Durè who is infected with the Cruciform, and thus given immortality and ends up crucified in the fire.
Having said that, I think it’s entirely possible that this blood magic ritual doesn’t “create” the Others, but kicks them out of the Weirwood “net”.
The blood magic ritual expels the Weirwood spirit and is instead replaced with the essence or spirit of the greenseer who is attached crucifixion style to the Weirwoods inside the wall, so for each of those trees, now exists an Other who is the true spirit of the Weirwood expelled into some form of partial physical being.
This ties in with the children “turning the trees to warriors”.
It does, however raises the question of why Bran the Builder would have built the wall, what was its purpose? Were the Others an unforeseen consequence of this gigantic Blood magic ritual? If this did create the Others, why the need for the wall in the first place?
Further examining these kinds of questions about this theory could possibly be the key to delving a bit further into it and fleshing it out further.
I have seen a tonne of evidence to show the possibility of the first Night’s King being a Stark. Perhaps this *was* Bran the Builder? I’m not sure if there’s much to that, just a thought. I don’t know if all the evidence matches up but it at least tracks as to *why* he would create the wall, as it gives him his army of Others to further his power.
Furthering the Hyperion parallel - the mechanism of the blood magic ritual could mirror the Cruciform further, as Hyperion shows that Durè burns endlessly, while the Cruciform revives him.
The mirror here could be that the glass candle wound endlessly drips the blood of the victim into the Weirwood, the glass candle imbues immortality and therefor revives the victim and the blood continuously feeds the blood magic ritual of the wall to keep the process going. The same as what you already mentioned but could be more of a possible way that the actual mechanics of the process work
Shiiiet congrats on 4k i remember when you had 300 subs
This channels on a roll, holy shit.
Everything kinda makes sense if you view the black stone as the magical equivalent of sci Fi grey goop nanomachines.
Giant magic trees fed with human sacrifices is something we could see in Elden Ring
Wow so much magic and science stuff yet not a word about Valyrian steel !...
So, could the motives of the Others be related to the dwindling of the Night's Watch? In theory, there are 19 castles along the wall but, only 3 still manned. If we assume there used to be sacrifices at each one is it possible the Others/Weirwoods that are inside the wall are starting to die due to a lack of blood? Could the Others be coming further south to save their brothers trapped in the wall from death?
Bit of a tangent, is the reason no women are allowed at the Citadel is because no guy would think of stabbing themselves with a glass candle in order to activate it?
They are left alone with it in an empty room. A candle shape isn't inherently sharp. I guess it could be smashed to create a shard but there aren't any tools to do so.
I don't mean to say that women are more likely to cut themselves - intentionally or accidentally. Rather, at a certain time of the month a woman bleeds and the candle is a perfect shape to be in contact with this (trying to censored as much as possible).
Women would get this to work better and more easily than men. If the maesters are wanting to prove that magic doesn't exist then what better than to set up the glass candle trial in this way? They can, knowingly or unknowingly, set up a gender based discrimination in the process.
One at the Citadel going through the maester training is a woman. The Sphinx. She might be able to get the candle to light. She is also a bastard daughter from Dorne so hers would be king's blood. This hasn't been published yet, but I could see it working.
The Glass Candles can serve and activate if used as a dildo? I buy it, this seems like something George would do, he also went out of his way to portray the Sand Snake and Dorn in general as more liberal thinking, and one of them is at the Citidal next to a lit Glass Candel (even though she yet to have a go at it officially but she is hanging with the Mage)
Time travelling fetuses vibes from this one
Great videos! Trees could pump water that high though, I think all I have to say is California Red Woods. 😁
Lemme say yeah, the dragonglass dagger impales the guys to the tree.
There used to be more glass candles and now they are rare... Where did they go? INSIDE THE WALL 😮😮😮
This could tie in with why they’re able to walk about and attack. Around the southern realms they deliberately chopped down the weir wood trees adopting other gods. This broke the network they were bound to leaving them immortal with a grudge to bear against the living.
Did the children of the forest create this network and had Bran the builder create a magic wall to keep people SOUTH giving them a safe haven North of the wall to live perhaps?
Over time people have forgotten the deal and gone over the wall.
I feel like “The Others” are named that for a reason. The show used “White Walkers” almost exclusively because the show made them MONSTERS- however, in the books, I don’t think they are monsters at all. They’re different. They’re “other”. Though many humans fear things that are different- different doesn’t inherently mean “evil”. They’re just OTHER than us. I truly hope GRRM finishes the books- or, at the very least, creates an outline and allows a team to help him get the last two books finished so that many of our questions can be finally answered.
Also- I’m new to your channel and SO IMPRESSED with your work. I’ve had many thoughts and theories that are similar to yours (esp concerning the Westwood trees/wall/etc) and nothing on UA-cam even came close. I appreciate you and your channel! You’ve got a new sub in me, and I’m recommending you to all my ASoIaF fan friends. Keep on doing your thing!
What if the others are like non-men or elves. Like the original beings of the realm but they are cursed with immortality and became erratic over time. r Scot Bakker in the prince of nothing series has great books delving into this topic
YOOO I think I have the perfect artist to draw your version of the ice wall. I’ll have them cook one up!!
Plays into how George loves to subvert tropes, in this case that having a special bloodline is a good thing
Bro this makes waay too much sense
I still like the theory that the white walkers are a silicone based alien species/bacteria(?) That infects dead bodies and that the dragon glass was just their starter force
Compromise around the idea that the weirwoods are an alien hive mind that lives in the trees that control everyone, casts the shadows(others) to scare everyone into submission, makes everyone worship them, and has installed a culture of sacrifice to them? Cuz TBH it sounds to me like by the end of the series that option will still be on the table.
Alien hivemind living in trees is on the list of what might the weirwood hivemind be originally.
I think of the black stone as magical grey goop. It's nanomachines, son.
I love most of it besides the ‘others are shadows’ theory. Unless the early seasons of the TV show are to be ignored, The Others have physical form. They also have the ability to rather than sacrifice babies, turn them into white walkers. I personally think it makes more sense that the baby is being connected to the corrupted Weirwood spirit hive mind. This has happened over the centuries and grew their number.
i think trees are immortal tho. I think i might be wrong but the only reason trees die is because of disease or something.
I do like these videos, but the book mechanics and the show mechanics don't seem to work the same way. I'm not disagreeing, there might be a good reason.
Sam stabs an Other and it melts, the heat wakes and leave the glass. This makes sense for their Coldhands explanation. But it doesn't for their Nightking. Somehow the glass in this instance is drawing heat out.
Yes, I would assume if you put water on a piece of the glass that's stabbing an Other it would act as a coldsink and freeze the water. But it's melting the Other.
Such a Wall would probably be difficult for fire or a shadow of fire to pass. It would probably act the opposite or Bran's description of Summer's pain as a hot kettle. The extreme cold I would expect to make something made of fire recoil from it. But by the same reasoning, you would expect it to be a natural environment for a cold shadow allowing it to pass.
To me it would seem like you'd need the opposite of obsidian to make an Other. You'd need a heatsink. Something like a milk glass that draws the heat in. This could them be drawn into the tree making the Other colder and powering the pump by heating the tree.
Sorry that's a bit incoherent, bit of a stream of though.
as long as he does not get scratched by dragonglass
The Erie was never able to grow a Weir because they never gave it blood.
Too many throwing people off mountains not enough sacrifices to trees. But can you blame them? The moon door is too much fun.
The moon door is Weirwood!
And the Thrones!
Dead woods
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff The blood needs to go into the tree somehow. Plant the tree under the moon door and the splat oozes into the soil. I think Ned was washing the blood into the water in the God's wood after any beheadings and the Weir would take it up.Probobly doesn't take much. Blood is power.
Maybe you don't even need to kill the person. Just the blood? idunno
But, yeah, the wier look like trees, they aren't trees and they need human blood. Look at the giant weir at Whitetree. Some crazy stuff going on there and that tree is Huge.
@@plasmiusphantom That wood was brought there. I wonder where from and what resides inside it. Weirwood has strong powers and, what, holds people's souls? I think Robin can sense them in the wood.
Have you read "Song for Lya". I think it says a lot about weirwood. Different mechanism in that tale, but same idea. Maybe being sacrificed to the weir isn't alalll bad
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff By the way, your ice wall theory is WOW level. So good. No going back. Good day to you sir.
Grrm has said that Others are like different life form. That statement doesn't really make think them as magical creation.
The undying one is the Three Eyed Raven, who has been using the bodies of greenseers and wargs, possibly fellow children of the forest to stay alive. I believe that he is the main enemy, and Ice ( the White Walkers led by Jon Snow) and Fire (Danny and her Dragons) will need to come together to kill him for good. For me it doesn’t make sense that the wall made of ice was built to keep the Others (literally ice beings, the cold, winter itself) out. I think the wall was built by the Others to keep the Three Eyed Raven in the north, away from the realmS of men. The others are waiting for the Prince that was promised, the next King of Winter (the Son of ice and fire, Jon Snow) who leads them to war against the warg king aka Three Eyed Raven aka Bran the Broken. And here comes in full circle, a “bastard” Stark killing his half brother, an actual Stark, THE Stark of Winterfell. But I also love your theory, it’s really fascinating to see how different conclusions can be drawn from the same clues! This is why George is one of the best writers in my opinion 😍 4:18
Tbh I don't find theories on this channel convincing. I feel the grand picture should be something that looks complex on surface but has some beauty and harmony beneath it. I see the complexity in these theories but not the beauty. However I like the idea of Others not being this pure evil existential threat but something else, may be even potential allies. The idea of ice wall made to keep out ice demons also looks absurd so the purpose of wall must surely be something different. I like the idea of of weirwood hivemind and the wall and winterfell being made using weirwoods but all the glass candle stuff and humans crucified to it and Melisandre and blah blah recieving visions from there seems too much with no beauty to it.
I wish it wasnt Glass Candles, cuz , its just Obsidian.
It would have been better if it were AMBER. Amber from the Weirwoods, at least that would explain it as a source of the magic and Life Force.
the giving death could also tie back into geoffy- he says he gave ed his mercy by a quick death, we all just thought it was him being sadistic but what if it was a very early piece of foreshadowing, which we know grrm loves to do
If the Wall was built before the Others existed, was it built to defend against the Children? Giants? Both?
This might be the WORST form of immortality I’ve heard of
I like the idea of the Great Other (not the Night King) being the White Walker leader than the Night King.
And the Great Other being something like an oldest Weirwood tree inside the frozen North or an entity that come from a corrupted dying weirwood tree. Or.... The first face of Death/many faces god. Who's better command the dead if not the Death itself.
The horn bind the dragon to the owner of the horn not the blower. What if the soul of the person who blows the become imbued to the dragon it binds while being under the control of the owner of the horn?
The Odin imagery too, of being impaled into a tree
Blowing horns for trees and singing to dragons. 🥰
Makes sense. It is the SONG of ice and fire
strapping your soul to a glass candle(stone) would make sense since you think stone and wood are the oldest of magics. would make sense that the moon used to harbor souls, more stone magic.
Hi Michael. I discovered your videos last night while on mind altering substances, I HATE that creepy weirwood tree image you use in all of these videos; it may haunt my dreams. other than that....i've not been this invested in ASOIAF theory videos since I first discovered preston jacobs, alt shift x, red team review etc. Love your work.
The big issue I’m having with you being stuck on the glass candles. The others showed up before the comet and the dragons, which we are told is what has lit the glass candle we’ve been able to see and possibly others. So how is that the Others have been somewhat around during this time? we’ve been told that magic left the world when the dragons did or that’s what the maetsters say right?
Also I think you might find more nuggets and clues in rereading fire in blood when the queen tries to take silver wing over the wall.
I'm also very puzzled by the timeline. The wall was built to protect humanity (poor Free Folk) from the Others. If the Others are the people crucified to the trees to make the wall, then why did we even bother to make it? That doesn't make sense to me. Plus, it doesn't approach why we have differently timed seasons. George has confirmed its a magical explanation, so it stands to reason that the cause of our years long winters would also piss off the malevolent ice spirits. I have a lot more questions about motives and the timeline if this turns out to be the case
There are disputes over the actual timeline for the Long Night. Some maesters say it was only 4000/5000 years before the current story rather than 8000/10000. If this is true, then Valyrian Freehold would have been established.
OR
Dragons existed before Valyria (possibly Great Empire of the Dawn)
So in the last book (So far) the wall is crying a lot more then usual, which could be because nobody is dying there anymore. The watch and wildlings have stopped fighting so the trees aren't getting much blood. And those who does die gets burned. Although it does end with them getting a few gallons of pure Stark blood.
I’m liking the direction you are taking but I have a couple questions. If this process creates the Others, why do it then? Also why is Blood Raven trying to stop it? From all implications he is being controlled by the children or this hive mind however you want to interpret it. If the Undying are the shadow bound form of these people stuck in the wall, are they also manifesting as the Others?
Could the flames at the tower in Old Town be or have some part of the mechanism mayhaps, a large glass candle? Could that be somewhere the flames are always lit (for the time being)?
Give me a second, isn't the tree mounth down under Wall actually one of these sacrificed man actually? how does that work?
I'm not sure you talked about this or not. But I was thinking this might be the reason for the "end" of giants. Maybe to grow such a huge weirwood tree, as tal as the wall. They would need a massive blood sacrifice, like a giant. How many giants might have been huntend, killed, and buried along the line of the wall.
Just like Attack on Titan!
What if the horn Dragon Binder doesn't kill the person blowing it, but it takes their essence and transfers it into an already living dragon like a warg taking their second life? How many souls can fit? Do you just melt in into the consciousness in there and merge with all of them? Do you kick one out? We know the horn that the guy blew for Euron killed him. But what happened to his consciousness?
That is a super interesting thought, the idea of a sacrifices for magic is for sure a thing, and I do think there are people souls in the dragons on some level so that would be very interesting if that was part of the point of the horn
As for the idea of huge weirwoods being the deep infrastructure of the Wall... remember what the Horn of Joramunn is supposed to be able to do? Bring down the Wall and awake giants from the earth...
I wonder how exactly it is supposed to do that to the wall. I can't see it being immediate blow the horn and it collapses over the next minute.
But I can easily see it's frequency shattering the obsidian and making it useless. Without the transfer from the trees the others bodies will weaken and die out. Without them the wall will melt.
This could take months or even a couple years to make a hole significant enough to make a difference. It also might have a limited range. I'd give it no better than a mile or so range at best.
My guess also that the Horn will need to be blown either 3 or 4 times. Once is not likely to be enough.
If that's true I wonder if the pantheon of the 7 are some remembrance of these people, though admittedly 79 isn't dividable by 7.
Shot in the dark: whose face is carved into blood ravens tree. Does that matter at all if you are the one tied too the tree?
I love these theories and stuff but I unfortunately I don't think we'll ever get a conclusive answer. GRRM has had plenty of time to finish the next novel, if not the entire series. The show wasn't interested in addressing the more fantasy aspects of the story. More pointedly, if it's not sourced from an actual, published, GRRM novel...it's just expensive fanfiction.
Sucks we have to speculate about this kind of stuff because the show writers weren’t creative enough to explain.
What about uncle benzene who told bran that a person who is turning to white walker, can be undone.
I've watched through this series twice now and still can't figure out when the wall is built and who built it in your theory timeline. Was it before the pact, after the pact, did man build it with the help of the children, did the children put the others in there, did man do it themselves without help? Is the wall good or bad?? Forgive me im an idiot but at one point it seems like a good/weird thing and at other times it's a bad/weird thing.
Do you think the Night King will die at that tree?
Ok so why go through all that in the first place especially if creating the wall creates these shadows that are so dangerous? Why build it in the first place thereby creating the danger the wall is needed to keep out?
Here are my thoughts on that so far. I do agree the timeline needs to be made sense of at some point I probably need to do a video on it. Asha Greyjoy remembers a story she heard about the time the children turned the trees to warriors to fight the first men. My current best guess is something like the COTF make others to wipe man out of Westeros. Then some human learns how to do it and makes more others to fight for man against the COTF. Suddenly both sides have angry ice demons who will destroy them so they come together with the green men to make the pact and then build the wall to trap the demons they made in the north. Possibly with another creation of some more others coming with the Night's Queen and Night's King who learned how to make them while ruling from the Nightfort.
Mel gets power from burning people, hmm ... So if Dany became a Mel style sorcereress and burned down kings landing, she would be hella powerful
So, the wall maintains the others?
Maybe the children lost control of their creation.
I love your video, but if Mel is a fire wight, how can she go to the wall?
This is a good point. I wonder has she ever crossed the wall herself? The dragon could go to the wall but wouldn't cross it. I wonder if she is similar. Also wights were brought across or wighted across when they attack the lord commander in castle black so I also wonder what loophole there is there.
@@michaeltalksaboutstuff maybe involves being ‘invited’ by the NW. Idk, just spitballing
She always seemed more Fire Other than Fire wight, especially since she can make shadow clone babies.
Algormancy!
If these trees are within the wall and they provide the magic for the white walkers then why would the knight king send the undead dragon to destroy the wall that supported their life force magic.
15:00 damn
👍
Interesante como parece ser una versión de hielo de la forja de Lightbringer
Is it possible Bran only saw this scene because he's repressed and freaky?
There was a weird paragraf on arya chapter right before she got her eye sight back,where she drank something that felt like her throat was on fire....wild fire??
Hmmm I will have to take a look into that. It has been a minute since I actually did a full deep dive on Arya in Braavos
How do you make a Patchface?
start with 1 fool
add water
????
add mermaids???
let soak for 3 days.
Leave on the beach to bake in the sun.
When he starts singing you can take him off the beach he is done.
Just starting this video but I've been binging this playlist and you frequently speculate on your speculations. That said, i think you are onto something.
Unfortunately, you take some very sound theories and consistently leap from them into foil territory.
The nightfort/wall absolutely doesn't need to be the heart of the worldtree and that the people bound in the heart tree north of the wall should still be sufficient because of the interconnectedness of the weirwood net.
Also, you could benefit from writing an actual script for your videos because you ramble and repeat yourself a lot.
lol, your theories are a MILLION times better than preston jacobs. he thinks the world is apocalyptic, from the waaaaay distant future and dragon glass shoved in the white walkers is actually some sort of short circuit electrical reaction, lol.... and what makes me laugh is preston is so confident in his own BS he spews on his channel! 🤣😅😂
Preston Jacobs makes more sense than this johnny come-lately sorry hehe
BUT both misses the whole GRRM point: The White Walkers are the Military Industrial Complex-es/terror cells, that take your child/son and turn them into killers... The Children of the Forest created them of course, in GRRM's allegorical writing, but they are still killers without faces... And well families will have to feed their kids into the meat grinder....just look at the modern world, right now
LOL I dont know how you can compare this guy to Preston Jacobs??? Preston is very analytical and has theories backed up by written evidence, which he doesnt try to put every theory into one video; this guy is ALL over the place with as many theories as he can think of, at any one time
@@chasx7062 lol. well Preston is VERY lucky to have a fan like you. ;-). have a nice day.
How does Jon play into all of this?
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The Biggest Mystery is this: If Dragonglass creates the White Walkers, why is dragonglass the ONLY THING that can kill them?
💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Crazy fan theory
The guy in the show they made the night king was Bronns ancestor
Looks like him a bit😂😂😂
cotf are dumb why would you make your enemy immortal lmao
Yea this theory is like throwing an ice cube into a volcano and expecting it to not erupt.
Weirwoods I believe could be literal Children of the Forest. The amount of personification George gives them, even more than just the face, is staggering. The Children already seem half plant, so I imagine their final form could be a literal weirwood. A bit tinfoil but I always wondered how Bran can only warg into animals, but then also warg into this certain plant... it makes more sense to me that Bran is able to warg into weirwood trees, despite being plants, because they are not just plants but used to be people and still are but unable to interact, only watch. A "child of the forest" sounds a lot like a tree. Then this would make weirwood paste basically blood magic. This would also explain why weirwood never rots, because it is the flesh of Children of the Forest who live over 10,000 years. At the end of their life, I could imagine being ceremonially turned into a literal tree would be a great honor for the Children. The faces were not carved by knife but are the actual faces of the Children.
This reminds me of Annihilation and how life takes on many different forms in the Shimmer/Area X