ASOIAF theory the great empire of the dawn pt7 - a wall built on lies

[pyramidion]

Nathan these videos are absolutely gold 🤌 you are undoubtedly on the right path to unraveling the higher mysteries and have convinced me of many of the theories you have presented. Every time I read the books and hear the stories I try to piece together the symbolism and work out what Grrm is showing us, but you have really dug in and worked out the material to an astounding degree 👏👏👏Bravo sir!

[chelsiec]

I've had such a great time watching this series and just wanted to thank you for your hard work. Such a refreshing, bold, and well thought out theory which touches just about everything throughout the entire series.

[lucaschapel]

I've thoroughly adored this video series! Very refreshing to see someone care as much about the ancient history of ASOIAF as me, it's my favourite part of the lore!
I'd love nothing more than for all of this to be brought to the screen one day, even if it's an animated show.

My only slight differences in options / txt interpretations is that I believe what you refer to the giants to be the original Green Men, and the black-eyed Great Empire rulers were the ancestors of the Jagos Nai and the Dothraki, as far as I previously worked out. I love Nathan's theories here though.

I'm still not 100% convinced on the Andals being Westeros so far back in history, or the Starks originating from Adnal blood. I appreciate that Alyssa Arryn is probably important to the background story, but I'm not quite sold on her being the role that Nathan has described here. That being said, I'm coming around to the idea, particularly with all the times blue eyes and ginger hair are mentioned. I believe the Bloodstone Emporer, The Night's King and Azor Ahai are all the same person, from Ashai, but I'm not yet 100% convinced that Bran The Builder is also the same person. Nathan makes a superb argument for this here though.
My understanding his the Brandon of the Bloody Blade was half Greenman (thus described as a "son of Garth the Green") and first man, and the text described as him taking his blade to the COTF is actually referring to him having sex with them, as a "blood sword" as this connotation in ASOIAF.
Therefore, in my head cannon, Bran The Builder was part first man, part COTF and part Greenman. I previously believed that the Night's King aka Azor Ahai was from the Great Empire; thus had purple eyes and white hair; whereas the Night's Queen was a Stark. Their babies were sacrificed to The Others, except The Last Hero, who I believe was either a Hightower or a Dayne rescued the baby and brought it to Winterfell, where it grew up to become Bran The Breaker.
I believe there's also some "dual sword" symbology mixed in there too, akin to Elric of Melniboné. The moon meteor was transformed into Light Bringer by House Dayne and was given to The Starks as their original Ice sword, used to defeat the Night's King and to send him back into the weirwood net. After the battle, Brandon The Breaker gave the sword back to House Dayne and it became Dawn.

Other than those minor differences in interpretations, it's fantastic to see someone else has paid as much attention to detail with all the myths and history. It's honestly my favourite thing in the world! I'm about 95% aligned with Nathan, and his compelling arguments are quickly winning me over regarding the other 5%.

I'd love to see Nathan do a podcast with David Lightbringer one day, it'd be incredible to get those two minds together on the same stream.

Keep up all the great work!

[jlord]

Might I suggest a video on the following topic: The show kind of made the Starks more rustic than they where in the books. House Stark in the novels where not as wealthy as the Lannister's but they where a lot wealthier than the show.

First lets look at what they wear in the books which is nothing like there costumes in the show.

Side note Lord Rickard owned Steel armour and gold spurs.

When Arya is packing to go to Kings Landing she files where chest with silk and Sansa is fond of blue silk.

In Kings Landing Eddard looked nothing like what he did in the show, he always wore what he called his council silk. Ned also commissions a new uniform for his guards. Long cloaks of heavy grey wool decorated with white satin borders. Their cloaks are pinned with hands of beaten silver representing there Lords office as hand of the King. When he was on the Iron Throne Ned wore a white double embosomed with a grey dire wolf.

In Winterfell at the feast welcoming the King and Royal Family they all dressed grandly, including Benjen Stark. There are high born brothers in the Nights Witch from the north and south and I have never seen one dressed as well as Benjen at that feast, not even Lord Commander Mormont himself. He wears rich black velvet high black leather boots. His wide belt has a silver buckle and very heavy silver chain.

When Bran is attacked by Wildlings he is attacked for what he is wearing and he is second legitimate son and he is wearing a wolfs head broch of silver and jet. Jet is a gemstone and this is not a formal event this is just outriding in the woods.

Jon wears fine blacks and mole skin gloves which would not be cheap. At Winterfell harvest feast Bran is dressed quote, as befits a Prince and Robb wears a bronze crown and Catelyn describes her sons royal Kingly attire as quote magnificent.

Also Theon Greyjoy dressed very well when he was living with Stark in silk and Gold and Balon fears the Starks have made him soft. I doubt Greyjoy money was funding Theon's extravagant lifestyle. When he takes Winterfell he crowns himself Prince of Winterfell and orders and orders a new crown forged with black diamonds and chunks of gold. Where did he get the gold and diamonds if not from Winterfell's plundered treasury. And before Winterfell Bran and Luwin gave the Manderley's gold and build a royal fleet and mint coins.

At the Winterfell harvest feast

Now lets look at Winterfell it is much bigger and much grander than in the show this is a Castle built of granite which is an opulent martial.

Winterfell is a huge castle complex spanning several acres and encircled by two massive granite walls.

Remember the Castle is built over natural hot springs and as the wiki explains.

The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters.

Also from the wiki

Inside the walls, the complex is composed of dozens of courtyards and small open spaces. Weapons training and practice take place in those yards. The inner ward is a second, much older open space in the castle where archery practice takes place. It is located next to the broken tower. Inside Winterfell stands the inner castle, which contains the Great Keep and the Great Hall. Winterfell's towers and halls have diamond-shaped window panes.[6]

Inner Castle

The Great Keep is the innermost castle and stronghold of the castle complex. It was built over natural hot springs to keep it warm.[5] The Great Keep contains bedchambers for House Stark[5] as well as the solar of Lord Eddard Stark.[7] The building is connected to the armory by a covered bridge.[8] From a window on the covered bridge, one can see the entire yard.[9] Beneath the Great Keep are cellars with narrow windows.[10]

The Great Hall is used for receiving guests and the place where the household dines together, including the Lord of Winterfell. It is made of grey stone[11] and has wide doors made of oak and iron, [12] which opens to the castle yard, and a rear exit leads to a dimly-lit gallery.[12] Inside it can hold eight long rows of trestle tables, four to each side of the central aisle, [12] and the hall can seat five hundred people.[13] There is a raised platform for noble guests, and the walls are covered with banners.[11] The hall contains the high seat of the old Kings in the North. The seat's cold stone has been polished by the many lords who have sat upon it, and its massive arms are decorated with the carved heads of snarling direwolves.[14][15]

The small sept was built for Lady Catelyn Tully, a southron, by her husband, Lord Eddard.[16]

Courtyard and Other Buildings

The First Keep, a squat and round drum tower, is the oldest surviving part of the castle but is no longer in use. Around it lies a lichyard where the Kings of Winter would bury their loyal servants. The keep has gargoyles atop it.[17][6] Maester Kennet determined it was built after the Andals arrived.[18]

The broken tower, also known as the Burned Tower, was once the tallest watchtower in Winterfell. Over 140 years ago a lightning strike set it afire and the top third collapsed inward, but no one rebuilt it.[19][20] It stands behind the old inner ward. Crows nest atop the broken tower.[19]

The ancient godswood of Winterfell has stood untouched for ten thousand years, with three acres of old packed earth and close-together trees creating a dense canopy, which the castle was built around. At the center of the grove stands an ancient weirwood with a face carved into it, standing over a pool of black water.[16] Across the godswood from the heart tree, beneath the windows of the Guest House, an underground hot spring feeds three small pools, with a moss-covered wall looming above them. The godswood is enclosed by walls, and is accessed by a main iron gate, or smaller wooden ones.

The Glass Gardens[21] is a greenhouse heated by the hot springs, which turn it into a place of moist warmth.[5] It is used to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers.[9][22] The garden has green and yellow glass panes[10] locked in frames.[8]

The crypt of Winterfell, located near the First Keep, is where members of House Stark are buried. The underground crypts are long and narrow, with pillars moving two by two along its length. Between pillars stand the sepulchers of the Starks of Winterfell, the likenesses of the dead seated on thrones, with iron swords set before them to keep the restless spirits from wandering, and snarling direwolves at their feet. The crypts are deep under the earth, cavernous and bigger than the complex above ground. They are accessed by a twisting stone stair and a huge ironwood door that lies at a slant to the floor. The stair continues below to older levels where the most ancient Kings in the North are entombed.[23][17][10]

The Bell Tower is connected to the rookery by a bridge. The bridge is covered and runs from the fourth floor of the tower to the second floor of the rookery.[6][8]

The maester's turret is below the rookery.[24]

The Library Tower houses the library at Winterfell. A stonework staircase winds about its exterior.[8]

The Guards Hall is in line with the Bell Tower, and further back, the First Keep.[6]

Winterfell has undercrofts and cellars.[25] The castle also has dungeons, [25] including tower cells.[26]

Walls

Winterfell is a huge castle complex spanning several acres, defended by two massive walls of grey granite with a wide moat between them.[4] The outer wall is eighty feet high, while the inner is one hundred feet high.[4] There are guard turrets on the outer wall and more than thirty watch turrets on the crenelated inner walls.

The great main gates[7] have a gatehouse made of two huge crenelated bulwarks which flank the arched gate[8] and a drawbridge that opens into the market square of the winter town.[27][28]

There is a narrow tunnel inside of the inner wall stretching halfway around the castle, allowing travel from the south gate all the way to the north gate without interruption.[19]

The Hunter's Gate is close to the kennels and the kitchens. It opens directly onto open fields and the wolfswood, so people can come and go without having to cross through the winter town. It is favored by hunting parties.[4]

The East Gate[10] or east gate[29] leads to the kingsroad.[10] The Kingsroad Gate[7] may be another name for the same gate.

The Battlements Gate is a small arched postern in the inner wall. It crosses the moat between the walls but does not have a passageway through the outer wall.[7]#

When Jon Snow becomes Lord Commander of the Nights Watch he considers building a glass building but thinks it will be costly and for such fine glass he would need to look Myr and by the freedom of a few glass makers.

We know Sansa loves lemon cakes and lemon trees do not grow naturally in the north importing lemon seeds to Winterfell from the reach or Doren would not be cheap. My guess would be the seeds came form Doren as one need only sail up the narrow sea than the up the White Knife.

Finally Maester Luwin has his own turret and mentions having servents of his own. The Starks top servants have servants

Not as wealthy as the Lannister but it clear Ned and Robb after him where unlike in the show 2 of the wealthiest man in the world.

[TerpLife]

Great stuff. So much to unpack. I’m going to have to listen to all of this again!

[Tgsva]

23:40 The witchwood tree is also present in the memory, sorrow and thorn which has been an inspiration of george.

[ifwcorvids]

Night's King is probably trapped in some kinda weirwood stasis under Winterfell, and Jon is gonna get bodysnatched by him in his final crypts dream

[csanadobsitos]

I have seen a video I couldn’t find at the moment that suggested Lann the clever was a child of the forest.
Also here is an idea: all the Others are bound in the Wall except the Night King who is in the Stark crypts.
Also also if you want real world parallels go back further the children of the forest are the neanderthals who inhabited Britain when there might actually have been a landbridge, the channel Uberboyo had a great video on the origin of the Irish people which goes through the many waves of conquest they show an astonishing amount of parallels. And look into Proto-Indo European mythology, it's all there, recommend the channel Crecganford.

[irislenore]

I’m sorry if you’ve already touched upon this but I’m curious where the Reed family fits into all of this. They are theorized to be genetically closer to the CotF.

[jeffyoung]

Amazing series, was so excited for this. What is brans role in the story then? Any thoughts on a video taking this info and making projections for WoW?

[bobshoby]

Why are the white walkers attacking the wildlings per this theory?

[Taking.it.Easy.]

So... tell me if I'm wrong... GRR Martin has gone out of his way to create a subversion of the Tolkien genre. At the end of Lord of the Rings the story ends with the classic "good guys win, bad guys lose" and since George is big on subverting everything Tolkien did... does this mean that ASOIAF will end with the Andal invaders ergo the bad guys (who we thought were the good guys and first men) will win in the end and the rest of the Old Folk (true First Men/Wildings, Children of the Forest, Giants, Others, Night King?) will lose? Subverting the classic fantasy ending where the death of magic is not a natural death but a most foul murder?