The World of Ice & Fire makes me want Fire and Blood 2 even more

Join me for a very casual chat/review today about The World of Ice & Fire by George RR Martin (and Elio M. Garcia and Linda Antonsson). I had a really good time with the first half of this book and can't wait to chat.

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[VinnieMF]

Summerhall never happened, Dunk & Egg died of age ☺️

[thatsci-firogue]

Bookborn's refusal to read ASOIAF to becoming a diehard fan is now my favourite character arc... sorry Jaime Lannister

[NonAnonD]

The “historians sucking up to current rulers” story detail is why George is the GOAT. Storytelling not just in books but in books about books and in the metanarrative of those book-books

[Amantducafe]

When George RR Martin talks about what inspired him to write Fire & Blood as a history book he mentions that he was writing an unpublished book about a journalist that worked in the Pulitzer Building (New York World Building). A building that was said to tower over the competition "The new york sun" journal and people joked how Pulitzer could spit down the sun. This building also was considered the tallest skycrapers in the whole city upon completion and then it was demolished in 1955-56.

So when George started digging (in a time without the internet) about the details of the building, he found many sources and some even with contradictions for a simple thing as how many stories the building had. This building existed 70 years ago and he couldnt even get a proper source of such an obvious detail, now imagine that but from historians writing hundreds of years after the facts and you can understand why history ends up being a frustrating mess of contradictions, false facts and hearsay with a pinch of personal bias from the historian. He also gives an example about the inspiration for the red wedding, the black dinner of scotland and how its detail and theatric presentation was probably embelished after the facts.

[mollofamerika]

Your point about Catelyn - it also highlights women's roles in Westoros (society) in keeping alive the narratives/stories. Like, Sansa's love of songs and stories is shown as a childlike thing, but how many times does Arya think "Sansa would have known this"? Catelyn knows the histories and stories and consequences, and it makes her a savvy political consigliere

[QuinnTheGM]

As much as I absolutely need Blood & Fire, if it comes out before Winds the main series is completely doomed

[mrsduncanthetall]

I love your fresh set of eyes. Dunk Saved Rhaela and by instance Rhaegar, Jon, and that bloodline. He likely kicked a door on to get them out " how could my foot be worth a prince's life?"

[LoudNinjaFail]

There is a theory that Ser Duncan saved a pregnant Rhaella Targaryen from the wildfyre and she was so shocked she went into labor and gave birth to Prince Rhaegar on the outskirts of Summerhall as the building burned.

[mirayoquese]

"I feel like I won't have a lot to say about the second part"

*Laughs in black stone*

[NonAnonD]

Yeah as someone who didn’t hate Cat and thought she was fine, learning more about the blackfyre rebellion makes her fears over Jon WAY more reasonable - even though we know Jon’s not that kind of person.

[sarahchicago]

As someone who has watched all of your Asoiaf-related videos more than once, I am happy to take literally anything you have to say about it. Much like the books themselves, when I search for videos like yours regarding these books, nothing even comes close.

I watched so many videos about the show, reactions to the show, theories about the show and books; but your videos truly reignited my love for the books themselves, and I will take literally any video, the longer the better, that you have to give us.

[whitneyzhou]

It's commonly thought that Summerhall was a plot by King Aegon V to hatch dragons via human sacrifice because there is power in 'king's blood' (remember how Melisandre wanted to burn Mance and then his son for the same magical reasoning). Aegon's pro-commoner reforms were resisted heavily by nobles, and he was always struggling with rebellions, so he might have thought that if Targaryens had dragons again, his position would be strong enough to enact the laws he wanted to. So Aegon threw this party to celebrate Rhaella's pregnancy with Rhaegar to gather the royal family in order to burn one or more of them alive. Dunk, as just a good bloke, would have resisted the plans, and he would have tried to save everyone. It's hinted that he died saving Rhaella from the flames, who then gave birth to Rhaegar and then tada the rest is history. There is a really good Alt Shift X video on this.

[jackiec]

another interesting propaganda is the fact that Tywin sacking King's Landing and having the babies killed is never mentioned in this book

[alibomaye]

The world isn’t ready for the return of Davos and Rickon leading an army of Unicorn riding Skags into battle. Lest we forget the wolf dream where Ghost watches Shaggydog eating an enormous “goat” with a huge horn…

[BrianBell]

"Excellent video. I laughed, I cried, I killed a Stark." - King Joffrey Baratheon, First of His Name.

[ItsCSteino]

Love your shout on Baelor, one of my favorite Targaryens as well because he’s so fascinating for a lot of the reasons you said.

Like I think many of the things he does are, even if not as explicitly as like hatching dragons or greensight, overtly magical and meant to be interpreted that way, but also because he is so devout you’re forced to question whether or not HE is magical or he is actually just blessed by the Gods. George, shockingly, does a great job at writing ambiguously. Also absolutely LOVE the subversion on Targaryen Madness where arguably the most mad member of the entire family tree is the purest and holiest member of the lineage.

[thedragonfish]

Summerhall was a result of Egg kind of slowly becoming obsessed with hatching dragons. One good theory I heard was that he might’ve used wildfire in their attempted hatching. There’s a dragon dream in the last novella where Dunk and Egg are swallowed by sand, and the pyromancers are known to rig sand to drop on wildfire if anything goes wrong since water doesn’t put it out. Another theory I saw was that Egg might’ve seen Daenerys on the pyre in a dream as he’s definitely a dreamer (there’s a bigger theory that many dragon dreams are related to that event because of how magically significant it was. Even Aerys said he wanted to light KL in a “funeral pyre” and “rise reborn as a dragon”). Many Targaryens possibly thought what Dany did was what they were destined to do or otherwise misinterpreted the dream. Daenerys lost all her hair in the pyre, coming out bald much like our beloved Egg. She had also recently given birth, and her mother Rhaella (who Dany very likely resembles) was pregnant with Rhaegar at Summerhall. Some fans think Egg might’ve planned to sacrifice his own family in a blood magic ritual, seeing who he could’ve assumed to be Rhaella on a pyre that resulted in dragons, and that maybe he and Dunk died when the pyromancers tried to snuff out the flames. It’s also heavily implied that Dunk saved Rhaella, so his great act is saving Dany’s mother, therefore allowing possibly the most important character to be born at all, which is a hell of a feat for Dunk The Lunk of Fleabottom

[Flammewar]

I like this more casual format :D

The locations and lore drops at the end of the book are very relevant to the endgame theories of the main series. So, you may well want to talk about it again. :D

[slmrl]

When Tyrion and Bronn visit Wisdom Hallyne in the Alchemist's Guild, Hallyne claims that their acolytes prepare "the substance" in sealed rooms and that if the Wildfire ignites, sand drops from the ceiling to put it out, also smothering the acolyte. During the 2nd Dunk and Egg Novella, Duncan has a weird dream where he and Egg are crossing Dorne, and start drowning in quicksand.

Aegon the Unlikely believes that the Dragons will return, which Duncan thinks might not be so great. There are hints that like the Maegi says "only death pays for life" and Aegon planned to use Wildfire and Human sacrifice to birth dragons. Specifically, he intended to use the new-born Rhaegar, King's blood having potency according to Melisandre.

I think it possible Duncan defied Aegon and chose not to permit the sacrifice of Rhaegar, saving his life but causing it to burn down. This would certainly tie into Jaime's "So many vows, they make you swear and swear, Obey the King, Defend the weak. etc." spiel about Knighthood.

[enlighten]

I love GRRM's prose here describing Aerys after Duskendale.

"Captivity at Duskendale had shattered whatever sanity had remained to Aerys II Targaryen. From that day forth, the king’s madness reigned unchecked, growing worse with every passing year. The Darklyns had dared lay hands upon his person, shoving him roughly, stripping him of his royal raiment, even daring to strike him. After his release, King Aerys would no longer allow himself to be touched, even by his own servants. Uncut and unwashed, his hair grew ever longer and more tangled, whilst his fingernails lengthened and thickened into grotesque yellow talons."