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Comments help the algorithm and TREMENDOUS videos LIKE THIS ONE help the asoiaf community. Its always enjoyable to have deep dives into content so well laid out. Honestly your voice, word choice and video durations all make this channel peerless in the YT game. All the best and thanks for posting.
I think the First Dayne = Blood Stone Emperor. There is an island between Essos and Westeros named Bloodstone, so I think the Bloodstone Emperor was moving west when he found the stone, between Essos and Westeros, and then continued westward where House Dayne was eventually founded (so the guy came from the east, east = dawn, dayne, and history is full of lies so the stories about him might be slander). The Church of Starry Wisdom gives off Church of Satan vibes and is probably related to mysteries tied to House Dayne. The stone may have been black, but Dawn is glowing. If it stopped glowing, it would probably look black. I think it’s a sacrifice that makes it glow, and it might require new sacrifices to keep it « alive with light », and this would be a dark secret for House Dayne. I think when we’ll see Dawn (probably through Dorne chapters following Darkstar) it will not be glowing, because there hasn’t been a new Sword of the Morning in a while, and Darkstar will want to make a sacrifice to rekindle it.
I agree with the vast majority of this, but I have a tweak: I think the first Dayne was linked to the Amethyst Empress instead, my guess is most likely her child. In Dany's vision, the emperors have gemstone eyes from their names and GRRM's been clear that the Dayne purple eyes aren't Valyrian in origin, so I think that's the connection. I also wonder if the glow isn't kept alive by the souls of the previous Swords of the Morning entering the sword after they die, so that the break of Dawn also sets them free
I always love seeing a new video from you, but I have to say this one absolutely FLOORED me! I’ve been diving deep into his works and other people’s analysis for so long that it’s rare to see something new that puts so many of the pieces together! Thank you for an exceptional video and theory!
Extremely well done as always Amanda. All your content is top notch and this theory is potentially quite groundbreaking. I genuinely never thought of Weirwood or SotE trees in this process. Blood sacrifice absolutely , dragon-fire potentially (at least with creating the initial VS rather than reforging , as the GEotD and Valyria both seemingly had dragons) , perhaps even dragon-glass in the mix. But hadn't really thought of either magical trees involved and you've made an excellent case here. Especially with the potential soul absorbing / soul drinking. Really well done comprehensive theory with a lot of clues and evidence to back it up. The forging semantics are tricky but perhaps its as simple as some sort of elixir involving either magical tree. Weirwood elixir, long enough ago perhaps a non-corrupted version of Weriwood paste or with the traditionally darker VS blades likely use Shade of the Evening in the forging process. I personally always thought of Dawn as the proto / non-corrupted OG dragon-steel and the dark VS was the version started by the Bloodstone Emperor which was adopted and potentially taken to even more twisted levels via generations of dark experimentations by the Valyrians. And perhaps it is still the case just in a different way that i thought. In your theory , Dawn used a non-corrupted magical tree , an ancient Weirwood. While the Bloodstone Emperor and the Valyrians used the corrupted magical version of the same tree / the SotE trees in Essos. Plus with the BSE & the Valyrians seemingly the added blood sacrifice(s) among other dark elements that they seemed to run with. Perhaps the more pure & benign Dawn / its forging is what sets the blade apart from any other VS. Really well done here Amanda. Keep up the great work.
There is a third option...But Dawn is pretty much one of a kind at present day and if there were these gorgeous magical glowy swords during the time of the great empire surely more would have survived but dawn is the only one of its kind we are aware of which leads me to believe that this sword is meant to be more of an anomaly. Obviously we know what happened broadly to cause the blight of Asshai and the poisoning of the trees, but we know nothing about what made the trees in Westeros to become the way they are now. Because the original state for both sets of trees was likely more green and natural. So the trees went from green to black in essos but green to white in Westeros... but there is a third option which I may delve into one of these days.. Which may explain these.... "...The Dornishman's wife was as fair as the sun and her kisses were warmer than spring. But the Dornishman's blade was made of black steel and its kiss was a terrible thing. The Dornishman's wife would sing as she bathed (water woman, Nissa Nissa, bathing jonquil), in a voice that was sweet as a peach, But the Dornishman's blade had a song of its own, and a bite sharp and cold as a leech As he lay on the ground with the darkness around, and the taste of his blood on his tongue, His brothers knelt by him and prayed him a prayer, and he smiled and he laughed and he sung, "Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done, the Dornishman's taken my life, But what does it matter, for all men must die, and I've tasted the Dornishman's wife!..." the black gate being called the black gate, or house blackwood bieng called house blackwood there are other things too, like the construction of Moat Cailin with all the poisoning language surrounding it Or the Oily black stone of the Seastone Chair.
@@TheDisputedLands I def think you are onto something and you've provided a lot of compelling evidence. Def look forward to you continuing to explore this. You very well may have uncovered something quite ground breaking here. You have backed it up really well. And really interesting in your reply as well. Really interesting stuff and seems quite a recurring motif of these black blade wielding men sacrificing their wives. I agree that Dawn seems like a one-off. Perhaps the tech was immediately corrupted by the BSE or just the fact that it was forged in Westeros using a white Weirwood (as you suggested) yielded the lighter color blade. I have to re-read Dany's visions but the Gemstone Emperors she seems to see , seem to all have flaming swords if memory serves. But being they were on fire probably can't make out the blade colors but said to be of "pale fire". Certainly not conclusive but could suggest pale blades rather than dark. But perhaps those swords were reserved for the Emperors and lost or the BSE destroyed them , many possibilities. Or if Dawn is a one-off maybe the tech was near immediately corrupted by the BSE. Brilliant theory as usual.
@@TheDisputedLands There's also a mention of pale swords in the Daenerys vision: "Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire."
....til the break of dawn....what if those are the house words!? Your analysis of the books adds another complex layer to grrms amazing storytelling! Hell yeah!
Great video as always!!! Essay incoming, I am sorry😂 I Remember when I was reading the books for the first time, the Marina-Namor story was the first one to come to mind. The sword could trap dead souls and was feeding off of them and it constantly craved new blood to add to its power. Its power relies on the curse, it thrives on the negative tendencies of flawed and imperfect wielders to maximize its power. Something that only the unworthy can utilize as its edge dulls when wielded by a chivalrous soul. Thus Percy gave up on the sword and but it again on the rock in his castle. Before giving up the sword Dane had removed the curse by bathing it in a magic fire, but the curse returned, when Namor used it to kill his wife Marrina. Valyrian steel maintaining its power, bc the blood strengthen it, makes a lot of sense because of the inspirations, but also because we don't really now any type of magic, that doesn't have a price, fire magic and not. And it would make a great parallel for Dawn to be "cursed" of sorts. Darkstar could be symbolic of that as well, he is the Dayne that looks pretty on the outside, but he is not a good guy. Plus, he has one black strand in his silver hair, which could be symbolic of how the pretty, white, and alive with light Dawn has a curse in its core. And it would make sense tbh, there must be a reason why they only let worthy people wield it, bc if it is used when not necessary, there could be consequences, magic has a price, and using a magical sword for petty reasons is not very noble, we saw it in the story of Galladon of the Morne too. He also had a similarly magical sword but he only used it three times, when he truly needed to. I have one last thing to say: if Dawn turns black bc someone used it unethically you will hear my screams, no matter how far you’ll be. That being said the valyrian steel recipe was always had something that really makes me for going the most complicated route. The amount of stuff they were making. It cannot need a difficult to find or something that can finished any moment material to make, bc they were making a crazy amount of steel, they were making many artifacts and even sell it to houses like the Mormonts. I think GRRM has gone on a much simpler way that we do😂 I think that it might was just the iron they were using tbh. Moqqorro describes the fourteen flames as the gods fires and we know that the orw Valyrian used came from the fourteen flames and were very very serious about their volcano mines. *"Fourteen or fourteen thousand. What man dares count them? It is not wise for mortals to look too deeply at those fires, my friend. Those are the fires of god's own wrath, and no human flame can match them. We are small creatures, men."* If the volcanoes produce magical obsidian, why not magical iron too? All obsidian is volcanic in origin, so dragonglass has magical properties, but the amount of iron that is directly formed from volcanic activity is very small compared to the total amount of iron, so not all iron is volcanic and therefore magical, but if it comes from a volcanic source, then like obsidian it could be, Idk. Add blood magic and you can make a bomb ass alloy, they used the magical obsidian for glass candles, why not use the magical iron for magical steel? End of essay😂 Have a great weekend!
Hey Company of the Cat! As far as dawn having a curse i think its quite possible, I think GRRM alludes to the ebony blade with Valyrian steel where white phrases like the blade "thirsting" i think it was either Daemon or Corbray who made those comments. Its very reminiscent of the ebony blade. Knowing the trees experienced changes originally green then westeros became red and essos blue I've been looking at it very closely. Im wondering if the westeros trees were first turned black. Like the black stone had originally poisoned ALL the trees of the planet. This might explain why the black gate is called the black gate, or why house blackwood is called "blackwood", and also explain their legend of their tree being "poisoned". This might also explain Moat Cailin which has a lot of poisoning language surrounding its site and also has construction similar to yeen and stones with an oily sheen. This might also explain the presence of the oily black stone chair of house greyjoy. I think the green, blue and red forks of the trident might be representing these changes from a symbolic standpoint. Meaning that the trees experienced two changes and if the swords are tied to the trees, I'm wondering if NN sacrifice caused the white transformation and if the original dawn blade was "ebony" its just something im looking at right now.
@@Oximb Steel is an alloy (iron + carbon), steel ore is not a thing, the iron though was mined from their fourteen flames, it is stated in the world book. And the magic involved is completely unknown, we don't know what and how. Valyrian Steel is the magic equivalent to Damascus steel and one of the reasons to this day is so difficult to recreate Damascus steel is the fact that we are missing the key ore sources, so I wouldn't put past GRRM to have something like that considering that the main weapon against the Others is in fact a volcanic glass. The Ghiscari whom they conquered were the first to be thus enslaved, but not the last. *The burning mountains of the Fourteen Flames were rich with ore, and the Valyrians hungered for it: copper and tin for the bronze of their weapons and monuments; later iron for the steel of their legendary blades;* and always gold and silver to pay for it all. All their ore was from the fourteen flames and in general, the volcanoes look like their power source, or at the very least the magic was linked to the volcanoes. Even Moqorro thinks of them as the "God's fires" and Valyrians decided to go to another volcanic place to build an outpost: Dragonstone.
@@CompanyOfTheCat GURRM said it's not the metal that was used that made valyrian steel special but forging techniques + magic (SSM 2377 & 1153). The legend about the creation of a special metal rooted in fire and blood magic, the dragonsteel, speaks of a hero who forges for months and finishes with blood magic, not a hero who goes deep into a mine to find a special ore.
@@Oximb here you talk about Lightbringer for what I understand and even though, Lightbringer and Dawn have similarities with VS we don't really have any indication that it is the same exact way of forging or similar. So having a gero going to mine is a completly different story, if Dawn is Lightbringer, then it was forged by metal from a star (which pretty rare and scepicial source btw), VS was not. The only things George has said about VS, and not Lightbringer or Dawn, is that they were using steel and spells (no idea what spells, apart from maybe dragonfire) and in the world book the iron ore is explicitly stated was from the fourteen flames. Valyrian steel was produced in crazy amounts, it wasn't only for swords and, but for jewellery and other things as well, it's is obvious that even if they took inspiration from dawn and sacrifice was involved (of course it was blood magic was used in valyria for everything) they reason and the sacrifice wasn't the same since using slaves is not the same as the willing nissa nissa we get in many stories. We don't know what magic they used and where or how this magic was incorporated, it is a very vague answer the iron so they can make still and magic, this can be anything, we have very limited info what spells they could do. In either of both cases, we only know that they used magic. The only magical steel apart from VS we have seen is Dawn and is made by a very unusual source, a source that was most likely magical, since in Yi-Ti they say Bloodstone was worshipping a fallen celestial body. And VS also had magic involved and steel made by the iron from the volcanoes, we cannot say 100% that it doesn't play a role or doesn't matter, bc we don't know much for it's forging and what the magic part involves.
Another clear inspiration with Lightbringer and Dawn , are also Moorcock's Elric saga swords Stormbringer and the Mournblade. We know Moorcock's work and the Elric character in particular are huge inspirations for GRRM , that GRRM borrows from. The sword names quite telling Stormbringer / Lightbringer , Mournblade / Dawn which is the Sword of the Morning / the Sword of the Morning wields Dawn. Stormbringer and Mournblade are both literally and figuratively dark magical blades that drink souls. Dawn has a different appearance and likely different forging / process but still many similar properties. Obviously not like for like and been a while since i've read any Moorcock and his dark twin swords are much more powerful than GRRM's versions. GRRM doesn't do like for like anyway , he has influences and inspiration and puts his own spin on them. Dawn is more different than lets say Azor Ahai's (likely BSE) Lightbringer , compared to the Moorcock's twin Stormbringer and Mournblade swords. But still some clear influence , inspiration and overlap imo.
Hey Andrew! You are very correct that he had drawn from Stormbringer, I wanted to do a video where I looked at all the inspirations and did a deeper dive but I started with 47 pages of notes and wittled down into an 11 page script. I wanted to discuss excaliber (there is a reason it is "Arthur" Dayne) and the original cursed sword in the stone of Ser Balin that would ultimately set him on a path to kill his own brother possibly just as important thematically as stormbringer. Or the sword in the tree of sigurd which follows the sword in the stone theme. I could have also delved into the parallels of Elden ring where we have a goddess trapped within a tree that must be freed but the issue becomes what to include to bring the concept home without overloading, and from what Ive seen Dawn is not cursed but purified. Valyrian steel however is a closer approximation to a cursed blade. But I wouldnt be able to discuss that in a video without bringing up the Black gate, House Blackwood, the Seastone chair, Moat Cailin and the song The Dornishman's wife and speaking on their connections for another 30 minutes.
@@TheDisputedLands sounds like you have enough for a whole series on this , which many of us would welcome. You've already backed up your theory and findings really well. But further installments on this would be incredible as its such a fascinating topic. And i agree , the Dawn parallel could have been be a bit of a departure as i agree its light instead of dark and seemingly pure instead of cursed. But still seems Dawn drawing from the same Moorcock inspiration and dynamic. But instead of twin blades more like polar opposite sibling swords.
@@AndrewK23777 exactly. Now read the lyrics to the dornishman's wife. And think about why the black gate is called the black gate or why house blackwood is called house blackwood. Or why he needed nissa nissa specifically when all you need is a sacrifice for valyrian steel. The dornishman's wife was nissa nissa, see the bathing language? That is your bathing jonquil right there. The dornishman's blade should be dawn no? But it's black
@@TheDisputedLands agreed , never noticed how many inverse clues / parallels there , which you pointed out. The most famous and seemingly most important Dornish blade / Dawn is WHITE , yet the lyrics talk about the Dornish blade as BLACK. The BLACK gate is very famously a huge WHITE seemingly animate / animated Weirwood face. House Blackwood most associated with their ancient huge WHITE Weirwood , now dead / poisoned. Your content is always absolutely top notch. But you are blowing my mind to another level left and right today , the content and the replies. Keep up the great work.
I’ve always wondered about the difference between the weirwoods and the shade of the evening trees! The way you’re able to piece together the puzzle that GRRM has laid out for us is fantastic. So concise
I genuinely believe that you are the greatest of asoiaf youtubers, and I have watched them all. Beautiful, amazing video, and the ideas delivered in a seamless stream of water.
I love how you pick up on so much clever word play that I have never heard anyone else comment on before. For instance in this video, picking up on how gifts can also be what you call someone’s talents. And how that gives a totally new slant to the phrase, “all of Euron’s gifts are poison.” Or similarly how Dark Star is referred to as poison. It is always a joy to learn what new ideas you have put together. Especially when it feels like we should have exhausted all these clues already, with the number of people and the amount of time spent pouring over all of Martin’s text.
First time seeing a video of yours though I have seen you on IDG’s live content. I have to say, I was stunned with how good this video was in all aspects. Will definitely have to look back through your work. Keep up the phenomenal work!
Didnt we had a Black Knight figure, Smiling Knight that wanted Dawn from Arthur? I wonder if Smiling Knight and his gang had any ties to Blackfyres 🤔 did some Targaryens realised they need Dawn to be the Prince that was Promised?
I believe the Smiling Knight was meant as a parallel to the Night's King, as it was said he knew no fear. I think the battle between the two is meant to be instructive of the ancient battle that occurred. What Targaryens know, they know from prophecy and dreams and the religion of Rhllor so its possible they were as in the Dark as anybody else. I also find it interesting that the sword is literally as far away from the North as possible.
I’m dying to know WHO Mott used as the sacrifice to reforge Ice, though probably just “a peasant”. I’m obsessed with the shade trees and oily black stone. Thank you for your videos 😌👌
Ohhhh I love this! Every time you post a new video I know I can expect fascinating stuff that makes me see things in a new way, and this is no exception. The break of Dawn... damn
Thank you CFD for another cool video. You’re always unraveling these mysteries layer by layer and my mind is blown 🤯 at the end of every video. I can only imagine the work you put into these videos. 🙏🐦⬛👑⚔️
The break of dawn!! This was an awesome video, I really gotta hand it to you, you put out some of the absolute best content on here theorizing stuff with tons of quotes and cross referencing of old interviews and stuff, I mean just wow. Bravo!❤
Amazing work! I’ve always been fascinated theorizing about the connections between the Weirwoods and the Shade of the Evening tree, I love hearing peoples ideas/theories.
Another amazing video Amanda! I was shocked when you brought up the Black Knight as this character has come up in my research as well I started looking into him because of an interesting line in TWOIAF where we hear the Nights Watch referred to as “the Black Knights of the Wall” And after discovering this same potential influence it appeared to me the Black Knight should be a long night hero/Azor ahai character if he’s weilding the Ebony Blade carved from a meteor Which makes sense as the long night hero Azor Ahai would have been a member of and likely lead the “Black Knights” of the Nights Watch Now I’ve theorised that Azor Ahai was turned to stone with greyscale as a means of protection and preservation, and is stored beneath Winterfell awaiting resurrection Something that runs parallel to your Drowned Fool/Greyscale Amour Ironborn videos (which are truly amazing pieces of work btw) So it really shocked me to learn that the Black Knight of Marvel comics, this character George has drawn on for Azor Ahai, was turned to stone in one of his story lines, becoming a living statue who was then stored underground before he came back to life Thought that might interest you with all your research into the stone transformation ideas in ASOIAF as well Once again thanks for all the great content Amanda!
You know I found the turning to stone aspect incredibly fascinating as well. I think you are making a good choice looking into that further. Don't make my mistake trying to get your hands on the original comics. If you want to look at the comic issues you can purchase specific ones on the marvel.com or app and download them.
Amanda already suggested in her newest videos that azor ahai is going to be reborn at the place of his defeat, most probably just as the storm king was reanimated at the green angel tower. But in that story he used a vessel as a new body for his spirit, and for our story Amanda suggested that the best candidate has been foreshadowed to be Euron. The „waking of dragons out of stone” can be a suggestion that in someway Bloodstone Emperor is still buried underneath the Hightower on battle isle, maybe the stoneskining of his body was indeed a way to preserve his corpse and soul. But there are many unanswered questions left. If he was really defeated why they didn’t destroy his body. Why would his enemies preserve it?
The House of Black and White's door is made of wood from a Weirwood tree. That means the other half is probably made from wood of a Shade of the Evening tree. If the trees are supposed to be opposites, I wonder what the significance of the faceless men combining the two means.
I always direct house of black and white discussion to this video by maester merry. Really great work was done showing the influence of the old gods in the house of black and white. ruclips.net/video/ERd-nQwIj78/видео.htmlsi=YB2sRC2xYvSKqCtQ
"Gift just happens to be the German word for “poison”! And more incredibly, both the English and German meanings stem from the exact same Proto-Germanic root - giftiz! Our friend and language guru Brian Loo Soon Hua explains all: The word giftiz originally meant “something given” in Proto-Germanic and indeed, presents and poison are both given to somebody else.. "In German, the word Gift has completely lost its ancient meaning and now only has the “poison” connotation - except for the word Mitgift - meaning “dowry” or “bridal presents”. Since it is unlikely that poison would be part of a bride’s wedding presents, this is indeed a survival of a much broader definition of the original word. The Dutch, being more sensible in this regard, have separated both meanings and come up with two slightly different spellings - gift for “present” and gif for poison. "Influenced by the German Gift, Scandinavian languages also employ gift with the notion of “poison”. But interestingly enough, the Scandinavian gift could also mean “married”, a term deriving from the old custom of giving the bride away!"
I think on addition to the salient points and parallels you described there is word play with weird and ware. The heart trees are warewood Westwood trees because both the Shade of the Evening and the Westwood Trees have been changed. Before the hammer of the waters fell the lands were connected and are probably the same trees, both changed because the Singers of the Song of Earth used magic to create the Others to fight the living. Despite Dorne being hot sand now the weather pattern had to have been different before the the hammer fell. So I submit that corruption happened twice to change the trees via CoTF magic and the horrible act of killing a type of Singer in Nissan Nissa. Mesande is described like a Singer human Hybrid from Naath. If an island had the Singer type people surely Essos did as well. Also the fancy blacksmith where Ned met Gender used Weirwood and a blackwood. Sure black and white are classic to use to contrast. However with the House of the many faced God and G entry's master having black and white doors I think GRRM is hitting us on the head that these things look different but are the same. He's a an old hippie. He hates injustice so he's saying these black and white trees are the same. That doesn't take away from Weirwood, WEIR being a fish trap, representing where greenseers go after death. And white is a mourning color in many parts of the world, just like black is a mourning color in the West. It's just a thought. I could be totally wrong but I feel confident the message from GRRM is there for all to see. He confirmed the trees are like mushrooms. Mushrooms are connected by their "roots". So he's telling us there is one race of these trees no matter their color! An o!d hippie would say there is one race of human, homo sapiens sapiens.
@@trillionbones89 yes, definitely check out my theory video about the shade of the evening tree and the black oily stone. I think you will enjoy it!! Thanks for watching!
What a great way to start a Saturday morning! 😁 As usual, I have a few questions: 1. How do you think Weirwood/Shade of the Evening trees are used for forging steel precisely? Would you suggest that their wood was used to sustain the ember in which the swords are forged, do you think that their sap was used to temper/infuse the blades or do you suggest something entirely different? 2. One of the cornerstones of the GEotD theory is Dany's "wake the dragon" dream in which the spirits/images of her supposed ancestors/GEotD rulers carry "swords of pale fire", which sounds more like Dawn than like Valyrian steel. Would you suggest that all Dragonsteel blades looked like Dawn before the Long Night and the corruption of the Shade of the Evening trees, and after that the pale variant could only be forged in Westeros? But then, wouldn't it be possible that Dawn/the original Lightbringer was just one of the surviving blades of the GEotD? I like your take on the CotF's involvement in forging Dragonsteel. Alabastur argues that the CotF created the Valyrians as their "song of fire" to balance the creation of the Others/"song of ice", and while this dichotomy of ice and fire in relation to the CotF makes sense, I believe (also thanks to you) that the Valyrians are just an offshoot of the GEotD and existed before the long night. The involvement of the CotF and the Weirwoods in the creation of Dragonsteel would therefore also count as the CotF's "song of fire". Anyway, I find the idea of the literal breaking of Dawn very compelling given that George likes deconstructing fantasy tropes. A magical sword that is literally used to slay the Others would be a cliché and hence predictable and boring. There has to be a twist.
2. That is a great observation. I've really got to think about that one, and need to stew on it. I believe the original shade trees were likely originally green just as the weirwoods were once green. Thank you for giving me something to chew on!
I was thinking about that, too, and here's my current idea: What if the corruption of the Shade of the Evening trees by a cosmic impact (which might be same one that caused the Long Night according to LML) was what drove the GEotD to Westeros in the first place or at least part if the reason? They couldn't or wouldn't use SotE wood anymore to reproduce their former smithing techniques and had to use Weirwood instead. If this is the case, I would guess that the originigal Weirwoods experienced only one transformation which was different in Westeros and Essos: In the East, they were corrupted by the cosmic fallout and in the West they were altered by the creation of the others, which might have rendered them immune to the SotE transformation.
Ive long been a believer of the Daynes following the old gods, but with the extra tree symbolism with the likely ashara inspiration im even more convinced.
Great stuff. I've always thought that the difference between Dawn (which I think is probably lightbringer, or was at least created in the same way) and Valyrian steel was the nature of the sacrifice used to create it, with obsidian being key ingredients in both. Willing sacrifice? Blade turns black. Unwilling sacrifice (Nissa Nissa)? Blade turns milk-glass. But....the involvement of the two varieties of magical trees makes a whole lot of sense...and you almost have to be right about the "breaking" of dawn. So..perhaps the current Dawn was simply made in the same way? Or reforged? Maybe it's no longer glowing because its power was spent? Your idea of trapping souls in things and it having something to do with the type of magical tree used....what if rather than literal ingredients, it was instead which type of tree a ritual was performed in front of? Or, taking the idea even further....maybe the Others are the result of the souls in Weirwood trees being put into human bodies...and the dragon-line that eventually resulted in the Valyrians was the result of the souls inside the corrupt Shade trees being put into humans bodies? Every time we hear of a Targaryen baby born deformed with dragon features, the word corruption is mentioned....
Hey thanks for watching! Those are some great ideas for sure. Im pretty sure the wood is either used as the carbon added during smelting or the wood used for the fire that forges it.
That was brilliant! I have to admit I'd put off watching this one. I was a bit worried it might be a complete correction of a youtube video I'd made on a similar subject. Now I'm just happy I was in the same ballpark as someone who's studied the books at much greater length. I'm still kicking myself I didn't make the Weirwood-Dawn connection though. And that Namor story blew my mind. GRRM wasn't kidding when he said Shakespeare and Stan Lee were his biggest influences.
Just watched your video and Bravo! One thing you might find interesting is you mentioned that the ash from the wood chips might have been incorporated and in the Telltale game House Forrester has a very special ancient Greatsword named "Ash" love it!!!
@@TheDisputedLands Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it. I view a lot of ASOIAF content online, but yours feels closer to the mark than just about anyone else's. This Telltale game is another thing I wish I'd known about. Clearly I need to spend more time reading comics and playing video games.
@@driftsolstice3685 lol, that is probably the first time I've heard someone say they need to spend more time doing those things and im here for it! Thank you for sharing!
This might tie in to an idea I have. I thought part of the reason why a wielder of Dawn needs “to be worthy” in the first place is bc the wielder’s soul **goes** into the sword if they die in battle. My thinking was that the reason the Daynes were so grateful for Ned returning the sword, despite killing Arthur Dayne and leaving his body in the desert, was bc his soul went into Dawn when he died fighting to defend the Tower of Joy. A part of being a wielder might actually require that Arthur *couldn’t* just let Ned walk in, especially if Arthur swore an oath not to let any of Robert’s allies through. Regardless, the reason for the Dayne’s gratitude wasn’t just bc Ned returned their sword, he returned their son. Nyssa Nyssa might be just one of *many* souls in that sword, though as you pointed out, freeing her at the right time might be a requirement towards restoring balance to the powers of Fire and Ice.
Valyrian steel is based off Damascus steel. Both metals display a flowing water pattern, both were reputed to result in exceptional quality blades at the time, and like Valyrian steel, the true method for crafting Damascus steel has been lost, meaning that true Damascus steel weapons can no longer be crafted. Notably, even modern interpretations of Damascus steel are expensive, and a sword made using such material can easily cost twice that of a handmade sword from traditional or high-carbon steel.
I never REALLY thought about it until now, though the thought of sacrafice crossed my mind. But imma guess, knowing GRRM, kniowing Valyrians, that to make something nice and shiny and powerful... probably gotta burn some kids alive. Just a guess. Not just sacrifice someone, sacrifice children. Not just murder them. but...
When two Valyrian steel blades, Blackfyre and Lady Corbrey, clashed the sound was half a song and half a scream. This scream may apply well to your theory,
EVERY ELDEN RING PLAYER NEEDS TO WATCH THIS, if this "star stone" crashing into a messianic ritual covenant and trapping souls in blades isn't tied to Godwyn, Ranni and The Night of the Shattering, then i don't what else to tell you, fellow gaymer... maybe all i can do is ask, did you hear Crowfood's daughter mention a sword named THORN??? 😹 "the hero to one side is the villain to the (m)Other" 💜 i am binging through your linkqueue vids and swooning, Miss Lands, they are bringing and serving and dishing finest of fine delicacy threads 🥰 #justiceformarika
There is often a carbon added during the forging process which would be my guess. Its like an ash added to the steel. But it could definitely be something more fantastical than pragmatic.
There is carbon from wood and iron in blood. A tree that drinks blood could turn black from blood or the trace iron within blood. Combine that with magic space stone (also probably iron) and dragonfire you got supersteel
That is funny you mention Namor. Black swords from meteorites come from Tolkien and maybe might have come from older myth and the black sword Namor uses likely ripped from Eldric stories by Moorcock. Think likely more the influences and certainly influenced Namor. So it intrigues me but I feel like you making it to one for one with Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
Great video, and once again I'm stunned by attention to detail and how you fit all the puzzle pieces. But, I'm confused, how is a weirwood or shade of the evening tree used in the forging of Dawn or Lightbringer? Also, I loved your idea that this time, we'll probably have to free Nysa Nysa's soul. But, again, who?
Elements can be added during the forging of weapons as a carbon but I'm not sure if grrm is going the pragmatic approach of if there is a more fantastical way it was added. Also nissa nissa was azor ahai's wife who was sacrificed in its forging she is likely the same woman as the amethyst empress. If you are interested in learning more, I discuss her in my ironbirn video on the grey king's mermaid wife and also in my mazemaker video.
A lot of the mycologists (people that study fungi) kind of look down on people that use psilocybin mushrooms and refer to it as a poison/toxin. And a lot of people who do consume them hate the flavor and try to disguise it or hide it in chocolate. In my personal experience I don't mind the flavor and I've had nothing but good trips. But that's not everyone's experience for sure.
A couple of thoughts: I'm curious to see how the most recent easter egg of Valyrian lore to have been released (Shrubbery, Being a History on the Flora of the Valyrian Freehold by Maester Mikkellion - written by Ti Mikkel and translated into High Valyrian by David J. Peterson for House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 6) possibly plays in to any of this, specifically the description of the White Tree of Flames. The other thing to consider: If House Lannister blew a ton of gold in order to acquire Brightroar, what did House Stark and House Mormont do to acquire their Valyrian steel blades? My guess is that they were traded for weirwood lumber, but I'm not sure if the trees from which the lumber was harvested were deliberately felled or if they were uprooted by natural causes.
Rhe Shrubbery is another evidence from the tv series that the Children of the Forest are the ones who taught their arts and how to tame the dragons to the Valyrian, they taught them the spells to make the dragonsteel.
thank you amanda for another interesting theory!! I wonder if there is a difference between sacrifice and blood magic, as blood magic in reference to valyrian origins seems to have a uniquely sinister conotation, perhaps going farther and crossing some kind of line. these inverted parallels are all over the place and its so fascinating!! corruption through iron makes me think of blood (as it is the main component) and ergo blood magic. blood corruption, blood stone emperor, blood magic. if he copied the children of the forest but added blood magic as an escalation, with the empire of the dawn likely the ancestors of the valyrians, that would become what we know as valyrian blood magic. a perversion of what the children of the forest practice. one problem remains tho: all the perversions are *black* while dawn is *white.* if we factor in that GRRM loves unreliable history and in history retelling details often get shuffled around, we should rethink what we know. there are huge parallels between azor ahai and the blood stone emperor. BSE kills his sister, AA kills nissa nissa. maybe they are the *same story.* a corrupted sword should be black, like valyrian steel. so what if the sword BSE created was *not* dawn, but an attempt to *imitate* dawn and instead of pure light it is pitch black. dawn, created with COTF magic was smuggled out by the danes to protect it. overtime those two swords became the same, attributed to a heroic figure instead of a tyrant who magically poisoned his kingdom. since thats the kind of stories humans love to tell. and the corrupted sword, along with the history of magically radioactive asshai, just ceased to be told and became forgotten. and the more happy parts filled the blanks. the ageold habit of time to overwrite actual history. to come back to the sacrifice vs blood magic thought, sacrifice from the COTF has a "giving back to nature" kind of vibe, blood magic of suffering and pain. giving and community vs taking and selfishness. idk they just seem *different* like as if the BSE trying to imitate it made a fundamental misunderstanding, hence the different outcomes. or maybe its a respect for balance, the taking taking taking greedily without consequences tipping the scale into horrific consequences. its 3am so this is probably incoherent word vomit, might go over it later and structure my thoughts better
This is fucking awesome, I'm into "Lucifer means light ringer" and Quinn's ideas, though this kinda fill in some gaps aaaaand kicks in a few completely different takes.. Nice work faraway sister, Solo-sweden 1+ for martin knowing about namor, nor the black Knight, I am a marvel geek since 30 years back (I'm old as fuck, 45 is the new 80) and I had no clue martin liked namor, it's one of my favorite character as well, be proud of you work sister, this is beyond anything I have seen so far, and i watch David light ringer when he is high as a kite:)
Great video! It made me also think of the swords of the gemstone eyed people of Dany's dream. They were like the emperors of the Great empire, and had white swords like Dawn. Since the Dane's probably also came from the empire, being the only other purple eyed house and having a migration in their story of Dawn, that sort of ties it together in a way. They knew of this technology and after the corruption of the shade of the evening trees they made Dawn in Westeros. There is a theory that the weirwoods as we see them today are also a corruption from a white tree with green leaves, and maybe those from the island if faces are like that. It makes me think if shade trees also have some left uncorrupted. At one point i thought maybe the ironwoods from Westeros were the uncorrupted shade trees. I don't think it's ever mentioned what sort of leaves they have, so it's probably safe to assume they're green, which would make an interesting parallel. If white wood green leaves is ok and white wood red lives not ok, and we know black wood blue leaves is not ok, then black wood green leaves would be ok?
You know how dragonbone is black because of high iron content? That also gives additional support to the idea that Shade of the Evening is poisoned by Iron. GRRM was initially not going to have dragons in his story. I am beginning to think that after Azor Ahai used Lightbringer in the last Long Night, the bad world would use this cruel method more than it should to produce powerful technology. As you have said in other videos, and perhaps other youtubers, dragons were genetically engineered. If weirwood/SoTE wood can store souls, it makes sense that this is how the dragonlords sent their progeny's (stillbirths etc) souls into the dragons. In fact, if Others are the opposite of Dragons, then maybe that's how Others absorb souls too, because of some weirwood being present in their composition? I feel like these are nascent ideas that could perhaps be developed if looked into.
Wonderful video, MiLady with the Enchanting Voice ❤ So where was the Dawn sword during the time that was covered in GoT? Saw a few Valyrian blades, but don’t remember seeing it.
ruclips.net/video/GQXt820BJ8w/видео.htmlsi=NipHELho_kGQxDF3 at 29 seconds this is supposed to be dawn, but it is the show version and looks nothing like it is described in the books
An amazing video, as always. So full of ideas! Do we know if Shade trees grow in the great Forest of Qohor? Or ironwood? The location of the city of Qohor , and its association with that deep, primeval forest might be signigicant, and add to your theory about the creation and reworking of VS . Timber is a crucial part of the economy of the Free City. There is also the story about the lemurs native to the forest being "little valyrians", containing the trapped spirits of dragonlords. LmL has discussed this in relation to his theory about the nature of the dragonbond, but it could also relate to the Qohorik reforging practice, and therefore your ideas around the spirits of human sacrifices becoming trapped within the blades.. Thankyou for the incredible content! In my opinion you and Company of the Cat are the best asoiaf channels. I always have to pause your videos at various points to absorb the details and implications of your theories! I always feel inspired to think more imaginatively about GRRM's world.
@TheDisputedLands Remembering what you've said about the Silver Sea, the two forests might have been joined millennia ago, along the northern shore of the sea.. The ifequevron sound as if they were already a remnant of a largely vanished race at the time the Ibbenese/hairy men wiped the last of them out..
Another banger of a video. Any chance of you and David LB doing a video or stream together? I would love to hear a long form discussion on the contents of this video. Or any other video for that matter.
Hey thanks for the suggestion, we don't have anything planned currently and I don't have a decent livestream setup but its something I'm working on. I'd like to eventually do livestreams on my channel where I build GOT DnD characters and answer book questions at some point.
Great video Amanda! Can’t wait to see how you’ll continue your series about everything related to the Long Night that happened in the past and the one that is going to come in the future. An Americanthinks also suggested in his asoiaf theory of everything that the supernatural power that the weir woods source should have given to Dawn, might be some element of giving telepathic powers to its wielders against its foes. What’s your opinion on this topic considering also considering the fact that George himself said he would choose Dawn instead of any Valyrian sword and also the fact Barristan would have allegedly defeated Arthur if he hadn’t dawn in his hands. Also what do you think was the fate of dawn during the long night do you think it was saved from the Bloodstone emperor and brought to Westeros, or that he himself brought it here, or that he personally created it here, maybe not killing nissa nissa/amethist in Asshai. And how it was used during this dark hour? Do you think it was that dragon steel sword of the last hero? Do you think it was the original Ice? Do you think it was used against the bloodstone emperor or the others, and how it might have contributed it to their defeats? I mean the others are still alive. And according to your videos Bloodstone also should have at least his spirit still alive in someway. Nights King who also might be the same bloodstone were some reincarnation of him reminds me of the Lovecraft s Nephren Ka, who wasn’t defeat by any sword… I would be thrilled to know your current suppositions and ideas around those related topics and what do you think most likely happened, but also what are you planning for the future video to be about.
I do suspect this to be the sword lightbringer and likely the blade of the last hero if the two were the same hero. I will probably go into a deeper video on the last hero/azor ahai monomyth at some point and discuss their blades, I do have a video on broken swords that you might enjoy.
I'm mostly working on content for hotd season and the house hightower/geotd connections but I will release a quick video on the concept of the soul and where it resides as well as some elden ring parallels before hotd season begins for sure.
Me & my Best-o-Friend-o Nate-O hve spent near a decade on a 4 book historical fiction series The Norseman Saga w/protagonist Caelan Erikson. An immortal Norse Viking in modern day tht was imbued w/powers via the Archangel Michael at the moment of Caelan's 1st death in the Viking age.
George RR seems to gravitate towards this tree lore. It’s the same when it comes to his work in Elden Ring. The Urd trees have the same characteristics as the trees in this lore.
I believe Valyrian steel involves fire, blood and dragons, since that is what built the Valyrian Freehold. The blood of slaves used all throughout the process of creating Valyrian steel and finally tempered in dragon fire. Valyrian steel is the genius and cruelty of the freehold made manifest. If the process is ever revealed, my best guess the core materials are meteoric iron, dragonbone with Valyrian spells and runes folded into the steel. There is much overlap in how magic works in the asoiaf. Dawn could've been made in a way which didn't involve unwilling sacrifice, which explains the pure white color of Dawn
Excellent job! You did a lot of research. Perhaps those evil maesters are right and magic needs to be eliminated from the world. It seems blood and death are magic's only fuels. Except Thoros of Myr, he was able bring back Beric Dondarrion 6 times without any sacrifices. Of course each time was after and during a battle, so death was nearby. This could be a video. How did Thoros do it?
I'm going to go deeper in depth on the concept of the soul and where it resides, I will be touching briefly on beric when I do this but I will be looking as a specific type of magic at some point that may be more pertinent to beric at a later time.
@@TheDisputedLands That sounds like an excellent video. Given your talents for research and being able to see the unseen, perhaps a video on the changes that did not occur in George Martin's story because he did not make the 5-year time jump in the books. For example, Brienne was supposed to turn into Pretty Meris. At the end of A Feast for Crows, she learns that Arya caught a boat to Bravos. I think George Martin wanted Brianne to follow Arya to Essos and during that 5-year Gap she joins a sellsword company and over time is turned into Pretty Meris. Of course that never happened but he kept the pretty Pretty Meris character. Or perhaps a video on how George Martin will not release Winds Of Winter until the Fire and Blood show is complete. He's introducing concepts into that TV show that will affect how his book story ends. For example Aegon's prophecy was not mentioned in the books but only in the show. However it may have an impact on how the book ends. Or, as we see in the latest Fire and Blood trailer, the Isle of faces. What do they plan to do with it? I would imagine whatever they do it will be magical and it may impact the overall story. This is what I love about A Song of Ice and Fire, it is so complex on so many wonderful levels. Anyway, food for thought :-)
What if Vayrian steel is made from sacrificing Valyrian children? Dragonblood bound, giving them magical properties. And now since Valyria is lost, so are the babies...now they just repair the swords using dragonseeds
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'The break of Dawn' gave me legit chills. Methinks you nailed it pretty much spot on. Absolutely fantastic work Amanda, thank you for this.
So glad you liked it!! Thank you so much!
"methinks"? are you a fucking pawn? where is your arisen?
Amanda has VERY quickly become my fave ASOIAF RUclipsr and it’s WILD that she’s not getting way way more views.
Comments help the algorithm and TREMENDOUS videos LIKE THIS ONE help the asoiaf community.
Its always enjoyable to have deep dives into content so well laid out. Honestly your voice, word choice and video durations all make this channel peerless in the YT game. All the best and thanks for posting.
Thanks for that!
I think the First Dayne = Blood Stone Emperor. There is an island between Essos and Westeros named Bloodstone, so I think the Bloodstone Emperor was moving west when he found the stone, between Essos and Westeros, and then continued westward where House Dayne was eventually founded (so the guy came from the east, east = dawn, dayne, and history is full of lies so the stories about him might be slander). The Church of Starry Wisdom gives off Church of Satan vibes and is probably related to mysteries tied to House Dayne. The stone may have been black, but Dawn is glowing. If it stopped glowing, it would probably look black. I think it’s a sacrifice that makes it glow, and it might require new sacrifices to keep it « alive with light », and this would be a dark secret for House Dayne. I think when we’ll see Dawn (probably through Dorne chapters following Darkstar) it will not be glowing, because there hasn’t been a new Sword of the Morning in a while, and Darkstar will want to make a sacrifice to rekindle it.
I agree with the vast majority of this, but I have a tweak: I think the first Dayne was linked to the Amethyst Empress instead, my guess is most likely her child. In Dany's vision, the emperors have gemstone eyes from their names and GRRM's been clear that the Dayne purple eyes aren't Valyrian in origin, so I think that's the connection. I also wonder if the glow isn't kept alive by the souls of the previous Swords of the Morning entering the sword after they die, so that the break of Dawn also sets them free
I honestly think they just used the lives of their slaves to make those swords. Everything about them seemed to involve blood sacrifice.
I always love seeing a new video from you, but I have to say this one absolutely FLOORED me! I’ve been diving deep into his works and other people’s analysis for so long that it’s rare to see something new that puts so many of the pieces together! Thank you for an exceptional video and theory!
Thank you so much!!! Glad you liked it.
Extremely well done as always Amanda. All your content is top notch and this theory is potentially quite groundbreaking. I genuinely never thought of Weirwood or SotE trees in this process. Blood sacrifice absolutely , dragon-fire potentially (at least with creating the initial VS rather than reforging , as the GEotD and Valyria both seemingly had dragons) , perhaps even dragon-glass in the mix. But hadn't really thought of either magical trees involved and you've made an excellent case here. Especially with the potential soul absorbing / soul drinking. Really well done comprehensive theory with a lot of clues and evidence to back it up. The forging semantics are tricky but perhaps its as simple as some sort of elixir involving either magical tree. Weirwood elixir, long enough ago perhaps a non-corrupted version of Weriwood paste or with the traditionally darker VS blades likely use Shade of the Evening in the forging process.
I personally always thought of Dawn as the proto / non-corrupted OG dragon-steel and the dark VS was the version started by the Bloodstone Emperor which was adopted and potentially taken to even more twisted levels via generations of dark experimentations by the Valyrians. And perhaps it is still the case just in a different way that i thought. In your theory , Dawn used a non-corrupted magical tree , an ancient Weirwood. While the Bloodstone Emperor and the Valyrians used the corrupted magical version of the same tree / the SotE trees in Essos. Plus with the BSE & the Valyrians seemingly the added blood sacrifice(s) among other dark elements that they seemed to run with. Perhaps the more pure & benign Dawn / its forging is what sets the blade apart from any other VS.
Really well done here Amanda. Keep up the great work.
There is a third option...But Dawn is pretty much one of a kind at present day and if there were these gorgeous magical glowy swords during the time of the great empire surely more would have survived but dawn is the only one of its kind we are aware of which leads me to believe that this sword is meant to be more of an anomaly. Obviously we know what happened broadly to cause the blight of Asshai and the poisoning of the trees, but we know nothing about what made the trees in Westeros to become the way they are now. Because the original state for both sets of trees was likely more green and natural. So the trees went from green to black in essos but green to white in Westeros... but there is a third option which I may delve into one of these days.. Which may explain these....
"...The Dornishman's wife was as fair as the sun
and her kisses were warmer than spring.
But the Dornishman's blade was made of black steel and its kiss was a terrible thing.
The Dornishman's wife would sing as she bathed (water woman, Nissa Nissa, bathing jonquil),
in a voice that was sweet as a peach,
But the Dornishman's blade had a song of its own,
and a bite sharp and cold as a leech
As he lay on the ground with the darkness around,
and the taste of his blood on his tongue,
His brothers knelt by him and prayed him a prayer,
and he smiled and he laughed and he sung,
"Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done,
the Dornishman's taken my life,
But what does it matter, for all men must die,
and I've tasted the Dornishman's wife!..."
the black gate being called the black gate, or house blackwood bieng called house blackwood there are other things too, like the construction of Moat Cailin with all the poisoning language surrounding it Or the Oily black stone of the Seastone Chair.
@@TheDisputedLands I def think you are onto something and you've provided a lot of compelling evidence. Def look forward to you continuing to explore this. You very well may have uncovered something quite ground breaking here. You have backed it up really well. And really interesting in your reply as well. Really interesting stuff and seems quite a recurring motif of these black blade wielding men sacrificing their wives.
I agree that Dawn seems like a one-off. Perhaps the tech was immediately corrupted by the BSE or just the fact that it was forged in Westeros using a white Weirwood (as you suggested) yielded the lighter color blade. I have to re-read Dany's visions but the Gemstone Emperors she seems to see , seem to all have flaming swords if memory serves. But being they were on fire probably can't make out the blade colors but said to be of "pale fire". Certainly not conclusive but could suggest pale blades rather than dark. But perhaps those swords were reserved for the Emperors and lost or the BSE destroyed them , many possibilities. Or if Dawn is a one-off maybe the tech was near immediately corrupted by the BSE.
Brilliant theory as usual.
@@TheDisputedLandscan't wait for the developments of this next idea in another video!
Love how you structure your analasis so clear and sound.
@@TheDisputedLands There's also a mention of pale swords in the Daenerys vision: "Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire."
....til the break of dawn....what if those are the house words!? Your analysis of the books adds another complex layer to grrms amazing storytelling! Hell yeah!
Omg... I think that might be close to what it could be. Grrm always said he didn't want to reveal the words because they were too spoilery
That sounds perfect to me. New headcannon
Great video as always!!!
Essay incoming, I am sorry😂
I Remember when I was reading the books for the first time, the Marina-Namor story was the first one to come to mind. The sword could trap dead souls and was feeding off of them and it constantly craved new blood to add to its power. Its power relies on the curse, it thrives on the negative tendencies of flawed and imperfect wielders to maximize its power. Something that only the unworthy can utilize as its edge dulls when wielded by a chivalrous soul. Thus Percy gave up on the sword and but it again on the rock in his castle. Before giving up the sword Dane had removed the curse by bathing it in a magic fire, but the curse returned, when Namor used it to kill his wife Marrina.
Valyrian steel maintaining its power, bc the blood strengthen it, makes a lot of sense because of the inspirations, but also because we don't really now any type of magic, that doesn't have a price, fire magic and not. And it would make a great parallel for Dawn to be "cursed" of sorts. Darkstar could be symbolic of that as well, he is the Dayne that looks pretty on the outside, but he is not a good guy. Plus, he has one black strand in his silver hair, which could be symbolic of how the pretty, white, and alive with light Dawn has a curse in its core. And it would make sense tbh, there must be a reason why they only let worthy people wield it, bc if it is used when not necessary, there could be consequences, magic has a price, and using a magical sword for petty reasons is not very noble, we saw it in the story of Galladon of the Morne too. He also had a similarly magical sword but he only used it three times, when he truly needed to. I have one last thing to say: if Dawn turns black bc someone used it unethically you will hear my screams, no matter how far you’ll be.
That being said the valyrian steel recipe was always had something that really makes me for going the most complicated route. The amount of stuff they were making. It cannot need a difficult to find or something that can finished any moment material to make, bc they were making a crazy amount of steel, they were making many artifacts and even sell it to houses like the Mormonts. I think GRRM has gone on a much simpler way that we do😂 I think that it might was just the iron they were using tbh.
Moqqorro describes the fourteen flames as the gods fires and we know that the orw Valyrian used came from the fourteen flames and were very very serious about their volcano mines. *"Fourteen or fourteen thousand. What man dares count them? It is not wise for mortals to look too deeply at those fires, my friend. Those are the fires of god's own wrath, and no human flame can match them. We are small creatures, men."* If the volcanoes produce magical obsidian, why not magical iron too? All obsidian is volcanic in origin, so dragonglass has magical properties, but the amount of iron that is directly formed from volcanic activity is very small compared to the total amount of iron, so not all iron is volcanic and therefore magical, but if it comes from a volcanic source, then like obsidian it could be, Idk. Add blood magic and you can make a bomb ass alloy, they used the magical obsidian for glass candles, why not use the magical iron for magical steel?
End of essay😂 Have a great weekend!
Hey Company of the Cat! As far as dawn having a curse i think its quite possible, I think GRRM alludes to the ebony blade with Valyrian steel where white phrases like the blade "thirsting" i think it was either Daemon or Corbray who made those comments. Its very reminiscent of the ebony blade. Knowing the trees experienced changes originally green then westeros became red and essos blue I've been looking at it very closely. Im wondering if the westeros trees were first turned black. Like the black stone had originally poisoned ALL the trees of the planet. This might explain why the black gate is called the black gate, or why house blackwood is called "blackwood", and also explain their legend of their tree being "poisoned". This might also explain Moat Cailin which has a lot of poisoning language surrounding its site and also has construction similar to yeen and stones with an oily sheen. This might also explain the presence of the oily black stone chair of house greyjoy. I think the green, blue and red forks of the trident might be representing these changes from a symbolic standpoint. Meaning that the trees experienced two changes and if the swords are tied to the trees, I'm wondering if NN sacrifice caused the white transformation and if the original dawn blade was "ebony" its just something im looking at right now.
Martin said it was made with steel, steel + magic, you don't mine some kind of valyrian steel ore.
@@Oximb Steel is an alloy (iron + carbon), steel ore is not a thing, the iron though was mined from their fourteen flames, it is stated in the world book. And the magic involved is completely unknown, we don't know what and how. Valyrian Steel is the magic equivalent to Damascus steel and one of the reasons to this day is so difficult to recreate Damascus steel is the fact that we are missing the key ore sources, so I wouldn't put past GRRM to have something like that considering that the main weapon against the Others is in fact a volcanic glass.
The Ghiscari whom they conquered were the first to be thus enslaved, but not the last. *The burning mountains of the Fourteen Flames were rich with ore, and the Valyrians hungered for it: copper and tin for the bronze of their weapons and monuments; later iron for the steel of their legendary blades;* and always gold and silver to pay for it all.
All their ore was from the fourteen flames and in general, the volcanoes look like their power source, or at the very least the magic was linked to the volcanoes. Even Moqorro thinks of them as the "God's fires" and Valyrians decided to go to another volcanic place to build an outpost: Dragonstone.
@@CompanyOfTheCat GURRM said it's not the metal that was used that made valyrian steel special but forging techniques + magic (SSM 2377 & 1153).
The legend about the creation of a special metal rooted in fire and blood magic, the dragonsteel, speaks of a hero who forges for months and finishes with blood magic, not a hero who goes deep into a mine to find a special ore.
@@Oximb here you talk about Lightbringer for what I understand and even though, Lightbringer and Dawn have similarities with VS we don't really have any indication that it is the same exact way of forging or similar. So having a gero going to mine is a completly different story, if Dawn is Lightbringer, then it was forged by metal from a star (which pretty rare and scepicial source btw), VS was not. The only things George has said about VS, and not Lightbringer or Dawn, is that they were using steel and spells (no idea what spells, apart from maybe dragonfire) and in the world book the iron ore is explicitly stated was from the fourteen flames.
Valyrian steel was produced in crazy amounts, it wasn't only for swords and, but for jewellery and other things as well, it's is obvious that even if they took inspiration from dawn and sacrifice was involved (of course it was blood magic was used in valyria for everything) they reason and the sacrifice wasn't the same since using slaves is not the same as the willing nissa nissa we get in many stories.
We don't know what magic they used and where or how this magic was incorporated, it is a very vague answer the iron so they can make still and magic, this can be anything, we have very limited info what spells they could do. In either of both cases, we only know that they used magic. The only magical steel apart from VS we have seen is Dawn and is made by a very unusual source, a source that was most likely magical, since in Yi-Ti they say Bloodstone was worshipping a fallen celestial body. And VS also had magic involved and steel made by the iron from the volcanoes, we cannot say 100% that it doesn't play a role or doesn't matter, bc we don't know much for it's forging and what the magic part involves.
Another clear inspiration with Lightbringer and Dawn , are also Moorcock's Elric saga swords Stormbringer and the Mournblade. We know Moorcock's work and the Elric character in particular are huge inspirations for GRRM , that GRRM borrows from. The sword names quite telling Stormbringer / Lightbringer , Mournblade / Dawn which is the Sword of the Morning / the Sword of the Morning wields Dawn. Stormbringer and Mournblade are both literally and figuratively dark magical blades that drink souls. Dawn has a different appearance and likely different forging / process but still many similar properties. Obviously not like for like and been a while since i've read any Moorcock and his dark twin swords are much more powerful than GRRM's versions. GRRM doesn't do like for like anyway , he has influences and inspiration and puts his own spin on them. Dawn is more different than lets say Azor Ahai's (likely BSE) Lightbringer , compared to the Moorcock's twin Stormbringer and Mournblade swords. But still some clear influence , inspiration and overlap imo.
Hey Andrew! You are very correct that he had drawn from Stormbringer, I wanted to do a video where I looked at all the inspirations and did a deeper dive but I started with 47 pages of notes and wittled down into an 11 page script. I wanted to discuss excaliber (there is a reason it is "Arthur" Dayne) and the original cursed sword in the stone of Ser Balin that would ultimately set him on a path to kill his own brother possibly just as important thematically as stormbringer. Or the sword in the tree of sigurd which follows the sword in the stone theme. I could have also delved into the parallels of Elden ring where we have a goddess trapped within a tree that must be freed but the issue becomes what to include to bring the concept home without overloading, and from what Ive seen Dawn is not cursed but purified. Valyrian steel however is a closer approximation to a cursed blade. But I wouldnt be able to discuss that in a video without bringing up the Black gate, House Blackwood, the Seastone chair, Moat Cailin and the song The Dornishman's wife and speaking on their connections for another 30 minutes.
@@TheDisputedLands sounds like you have enough for a whole series on this , which many of us would welcome. You've already backed up your theory and findings really well. But further installments on this would be incredible as its such a fascinating topic. And i agree , the Dawn parallel could have been be a bit of a departure as i agree its light instead of dark and seemingly pure instead of cursed. But still seems Dawn drawing from the same Moorcock inspiration and dynamic. But instead of twin blades more like polar opposite sibling swords.
@@AndrewK23777 exactly. Now read the lyrics to the dornishman's wife. And think about why the black gate is called the black gate or why house blackwood is called house blackwood. Or why he needed nissa nissa specifically when all you need is a sacrifice for valyrian steel. The dornishman's wife was nissa nissa, see the bathing language? That is your bathing jonquil right there. The dornishman's blade should be dawn no? But it's black
@@TheDisputedLands agreed , never noticed how many inverse clues / parallels there , which you pointed out. The most famous and seemingly most important Dornish blade / Dawn is WHITE , yet the lyrics talk about the Dornish blade as BLACK. The BLACK gate is very famously a huge WHITE seemingly animate / animated Weirwood face. House Blackwood most associated with their ancient huge WHITE Weirwood , now dead / poisoned.
Your content is always absolutely top notch. But you are blowing my mind to another level left and right today , the content and the replies. Keep up the great work.
The bathing part in the dornishman wife makes me think of king david and bat sheva
And how david sent her husbend to die at war so he could have her.
I’ve always wondered about the difference between the weirwoods and the shade of the evening trees! The way you’re able to piece together the puzzle that GRRM has laid out for us is fantastic. So concise
The difference / connection between the two
The trees are a favorite topic of mine! Glad you enjoyed it!
You're the only ASOIAF theorist who still has my attention. :)
Awesome video. Thanks for mentioning the Tad Williams influence!
Glad you liked it!
Tad Williams deserves more attention in general ❤️
I genuinely believe that you are the greatest of asoiaf youtubers, and I have watched them all. Beautiful, amazing video, and the ideas delivered in a seamless stream of water.
Wow, thank you so much!!!🤗
The break of Dawn... i loved it! Once again another interested watch . Thanks Amanda.
This is fantastic! I wanted you to keep going with Ashara, this might be the best theory I've heard about her! Great job Amanda!
Agreed, now you can do a Livestream on it :) Happy Eclipse Day! (aka "The Hour of the Karsnark", it is our House's most sacred Holiday) Cheers!
Hey thanks so much!!
I love how you pick up on so much clever word play that I have never heard anyone else comment on before. For instance in this video, picking up on how gifts can also be what you call someone’s talents. And how that gives a totally new slant to the phrase, “all of Euron’s gifts are poison.” Or similarly how Dark Star is referred to as poison. It is always a joy to learn what new ideas you have put together. Especially when it feels like we should have exhausted all these clues already, with the number of people and the amount of time spent pouring over all of Martin’s text.
Thank you so much!
First time seeing a video of yours though I have seen you on IDG’s live content. I have to say, I was stunned with how good this video was in all aspects. Will definitely have to look back through your work. Keep up the phenomenal work!
Welcome to the disputed lands!
This is well thought out. The mystery motto of House Dayne could refer to Nissa Nissa or wood in that case
Didnt we had a Black Knight figure, Smiling Knight that wanted Dawn from Arthur? I wonder if Smiling Knight and his gang had any ties to Blackfyres 🤔 did some Targaryens realised they need Dawn to be the Prince that was Promised?
I believe the Smiling Knight was meant as a parallel to the Night's King, as it was said he knew no fear. I think the battle between the two is meant to be instructive of the ancient battle that occurred. What Targaryens know, they know from prophecy and dreams and the religion of Rhllor so its possible they were as in the Dark as anybody else. I also find it interesting that the sword is literally as far away from the North as possible.
I’m dying to know WHO Mott used as the sacrifice to reforge Ice, though probably just “a peasant”.
I’m obsessed with the shade trees and oily black stone. Thank you for your videos 😌👌
Ohhhh I love this! Every time you post a new video I know I can expect fascinating stuff that makes me see things in a new way, and this is no exception. The break of Dawn... damn
I love when you drop a new essay. I know we're gonna get some wonderful ideas.
I love her voice. I could listen to her talk about fantasy stuff all day.
Excellent work! I entirely agree that the "break of Dawn" clue is a spark of genius!
Thank you so much!
Thank you CFD for another cool video. You’re always unraveling these mysteries layer by layer and my mind is blown 🤯 at the end of every video. I can only imagine the work you put into these videos. 🙏🐦⬛👑⚔️
Glad you liked it!!!
My pleasure!
So glad you dropped another video i love watching these in the evening. Thanks Amanda 🎉
Yay! Thank you!
The break of dawn!! This was an awesome video, I really gotta hand it to you, you put out some of the absolute best content on here theorizing stuff with tons of quotes and cross referencing of old interviews and stuff, I mean just wow. Bravo!❤
Thank you so much!
@@TheDisputedLands 😊you’re welcome!! Keep up the amazing work.
This was a really well researched video, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing work! I’ve always been fascinated theorizing about the connections between the Weirwoods and the Shade of the Evening tree, I love hearing peoples ideas/theories.
Glad you liked it! Be sure to check out my video on the shade of the evening tree and the black oily stone!
Another amazing video Amanda! I was shocked when you brought up the Black Knight as this character has come up in my research as well
I started looking into him because of an interesting line in TWOIAF where we hear the Nights Watch referred to as “the Black Knights of the Wall”
And after discovering this same potential influence it appeared to me the Black Knight should be a long night hero/Azor ahai character if he’s weilding the Ebony Blade carved from a meteor
Which makes sense as the long night hero Azor Ahai would have been a member of and likely lead the “Black Knights” of the Nights Watch
Now I’ve theorised that Azor Ahai was turned to stone with greyscale as a means of protection and preservation, and is stored beneath Winterfell awaiting resurrection
Something that runs parallel to your Drowned Fool/Greyscale Amour Ironborn videos (which are truly amazing pieces of work btw)
So it really shocked me to learn that the Black Knight of Marvel comics, this character George has drawn on for Azor Ahai, was turned to stone in one of his story lines, becoming a living statue who was then stored underground before he came back to life
Thought that might interest you with all your research into the stone transformation ideas in ASOIAF as well
Once again thanks for all the great content Amanda!
You know I found the turning to stone aspect incredibly fascinating as well. I think you are making a good choice looking into that further. Don't make my mistake trying to get your hands on the original comics. If you want to look at the comic issues you can purchase specific ones on the marvel.com or app and download them.
Amanda already suggested in her newest videos that azor ahai is going to be reborn at the place of his defeat, most probably just as the storm king was reanimated at the green angel tower. But in that story he used a vessel as a new body for his spirit, and for our story Amanda suggested that the best candidate has been foreshadowed to be Euron. The „waking of dragons out of stone” can be a suggestion that in someway Bloodstone Emperor is still buried underneath the Hightower on battle isle, maybe the stoneskining of his body was indeed a way to preserve his corpse and soul. But there are many unanswered questions left. If he was really defeated why they didn’t destroy his body. Why would his enemies preserve it?
The House of Black and White's door is made of wood from a Weirwood tree. That means the other half is probably made from wood of a Shade of the Evening tree. If the trees are supposed to be opposites, I wonder what the significance of the faceless men combining the two means.
I always direct house of black and white discussion to this video by maester merry. Really great work was done showing the influence of the old gods in the house of black and white. ruclips.net/video/ERd-nQwIj78/видео.htmlsi=YB2sRC2xYvSKqCtQ
@@TheDisputedLands Thanks. I'll have to check that out.
Amanda your a true treasure. Love tha way you break it down.Your theories are always smart & solid.❤ 💯
"Gift just happens to be the German word for “poison”! And more incredibly, both the English and German meanings stem from the exact same Proto-Germanic root - giftiz!
Our friend and language guru Brian Loo Soon Hua explains all:
The word giftiz originally meant “something given” in Proto-Germanic and indeed, presents and poison are both given to somebody else..
"In German, the word Gift has completely lost its ancient meaning and now only has the “poison” connotation - except for the word Mitgift - meaning “dowry” or “bridal presents”. Since it is unlikely that poison would be part of a bride’s wedding presents, this is indeed a survival of a much broader definition of the original word.
The Dutch, being more sensible in this regard, have separated both meanings and come up with two slightly different spellings - gift for “present” and gif for poison.
"Influenced by the German Gift, Scandinavian languages also employ gift with the notion of “poison”. But interestingly enough, the Scandinavian gift could also mean “married”, a term deriving from the old custom of giving the bride away!"
Wow! I need to share this at some point. Thank you!
The best! Always excited to see a new video.
Thank you so much!
I think on addition to the salient points and parallels you described there is word play with weird and ware. The heart trees are warewood Westwood trees because both the Shade of the Evening and the Westwood Trees have been changed. Before the hammer of the waters fell the lands were connected and are probably the same trees, both changed because the Singers of the Song of Earth used magic to create the Others to fight the living. Despite Dorne being hot sand now the weather pattern had to have been different before the the hammer fell. So I submit that corruption happened twice to change the trees via CoTF magic and the horrible act of killing a type of Singer in Nissan Nissa. Mesande is described like a Singer human Hybrid from Naath. If an island had the Singer type people surely Essos did as well. Also the fancy blacksmith where Ned met Gender used Weirwood and a blackwood. Sure black and white are classic to use to contrast. However with the House of the many faced God and G entry's master having black and white doors I think GRRM is hitting us on the head that these things look different but are the same. He's a an old hippie. He hates injustice so he's saying these black and white trees are the same. That doesn't take away from Weirwood, WEIR being a fish trap, representing where greenseers go after death. And white is a mourning color in many parts of the world, just like black is a mourning color in the West. It's just a thought. I could be totally wrong but I feel confident the message from GRRM is there for all to see. He confirmed the trees are like mushrooms. Mushrooms are connected by their "roots".
So he's telling us there is one race of these trees no matter their color! An o!d hippie would say there is one race of human, homo sapiens sapiens.
Shade of the evening is a werewood tree, it was disconnected from the continent of Westeros (and/or poisoned) when the land bridge was severed.
@@trillionbones89 yes, definitely check out my theory video about the shade of the evening tree and the black oily stone. I think you will enjoy it!! Thanks for watching!
What a great way to start a Saturday morning! 😁 As usual, I have a few questions:
1. How do you think Weirwood/Shade of the Evening trees are used for forging steel precisely? Would you suggest that their wood was used to sustain the ember in which the swords are forged, do you think that their sap was used to temper/infuse the blades or do you suggest something entirely different?
2. One of the cornerstones of the GEotD theory is Dany's "wake the dragon" dream in which the spirits/images of her supposed ancestors/GEotD rulers carry "swords of pale fire", which sounds more like Dawn than like Valyrian steel. Would you suggest that all Dragonsteel blades looked like Dawn before the Long Night and the corruption of the Shade of the Evening trees, and after that the pale variant could only be forged in Westeros? But then, wouldn't it be possible that Dawn/the original Lightbringer was just one of the surviving blades of the GEotD?
I like your take on the CotF's involvement in forging Dragonsteel. Alabastur argues that the CotF created the Valyrians as their "song of fire" to balance the creation of the Others/"song of ice", and while this dichotomy of ice and fire in relation to the CotF makes sense, I believe (also thanks to you) that the Valyrians are just an offshoot of the GEotD and existed before the long night. The involvement of the CotF and the Weirwoods in the creation of Dragonsteel would therefore also count as the CotF's "song of fire".
Anyway, I find the idea of the literal breaking of Dawn very compelling given that George likes deconstructing fantasy tropes. A magical sword that is literally used to slay the Others would be a cliché and hence predictable and boring. There has to be a twist.
1. I am not a smithing expert but I suspect the tree ash may have been the carbon used.
2. That is a great observation. I've really got to think about that one, and need to stew on it. I believe the original shade trees were likely originally green just as the weirwoods were once green. Thank you for giving me something to chew on!
I was thinking about that, too, and here's my current idea: What if the corruption of the Shade of the Evening trees by a cosmic impact (which might be same one that caused the Long Night according to LML) was what drove the GEotD to Westeros in the first place or at least part if the reason? They couldn't or wouldn't use SotE wood anymore to reproduce their former smithing techniques and had to use Weirwood instead. If this is the case, I would guess that the originigal Weirwoods experienced only one transformation which was different in Westeros and Essos: In the East, they were corrupted by the cosmic fallout and in the West they were altered by the creation of the others, which might have rendered them immune to the SotE transformation.
Ive long been a believer of the Daynes following the old gods, but with the extra tree symbolism with the likely ashara inspiration im even more convinced.
Great stuff. I've always thought that the difference between Dawn (which I think is probably lightbringer, or was at least created in the same way) and Valyrian steel was the nature of the sacrifice used to create it, with obsidian being key ingredients in both.
Willing sacrifice? Blade turns black.
Unwilling sacrifice (Nissa Nissa)? Blade turns milk-glass.
But....the involvement of the two varieties of magical trees makes a whole lot of sense...and you almost have to be right about the "breaking" of dawn. So..perhaps the current Dawn was simply made in the same way? Or reforged? Maybe it's no longer glowing because its power was spent?
Your idea of trapping souls in things and it having something to do with the type of magical tree used....what if rather than literal ingredients, it was instead which type of tree a ritual was performed in front of? Or, taking the idea even further....maybe the Others are the result of the souls in Weirwood trees being put into human bodies...and the dragon-line that eventually resulted in the Valyrians was the result of the souls inside the corrupt Shade trees being put into humans bodies? Every time we hear of a Targaryen baby born deformed with dragon features, the word corruption is mentioned....
Hey thanks for watching! Those are some great ideas for sure. Im pretty sure the wood is either used as the carbon added during smelting or the wood used for the fire that forges it.
Your skill at combining seemingly unrelated details into coherent and persuasive theories is always impressive.
thank you!
That was brilliant! I have to admit I'd put off watching this one. I was a bit worried it might be a complete correction of a youtube video I'd made on a similar subject. Now I'm just happy I was in the same ballpark as someone who's studied the books at much greater length. I'm still kicking myself I didn't make the Weirwood-Dawn connection though. And that Namor story blew my mind. GRRM wasn't kidding when he said Shakespeare and Stan Lee were his biggest influences.
Just watched your video and Bravo! One thing you might find interesting is you mentioned that the ash from the wood chips might have been incorporated and in the Telltale game House Forrester has a very special ancient Greatsword named "Ash" love it!!!
@@TheDisputedLands Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it. I view a lot of ASOIAF content online, but yours feels closer to the mark than just about anyone else's. This Telltale game is another thing I wish I'd known about. Clearly I need to spend more time reading comics and playing video games.
@@driftsolstice3685 lol, that is probably the first time I've heard someone say they need to spend more time doing those things and im here for it! Thank you for sharing!
Dammm... It's been a while since I've seen you pop up on my feed. Good to see this.
This might tie in to an idea I have.
I thought part of the reason why a wielder of Dawn needs “to be worthy” in the first place is bc the wielder’s soul **goes** into the sword if they die in battle.
My thinking was that the reason the Daynes were so grateful for Ned returning the sword, despite killing Arthur Dayne and leaving his body in the desert, was bc his soul went into Dawn when he died fighting to defend the Tower of Joy.
A part of being a wielder might actually require that Arthur *couldn’t* just let Ned walk in, especially if Arthur swore an oath not to let any of Robert’s allies through.
Regardless, the reason for the Dayne’s gratitude wasn’t just bc Ned returned their sword, he returned their son.
Nyssa Nyssa might be just one of *many* souls in that sword, though as you pointed out, freeing her at the right time might be a requirement towards restoring balance to the powers of Fire and Ice.
Why am I just hearing about this channel?! Incredible analysis! A new subscriber.
welcome to the disputed lands!
Valyrian steel is based off Damascus steel. Both metals display a flowing water pattern, both were reputed to result in exceptional quality blades at the time, and like Valyrian steel, the true method for crafting Damascus steel has been lost, meaning that true Damascus steel weapons can no longer be crafted. Notably, even modern interpretations of Damascus steel are expensive, and a sword made using such material can easily cost twice that of a handmade sword from traditional or high-carbon steel.
Lightbringer = Breaker of Dawn (CONFIRMED!)
💯
Mindblown I say, mindblown ...
I never REALLY thought about it until now, though the thought of sacrafice crossed my mind. But imma guess, knowing GRRM, kniowing Valyrians, that to make something nice and shiny and powerful... probably gotta burn some kids alive. Just a guess. Not just sacrifice someone, sacrifice children. Not just murder them. but...
Fighting with swords that Shone like Starfire.
Starfire is a DC comics character whose people evolved from cats... a literal Tiger Woman.
Your audio has gotten so much better! Sounds awesome! Thank you!!
oh my god. I wrote this half way through the video. This is unbelievable - I think you figured it out. Congratulations. This is amazing
Thanks so much!
When two Valyrian steel blades, Blackfyre and Lady Corbrey, clashed the sound was half a song and half a scream. This scream may apply well to your theory,
Nice!
EVERY ELDEN RING PLAYER NEEDS TO WATCH THIS, if this "star stone" crashing into a messianic ritual covenant and trapping souls in blades isn't tied to Godwyn, Ranni and The Night of the Shattering, then i don't what else to tell you, fellow gaymer... maybe all i can do is ask, did you hear Crowfood's daughter mention a sword named THORN??? 😹
"the hero to one side is the villain to the (m)Other" 💜
i am binging through your linkqueue vids and swooning, Miss Lands, they are bringing and serving and dishing finest of fine delicacy threads 🥰
#justiceformarika
Glad you are liking the channel, welcome to the disputed lands!
Great work as always!
Thank you! Cheers!
So i didn't understand. How is a wierwood or SOTE tree used in forging a metal sword? Can you explain that? They are still primarily wood aren't they?
There is often a carbon added during the forging process which would be my guess. Its like an ash added to the steel. But it could definitely be something more fantastical than pragmatic.
There is carbon from wood and iron in blood. A tree that drinks blood could turn black from blood or the trace iron within blood. Combine that with magic space stone (also probably iron) and dragonfire you got supersteel
That is funny you mention Namor. Black swords from meteorites come from Tolkien and maybe might have come from older myth and the black sword Namor uses likely ripped from Eldric stories by Moorcock. Think likely more the influences and certainly influenced Namor.
So it intrigues me but I feel like you making it to one for one with Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
Well, this patient and his surgery can wait; a new Disputed Lands video dropped!!
Lol!🤣
Great video :) really made me think
Great video, and once again I'm stunned by attention to detail and how you fit all the puzzle pieces. But, I'm confused, how is a weirwood or shade of the evening tree used in the forging of Dawn or Lightbringer?
Also, I loved your idea that this time, we'll probably have to free Nysa Nysa's soul. But, again, who?
Elements can be added during the forging of weapons as a carbon but I'm not sure if grrm is going the pragmatic approach of if there is a more fantastical way it was added. Also nissa nissa was azor ahai's wife who was sacrificed in its forging she is likely the same woman as the amethyst empress. If you are interested in learning more, I discuss her in my ironbirn video on the grey king's mermaid wife and also in my mazemaker video.
Fabulous work yet again. Thank you.
Great as always
Thank you! Cheers!
The break of Dawn...damn, dawg
A lot of the mycologists (people that study fungi) kind of look down on people that use psilocybin mushrooms and refer to it as a poison/toxin. And a lot of people who do consume them hate the flavor and try to disguise it or hide it in chocolate. In my personal experience I don't mind the flavor and I've had nothing but good trips. But that's not everyone's experience for sure.
Very detailed! Good job I liked it.
Thank you very much!
A couple of thoughts: I'm curious to see how the most recent easter egg of Valyrian lore to have been released (Shrubbery, Being a History on the Flora of the Valyrian Freehold by Maester Mikkellion - written by Ti Mikkel and translated into High Valyrian by David J. Peterson for House of the Dragon Season 1 Episode 6) possibly plays in to any of this, specifically the description of the White Tree of Flames. The other thing to consider: If House Lannister blew a ton of gold in order to acquire Brightroar, what did House Stark and House Mormont do to acquire their Valyrian steel blades? My guess is that they were traded for weirwood lumber, but I'm not sure if the trees from which the lumber was harvested were deliberately felled or if they were uprooted by natural causes.
That is really interesting! Thank you for sharing!!!!
Rhe Shrubbery is another evidence from the tv series that the Children of the Forest are the ones who taught their arts and how to tame the dragons to the Valyrian, they taught them the spells to make the dragonsteel.
Great video !
thank you amanda for another interesting theory!! I wonder if there is a difference between sacrifice and blood magic, as blood magic in reference to valyrian origins seems to have a uniquely sinister conotation, perhaps going farther and crossing some kind of line. these inverted parallels are all over the place and its so fascinating!! corruption through iron makes me think of blood (as it is the main component) and ergo blood magic. blood corruption, blood stone emperor, blood magic. if he copied the children of the forest but added blood magic as an escalation, with the empire of the dawn likely the ancestors of the valyrians, that would become what we know as valyrian blood magic. a perversion of what the children of the forest practice. one problem remains tho: all the perversions are *black* while dawn is *white.* if we factor in that GRRM loves unreliable history and in history retelling details often get shuffled around, we should rethink what we know. there are huge parallels between azor ahai and the blood stone emperor. BSE kills his sister, AA kills nissa nissa. maybe they are the *same story.* a corrupted sword should be black, like valyrian steel. so what if the sword BSE created was *not* dawn, but an attempt to *imitate* dawn and instead of pure light it is pitch black. dawn, created with COTF magic was smuggled out by the danes to protect it. overtime those two swords became the same, attributed to a heroic figure instead of a tyrant who magically poisoned his kingdom. since thats the kind of stories humans love to tell. and the corrupted sword, along with the history of magically radioactive asshai, just ceased to be told and became forgotten. and the more happy parts filled the blanks. the ageold habit of time to overwrite actual history. to come back to the sacrifice vs blood magic thought, sacrifice from the COTF has a "giving back to nature" kind of vibe, blood magic of suffering and pain. giving and community vs taking and selfishness. idk they just seem *different* like as if the BSE trying to imitate it made a fundamental misunderstanding, hence the different outcomes. or maybe its a respect for balance, the taking taking taking greedily without consequences tipping the scale into horrific consequences. its 3am so this is probably incoherent word vomit, might go over it later and structure my thoughts better
I think there might be another type of magic, soul magic.
All of you GoT content creators as re beloved, but your twin trees theory is my favorite.
its honestly one of my favorite too!
This is fucking awesome, I'm into
"Lucifer means light ringer" and Quinn's ideas, though this kinda fill in some gaps aaaaand kicks in a few completely different takes..
Nice work faraway sister,
Solo-sweden
1+ for martin knowing about namor, nor the black Knight, I am a marvel geek since 30 years back (I'm old as fuck, 45 is the new 80) and I had no clue martin liked namor, it's one of my favorite character as well, be proud of you work sister, this is beyond anything I have seen so far, and i watch David light ringer when he is high as a kite:)
I'm glad you liked it! If you like this, be sure to check out my other videos. Thanks for watching and commenting it really does help!
Your videos are a real treasure... Keep them coming!
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
@@TheDisputedLands I always do.🙂
Witch wood. Warlock wood. Yeah, that checks out. It's pretty much just a swap for the male version of witch.
Omg, duh. I didn't even put those two together, but it makes complete sense. If its the wine of the warlocks its the wood of the warlocks too.
Great video! It made me also think of the swords of the gemstone eyed people of Dany's dream. They were like the emperors of the Great empire, and had white swords like Dawn. Since the Dane's probably also came from the empire, being the only other purple eyed house and having a migration in their story of Dawn, that sort of ties it together in a way. They knew of this technology and after the corruption of the shade of the evening trees they made Dawn in Westeros. There is a theory that the weirwoods as we see them today are also a corruption from a white tree with green leaves, and maybe those from the island if faces are like that. It makes me think if shade trees also have some left uncorrupted. At one point i thought maybe the ironwoods from Westeros were the uncorrupted shade trees. I don't think it's ever mentioned what sort of leaves they have, so it's probably safe to assume they're green, which would make an interesting parallel. If white wood green leaves is ok and white wood red lives not ok, and we know black wood blue leaves is not ok, then black wood green leaves would be ok?
Yes the weirwoods being green is my theory! Check out my video on the green men of the gods eye!! I think you will like it for sure!!
You know how dragonbone is black because of high iron content? That also gives additional support to the idea that Shade of the Evening is poisoned by Iron.
GRRM was initially not going to have dragons in his story.
I am beginning to think that after Azor Ahai used Lightbringer in the last Long Night, the bad world would use this cruel method more than it should to produce powerful technology.
As you have said in other videos, and perhaps other youtubers, dragons were genetically engineered. If weirwood/SoTE wood can store souls, it makes sense that this is how the dragonlords sent their progeny's (stillbirths etc) souls into the dragons.
In fact, if Others are the opposite of Dragons, then maybe that's how Others absorb souls too, because of some weirwood being present in their composition?
I feel like these are nascent ideas that could perhaps be developed if looked into.
I got another connection. This is something Stannis says to Selyse:
"....Aegon the Fourth built dragons of wood and iron. " WOOD and IRON
That is really intriguing!
Best full end game theory yet
Thank you!!!!!
Wonderful video, MiLady with the Enchanting Voice ❤ So where was the Dawn sword during the time that was covered in GoT? Saw a few Valyrian blades, but don’t remember seeing it.
ruclips.net/video/GQXt820BJ8w/видео.htmlsi=NipHELho_kGQxDF3 at 29 seconds this is supposed to be dawn, but it is the show version and looks nothing like it is described in the books
27:00 "Forged from the Heart of a fallen star"? As in the heart tree?
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Ive watched so many GOT vids and theories, and yours are the best. Can't believe I'm just now coming across your vids
Welcome to the disputed lands!
An amazing video, as always. So full of ideas!
Do we know if Shade trees grow in the great Forest of Qohor? Or ironwood? The location of the city of Qohor , and its association with that deep, primeval forest might be signigicant, and add to your theory about the creation and reworking of VS . Timber is a crucial part of the economy of the Free City.
There is also the story about the lemurs native to the forest being "little valyrians", containing the trapped spirits of dragonlords. LmL has discussed this in relation to his theory about the nature of the dragonbond, but it could also relate to the Qohorik reforging practice, and therefore your ideas around the spirits of human sacrifices becoming trapped within the blades..
Thankyou for the incredible content!
In my opinion you and Company of the Cat are the best asoiaf channels. I always have to pause your videos at various points to absorb the details and implications of your theories! I always feel inspired to think more imaginatively about GRRM's world.
Awe thank you! I've had similar ideas regarding the forests of qohor, I mean the ifequevron weren't far from there so it really makes a lot of sense.
@TheDisputedLands Remembering what you've said about the Silver Sea, the two forests might have been joined millennia ago, along the northern shore of the sea.. The ifequevron sound as if they were already a remnant of a largely vanished race at the time the Ibbenese/hairy men wiped the last of them out..
This was really great. Thank you
It is so nice that you are back.
Thank you!
Another banger of a video. Any chance of you and David LB doing a video or stream together? I would love to hear a long form discussion on the contents of this video. Or any other video for that matter.
Hey thanks for the suggestion, we don't have anything planned currently and I don't have a decent livestream setup but its something I'm working on. I'd like to eventually do livestreams on my channel where I build GOT DnD characters and answer book questions at some point.
@@TheDisputedLands looking forward to seeing how your channel evolves! I’ll have my questions ready for a Q/A vid.
When it comes to deep lore and theory, no one compares to Crowfood's daughter 👍 (and lml..)
Great video Amanda! Can’t wait to see how you’ll continue your series about everything related to the Long Night that happened in the past and the one that is going to come in the future. An Americanthinks also suggested in his asoiaf theory of everything that the supernatural power that the weir woods source should have given to Dawn, might be some element of giving telepathic powers to its wielders against its foes. What’s your opinion on this topic considering also considering the fact that George himself said he would choose Dawn instead of any Valyrian sword and also the fact Barristan would have allegedly defeated Arthur if he hadn’t dawn in his hands. Also what do you think was the fate of dawn during the long night do you think it was saved from the Bloodstone emperor and brought to Westeros, or that he himself brought it here, or that he personally created it here, maybe not killing nissa nissa/amethist in Asshai. And how it was used during this dark hour? Do you think it was that dragon steel sword of the last hero? Do you think it was the original Ice? Do you think it was used against the bloodstone emperor or the others, and how it might have contributed it to their defeats? I mean the others are still alive. And according to your videos Bloodstone also should have at least his spirit still alive in someway. Nights King who also might be the same bloodstone were some reincarnation of him reminds me of the Lovecraft s Nephren Ka, who wasn’t defeat by any sword… I would be thrilled to know your current suppositions and ideas around those related topics and what do you think most likely happened, but also what are you planning for the future video to be about.
I'm not sure about the idea that dawn can give telepathy id have to check that video out for sure.
I think valyrian steel's magic is poisoned and corrupted while dawns magic was more purified which is why he would choose dawn over valyrian steel.
I do suspect this to be the sword lightbringer and likely the blade of the last hero if the two were the same hero. I will probably go into a deeper video on the last hero/azor ahai monomyth at some point and discuss their blades, I do have a video on broken swords that you might enjoy.
I'm mostly working on content for hotd season and the house hightower/geotd connections but I will release a quick video on the concept of the soul and where it resides as well as some elden ring parallels before hotd season begins for sure.
Thank you for watching!!!!
the prince(or princess) that was promised returns
Me & my Best-o-Friend-o Nate-O hve spent near a decade on a 4 book historical fiction series The Norseman Saga w/protagonist Caelan Erikson. An immortal Norse Viking in modern day tht was imbued w/powers via the Archangel Michael at the moment of Caelan's 1st death in the Viking age.
Amazing as always. Thank you!!!
George RR seems to gravitate towards this tree lore. It’s the same when it comes to his work in Elden Ring. The Urd trees have the same characteristics as the trees in this lore.
Fantastic piece - going to read up on Namor now
Brilliant
Thanks Amanda.
Awesome video.
Glad you enjoyed it
I believe Valyrian steel involves fire, blood and dragons, since that is what built the Valyrian Freehold. The blood of slaves used all throughout the process of creating Valyrian steel and finally tempered in dragon fire. Valyrian steel is the genius and cruelty of the freehold made manifest.
If the process is ever revealed, my best guess the core materials are meteoric iron, dragonbone with Valyrian spells and runes folded into the steel.
There is much overlap in how magic works in the asoiaf. Dawn could've been made in a way which didn't involve unwilling sacrifice, which explains the pure white color of Dawn
Excellent video 👌
Thank you!
Great insight
Excellent job! You did a lot of research. Perhaps those evil maesters are right and magic needs to be eliminated from the world. It seems blood and death are magic's only fuels. Except Thoros of Myr, he was able bring back Beric Dondarrion 6 times without any sacrifices. Of course each time was after and during a battle, so death was nearby. This could be a video. How did Thoros do it?
I'm going to go deeper in depth on the concept of the soul and where it resides, I will be touching briefly on beric when I do this but I will be looking as a specific type of magic at some point that may be more pertinent to beric at a later time.
@@TheDisputedLands That sounds like an excellent video. Given your talents for research and being able to see the unseen, perhaps a video on the changes that did not occur in George Martin's story because he did not make the 5-year time jump in the books. For example, Brienne was supposed to turn into Pretty Meris. At the end of A Feast for Crows, she learns that Arya caught a boat to Bravos. I think George Martin wanted Brianne to follow Arya to Essos and during that 5-year Gap she joins a sellsword company and over time is turned into Pretty Meris. Of course that never happened but he kept the pretty Pretty Meris character.
Or perhaps a video on how George Martin will not release Winds Of Winter until the Fire and Blood show is complete. He's introducing concepts into that TV show that will affect how his book story ends. For example Aegon's prophecy was not mentioned in the books but only in the show. However it may have an impact on how the book ends. Or, as we see in the latest Fire and Blood trailer, the Isle of faces. What do they plan to do with it? I would imagine whatever they do it will be magical and it may impact the overall story.
This is what I love about A Song of Ice and Fire, it is so complex on so many wonderful levels. Anyway, food for thought :-)
@@omarbey3868 i am planning a video on Aegon's prophecy that will come out during the show hopefully.
I never knew there was a connection with ASOIAF & Namor & Ebony Blade! #Marvel
What if Vayrian steel is made from sacrificing Valyrian children? Dragonblood bound, giving them magical properties. And now since Valyria is lost, so are the babies...now they just repair the swords using dragonseeds
Nailed it!