History of Westeros

The Three-Eyed Bloodraven

The third of our THREE (1, 2) Bloodraven episodes. This one has a deep dive into the life of Brynden Rivers beginning from the point at which he took the Black. Was he a ranger? What did he and Maester Aemon talk about? Who is Coldhands? and much more on… the Three-Eyed Bloodraven!

Thanks to guest producer Zack of Game of Owns!

Before them a pale lord in ebon finery sat dreaming in a tangled nest of roots, a woven weirwood throne that embraced his withered limbs as a mother does a child. His body was so skeletal and his clothes so rotted that at first Bran took him for another corpse, a dead man propped up so long that the roots had grown over him, under him, and through him. What skin the corpse lord showed was white, save for a bloody blotch that crept up his neck onto his cheek. His white hair was fine and thin as root hair and long enough to brush against the earthen floor. Roots coiled around his legs like wooden serpents. One burrowed through his breeches into the desiccated flesh of his thigh, to emerge again from his shoulder. A spray of dark red leaves sprouted from his skull, and grey mushrooms spotted his brow. A little skin remained, stretched across his face, tight and hard as white leather, but even that was fraying, and here and there the brown and yellow bone beneath was poking through.

– Bran II, ADWD
  • Bloodraven's sigil by Abjiklam
    Bloodraven’s sigil by Abjiklam
  • Eastwatch
    Eastwatch
  • Bloodraven by Luciferys
    By Luciferys
  • Bloodraven by Mike Hallstein
    By Mike Hallstein
  • Bloodraven by Luciferys
    By Luciferys
  • Bloodraven by Mike Hallstein
    By Mike Hallstein
  • Bloodraven by ProKriK
    By ProKriK
  • Bloodraven by Luciferys
    By Luciferys
  • Manuscript note from GRRM
    Manuscript note from GRRM

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 8 – Bloodraven 2

The second of THREE Bloodraven episodes and part 8 of our Blackfyre Rebellions series. This one covers Bloodraven’s time as Hand up to the point where he takes the Black. A full accounting of the reigns of Aerys I and Maekar, plus Aerion Brightflame, Daeron the Drunkard, Egg, Maester Aemon, Blackfyres and so much more including the discovery of the Prince That Was Promised prophecy. Big thanks to Camille Stoner and Valkyrist (who you can catch on the Vassals of Kingsgrave pod) for the voices, and to all the art contributors, particularly Klaradox for the maps, as always.

Bloodraven proved to be a capable Hand, but also a master of whispers who rivaled Lady Misery, and there were those who thought he and his half sister and paramour, Shiera Seastar, used sorcery to ferret out secrets. It became common to refer to his “thousand eyes and one,” and men both high and low began to distrust their neighbor for fear of their being a spy in Bloodraven’s employ. Yet Aerys had need of spies, given the trouble that followed the Great Spring Sickness. Summer came, and with it a drought that lasted more than two years. Many blamed the king, and many more accused Bloodraven. There were poor brothers who preached treason, and knights and lords as well. And amongst those were some who whispered a specific treason: that the Black Dragon must return from across the narrow sea and take its rightful place. – The World of Ice and Fire.

Dark Sister

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfssg3tW820


Everything you ever wanted to know (and more) regarding the Valyrian Steel Sword Dark Sister. Famous owners from Queen Visenya to Bloodraven, and all their epic kills!

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. Intro
  2. Origin
  3. Dark Sister and the Dark Sister
  4. The Old King
  5. Prince Daemon Targaryen
  6. The Dragonknight
  7. Bloodraven
  8. O Sister, Where Art Thou?
  9. Outtro
  10. Post-Credits Fun

“…the Valyrian longsword Dark Sister, whose slender blade is designed for a woman’s hand.”

“Even in the heart of King’s Landing, no one was safe. Lord Fell was smothered in a brothel, and King Aegon himself was attacked on three separate occasions. When Queen Visenya and an escort were set upon, two of her guards died before she cut down the last villain herself with Dark Sister.”

“Dark Sister was made for nobler tasks than slaughtering sheep. She has a thirst for blood.”

“The princess was not slow in answering this charge. She dispatched Prince Daemon to seize Ser Vaemond, had his head removed, and fed his carcass to her dragon.”

On one occasion in 10 AC, Aegon and Visenya were both attacked in the streets of King’s Landing, and if not for Visenya and Dark Sister, the king might not have survived. Despite this, the king still believed that his guards were sufficient to his defense; Visenya convinced him otherwise. (It is recorded that when Aegon pointed out his guardsmen,Visenya drew Dark Sister and cut his cheek before his guards could react. “Your guards are slow and lazy,” Visenya is reported to have said, and the king was forced to agree.)”

“In the confusion after her death, Aenys’s widow, Queen Alyssa, slipped away from Dragonstone with her children, as well as with Dark Sister, Visenya’s Valyrian steel sword.”

“In 108 AC, when at last he came face-to-face with Craghas Crabfeeder, he slew him single-handed and cut off his head with Dark Sister.”

“He proved the greatest jouster and swordsman of his age—a knight worthy to bear Dark Sister. He became known as the Dragonknight for the three-headed dragon crest wrought in white gold upon his helm.”

“Six years ago in King’s Landing, Dunk had seen him with his own two eyes, as he rode a pale horse up the Street of Steel with fifty Raven’s Teeth behind him. That was before King Aerys had ascended to the Iron Throne and made him the Hand, but even so he cut a striking figure, garbed in smoke and scarlet with Dark Sister on his hip.”

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Dark Sister by Ed Scheer

Dark Sister by Ed Scheer (The Art of Geekishness)

The Tragedy of Summerhall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK25XfDFsIM

The Tragedy of Summerhall was a spectacular attempt by Aegon V to hatch dragon eggs, and it failed spectacularly, killing most to all of the participants plus at least some, probably most of, the witnesses. Summerhall has some really surprising aspects to it, and explains quite a lot more than we could’ve hoped it would, despite so much of it still remaining mysterious. Not just in what happened, but in how it impacts the more recent, and even the current, ASOIAF storyline.

This episode will have a second (shorter) part focusing on the aftermath of Summerhall, examining the effects on Aerys, Rhaegar, and the realm..

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. History of Summerhall
  2. The Realm of Aegon V, Treason & Turmoil
  3. Dragon Dreams
  4. Enablers: The Wisdom & the Ghost
  5. The Ritual

“What became of the dream of dragons was a grievous tragedy born in a moment of joy. In the fateful year 259 AC, the king summoned many of those closest to him to Summerhall, his favorite castle, there to celebrate the impending birth of his first great-grandchild, a boy later named Rhaegar, to his grandson Aerys and granddaughter Rhaella, the children of Prince Jaehaerys.”

“Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.”

“My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one.”

Daeron [the 2nd] raised a great seat in the Dornish marches, near to where the boundaries of the Reach, the stormlands, and Dorne met. Calling it Summerhall to mark the peace he had created, it was more palace than castle and lightly fortified at best; in the years to come, many sons of House Targaryen would hold the seat as Prince of Summerhall.”

 

“The last years of Aegon’s reign were consumed by a search for ancient lore about the dragon breeding of Valyria, and it was said that Aegon commissioned journeys to places as far away as Asshai-by-the-Shadow with the hopes of finding texts and knowledge that had not been preserved in Westeros.”

 

“As he grew older, Aegon V had come to dream of dragons flying once more above the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. In this, he was not unlike his predecessors, who brought septons to pray over the last eggs, mages to work spells over them, and maesters to pore over them. Though friends and counselors sought to dissuade him, King Aegon grew ever more convinced that only with dragons would he ever wield sufficient power to make the changes he wished to make in the realm and force the proud and stubborn lords of the Seven Kingdoms to accept his decrees.”

 

“The dragons are done. The Targaryens tried to bring them back half a dozen times. And made fools of themselves, or corpses.”

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History: The Kingsguard (spoiler free)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7RYYWJzX_w

Learn more about famous Kingsguard members like Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, Barristan the Bold, and Ser Arthur Dayne. There are no spoilers past A Storm of Swords.
Some had been heroes, some weaklings, knaves, or cravens. Most were only men.

There are some technical difficulties in this episode that are edited out of the audio version. Please listen to that for a better experience, or go ahead and laugh at the video when one of us forgets to unmute our mic!

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Plots: Oldtown & The Citadel (spoilers)

In this episode, Steve, Aziz & Ashaya discuss maesters, Oldtown, and House Hightower through A Dance with Dragons. Individual maesters, including Marwyn the Mage, are covered.
The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.

The sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler.

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