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The Great Empire of the Dawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfDBq1c7LdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YcOOzIWwtM


The Long Night, Azor Ahai, strange stone, dragonlords & ancient bloodlines; this episode on The Great Empire of the Dawn, with Lucifer Means Lightbringer of Mythical Astronomy of Ice & Fire has it all! GRRM gave us all a lot to think about with regard to the (way)back-story provided in TWOIAF on top of what was already present in ASOIAF proper. Here we attempt to cover as much of it as possible in one place. We also recorded a Q&A episode where we answered the questions you submitted!

Credits
Our introduction, stone animations, and the awesome new Essos map were created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox), with the cyvasse pieces created by dutchmogul. Check out the episode on YouTube or the Acast player below to see those images, as well as art by Ed Scheer.
The Reader (Martin Lewis of Echoes of Ice and Fire).
Durran Durrandon’s “Daenerys is the Amethyst Empress Reborn” Essay.

The primary topics in this episode:

  • Part 1 – Legacy of the Ancients
  • Part 2 – The (Old) Long Night
  • Part 3 – Strange Stone
  • Part 4 – The First Men of the Dawn
  • Part 5 – The (New) Long Night
  • Outro

“In ancient days, the God emperors of Yi Ti were as powerful as any ruler on earth, with wealth that exceeded even that of Valyria at its height and armies of almost unimaginable size. In the beginning, the priestly scribes of Yin declare, all the land between the Bones and the freezing desert called the Grey Waste, from the Shivering Sea to the Jade Sea (including even the great and holy isle of Leng), formed a single realm ruled by the God-on-Earth, the only begotten son of the Lion of Night and Maiden Made-of-Light, who traveled about his domains in a palanquin carved from a single pearl and carried by a hundred queens, his wives. For ten thousand years the Great Empire of the Dawn flourished in peace and plenty under the God-on-Earth, until at last he ascended to the stars to join his forebears.”
– The Bones and Beyond, TWOIAF

How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree it was only when a great warrior – known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser – arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.
– The Bones and Beyond, TWOIAF

“Yet the great empire of the Dawn was not reborn, for the restored world was a broken place where every tribe of men went its own way, fearful of all the others, and war and lust and murder endured, even to our present day. Or so of the men and women of the further east believe.”
– The Bones and Beyond, TWOIAF

“Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white and their eyes were Opal and Amethyst, Tourmaline and Jade. “Faster,” they cried. “Faster, faster!””
– Daenerys IX, AGOT

“Even more enigmatic to scholars and historians is the great square fortress of black stone that dominates that isle. For most of recorded history, this monumental edifice has served as the foundation and lowest level of the Hightower, yet we know for a certainty that it predates the upper levels of the tower by thousands of years.”
– The Reach, TWOIAF

“If indeed this first Fortress is Valyrian, it suggests that the dragonlords came to Westeros thousands of years before they carved out their outpost on Dragonstone, long before the coming of the Andals, or even the First Men.”
– The Reach, TWOIAF

“The dragonlords of Valyria, as is well known, possessed the art of turning stone to liquid with dragonflame, shaping it as they would, then fusing it harder than iron, steel, or granite.”
– The Reach, TWOIAF

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: age of heroes, amethyst empress, asshai, audio, bloodstone emperor, daenerys targaryen, dawn, dawn age, eldric shadowchaser, essos, euron greyjoy, house dayne, house hightower, hyrkoon the hero, iron islands, ironborn, jon snow, last hero, lightbringer, lomas longstrider, long night, lucifermeanslightbringer, neferion, oldtown, sarnor, strange stone, the great empire of the dawn, the world of ice and fire, valyrian steel, video, yeen, yi ti, yin tar

House Dayne: Part 2 – History & Lore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBv3eU_rA8


Aziz and special guest Lucifer Means Lightbringer discuss the mystical and ancient side of House Dayne. Dawn (is it Lightbringer?), Sword of the Morning (who decides?), the castles of Starfall and High Hermitage… and plenty more!

Thanks to Lucifer Means Lightbringer of Astronomy of Ice and Fire for joining us on this episode, and for helping with the quotes.

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. Intro
  2. Part 1 – The Dawn of Dayne
  3. Part 2 – Under the Sun and the Spear
  4. Part 3 – Starfall in Flames
  5. Part 4 – The Sword of the Morning
  6. Part 5 – The Look of Dragonlords
  7. Outtro

“The Daynes of Starfall are one of the most ancient houses in the Seven Kingdoms, though their fame largely rests on their ancestral sword, called Dawn, and the men who wielded it.”

“At the mouth of the Torrentine, House Dayne raised its castle on an island where that roaring, tumultuous river broadens to meet the sea. Legend says the first Dayne was led to the site when he followed the track of a falling star and there found a stone of magical powers. His descendants ruled over the western mountains for centuries thereafter as Kings of the Torrentine and Lords of Starfall.”

“The Swords of the Morning are all famous throughout the Seven Kingdoms. There are boys who secretly dream of being a son of Starfall so they might claim that storied sword and its title. Most famous of all was Ser Arthur Dayne…”

Matters escalated, and more Dornish seats fell to dragonfire in 9 AC. The Dornish responded a year later by sending a host under Lord Fowler that seized and burned the great marcher castle of Nightsong and carried off its lords and defenders as hostages, whilst another army under Ser Joffrey Dayne marched to the very walls of Oldtown, razing the fields and villages outside it.”

“Its origins are lost to legend, but it seems likely that the Daynes have carried it for thousands of years. Those who have had the honor of examining it say it looks like no Valyrian steel they know, being pale as milkglass but in all other respects it seems to share the properties of Valyrian blades, being incredibly strong and sharp.”

“The two years that followed were later called the years of the Dragon’s Wroth. Grief-stricken at the death of their beloved sister, King Aegon and Queen Visenya set ablaze every castle, keep, and holdfast in Dorne at least once . . . save for Sunspear and the shadow city.”

“The great beauty of the Valyrians – with their hair of the palest silver or gold and eyes in shades of purple not found amongst any other people in the world – is well known, and often held up as proof that the Valyrians are not entirely of the same blood as other men.”

“When Mors Martell took Nymeria to wife, hundreds of his knights, squires, and lords bannermen also wed Rhoynish women, and many of those who were already wed took them for their paramours.”

“When at last she died, it was the eldest of her four daughters by Mors Martell who succeeded her, not her son by Davos Dayne, for by then the Dornish had come to adopt many of the laws and customs of the Rhoynar.”

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Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: audio, davos dayne, dawn, dorne, high hermitage, house dayne, joffrey dayne, lightbringer, nymeria of the rhoynar, queen nymeria, samwell dayne, samwell starfire, starfall, sword of the morning, valyria, video

History: House Martell (spoiler free)

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Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: alyn velaryon, arthur dayne, audio, baelor the blessed, boneway, conquest of dorne, daeron, daeron the young dragon, dawn, dorne, edric dayne, elia martell, ghaston grey, house dayne, house fowler, house martell, house uller, house yronwood, lewyn martell, mors martell, nymeria, oakenfist, paramour, prince's pass, rhoynar, spoiler free, stepstones, yellow toad

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