magic Archives - History of Westeros

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 7 – Bloodraven

The first of THREE Bloodraven episodes and part 7 of our Blackfyre Rebellions series. This one covers the time from his birth until the death of King Daeron II.

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. His pallid skin and bone-white hair made him look a living corpse. Across his cheek and chin spread a wine-stain birthmark that was supposed to resemble a red raven, though Dunk only saw an odd-shaped blotch of discolored skin. He stared so hard that Bloodraven felt it. The king’s sorcerer had turned to study him as he went by. He had one eye, and that one red. The other was an empty socket, the gift Bittersteel had given him upon the Redgrass Field. Yet it seemed to Dunk that both eyes had looked right through his skin, down to his very soul. Despite the heat, the memory made him shiver. – The Sworn Sword

Bloodraven Images

https://youtu.be/1eGA7K3hWZ0

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 7 – Bloodraven (https://youtu.be/1eGA7K3hWZ0)

The Crypts of Winterfell

Explore the dark and ancient past of House Stark and Winterfell. We discuss the crypts, statues, history, dreams, and Bael the Bard. Plus skinchangers, direwolves, dragons, the fires of the earth and so much more. So let’s descend into the crypts of Winterfell. Spooky~~~

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The castle itself is peculiar in that the Starks did not level the ground when laying down the foundations and walls of the castle. Very likely, this reveals that the castle was built in pieces over the years rather than being planned as a single structure. Some scholars suspect that it was once a complex of linked ringforts, though the centuries have eradicated almost all evidence of this. – TWOIAF

By ancient custom an iron longsword had been laid across the lap of each who had been Lord of Winterfell, to keep the vengeful spirits in their crypts. The oldest had long ago rusted away to nothing, leaving only a few red stains where the metal had rested on stone. Ned wondered if that meant those ghosts were free to roam the castle now. He hoped not. The first Lords of Winterfell had been men hard as the land they ruled. – AGOT, Eddard I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7amecNz4Kek

The Crypts of Winterfell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7amecNz4Kek)

The Heresies of Septon Barth (spoilers)

A detailed look at the life, times and works of the man who knows the most about the “higher mysteries”. Want to learn more about dragons, ravens, or why the seasons are so crazy? You do not want to miss this episode on Septon Barth. He’s the leading expert in all of A Song of Ice and Fire on those topics and more! We made this episode before Fire and Blood.

Ser Ryam Redwyne was the greatest knight of his day, and one of the worst Hands ever to serve a king. Septon Murmison’s prayers worked miracles, but as Hand he soon had the whole realm praying for his death. Lord Butterwell was renowned for wit, Myles Smallwood for courage, Ser Otto Hightower for learning, yet they failed as Hands, every one. As for birth, the dragonkings oft chose Hands from amongst their own blood, with results as various as Baelor Breakspear and Maegor the Cruel. Against this, you have Septon Barth, the blacksmith’s son the Old King plucked from the Red Keep’s library, who gave the realm forty years of peace and plenty.

He was the son of a common blacksmith and had been given to the Faith while young. But his brilliance made itself known, and in time he came to serve in the library at the Red Keep, tending the king’s books and records. There King Jaehaerys became acquainted with him…

With Barth’s aid and advice, King Jaehaerys did more to reform the realm than any other king who lived before or after.

Yet if Alysanne was Jaehaerys’s great love, his greatest friend was Septon Barth. No man of humble birth ever rose so high as the plainspoken but brilliant septon.

Dragons

Septon Barth’s claim that the Valyrians came to Westeros because their priests prophesied that the Doom of Man would come out of the land beyond the narrow sea can safely be dismissed as nonsense, as can many of Barth’s queerer beliefs and suppositions.

Dragons are neither male nor female. Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-86Pn9XLuc

The Heresies of Septon Barth (spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-86Pn9XLuc)