Nymeria: Part 2 – Ten Thousand Ships
GRRM’s version of the Odyssey is here! We’ve got Brindled Men, wyverns, killer diseases, ancient cities, corsairs, dark gods. Plus characters like Daenerys, Missandei and her brothers, Victarion, Barristan Selmy and his new knights. See our previous episode in our Nymeria series here. Special thanks to Michal Schick of Vassals of Kingsgrave podcast and Hypable for the voices.
Legend tells us that Nymeria took ten thousand ships to sea, searching for a new home for her people beyond the long reach of Valyria and its dragonlords. Beldecar argues that this number was vastly inflated, perhaps as much as tenfold. Other chroniclers offer other numbers, but in truth no true count was ever made. We can safely say there were a great many ships. Most were river craft, skiffs and poleboats, trading galleys, fishing boats, pleasure barges, even rafts, their decks and holds crammed full of women and children and old men. Only one in ten was remotely seaworthy, Beldecar insists.
– The World of Ice and Fire
Nymeria’s voyage was long and terrible. More than a hundred ships foundered and sank in the first storm her fleet encountered. As many or more turned back in fear, and were taken by slavers out of Volantis. Others fell behind or drifted away, never to be seen again. The remainder of the fleet limped across the Summer Sea to the Basilisk Isles…
Euron Greyjoy (TWOW spoilers)
We’re joined by special guest PoorQuentyn for a look at Euron Greyjoy’s past, present and future. This episode includes spoilers for The Forsaken chapter from The Winds of Winter. Listen to our episode on The Forsaken here.
Credits
Our introduction and the Westeros and Essos maps 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 and some great art of Euron while listening, as well as the newest art of Mazzalicartho, by Azany. You can also find these images below.
The primary topics in this episode:
Meta-History
Becoming Crow’s Eye
The New Old Way
Above the Game… of Thrones
Outro
Tell the Crow’s Eye he’s afraid of kinslaying, and he’ll murder one of his own sons just to prove you wrong.” – ADWD, The Wayward Bride
“Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air… I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy… protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence.” He laughed. “Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.” – AFFC, The Iron Captain
Mazzalicartho has grown! Art by Azany.
The Winds of Winter: The Forsaken
We were among the first on the planet to hear this chapter, and it’s safe to say: we’re taken by the “The Forsaken”! PoorQuentyn’s transcript of The Winds of Winter: The Forsaken can be found here. Our new introduction was created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox), with the cyvasse pieces created by dutchmogul.
The primary topics in this episode:
- Part 1 – Euron
- Part 2 – To Valyria and Beyond
- Part 3 – Dreams, Visions & Hallucinations
- Part 4 – Of Sacrifice and Bait
- Outro
“The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand, and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts.”
“I think the Damphair’s dead. I think the Crow’s Eye slit his throat for him. Ironmaker’s search is just to make us believe the priest escaped. Euron is afraid to be seen as a kinslayer.” – The Wayward Bride, ADWD
Euron Crow’s Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel.
Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days before the Doom, but even then, they would’ve cost a kingdom.”
“If your Drowned God did not smite me for killing three brothers, why should he bestir himself for the fourth?”
“Euron did not lie. He has been to Valyria. No wonder he was mad.”
“A weaker man might have wept, but Aeron Damphair prayed, waking, sleeping, even in his fever dreams he prayed. My god is testing me. I must be strong, I must be true.”
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Bonus: The Hellhorn (spoilers)
This episode contains very mild spoilers for The Winds of Winter, giving us a better understanding of the titular Dragonbinder, the horn with Valyrian glyphs that sounds like hell but can supposedly control dragons.
No mortal man shall sound me and live.
“Probably better to predict chaos and the unexpected.” – Aziz
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Part I: The Sound: A Scream That Burns
Part II: The Look: Black, Gold & Valyrian Steel
Part III: The Origin: Fire and Blood of the Freehold
Part IV: The Plan: From Slaver’s Bay to the Iron Throne
Part V: The Predictions: What Comes To Pass When It Sounds?
The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Fire (mega-spoilers)
A huge battle is about to occur in The Winds of Winter where several POV characters have converged. We break down the relevant spoiler chapters while detailing each of the participants’ motivations and expectations for the conflict. Theories, predictions and plenty of action from the battle itself!
I came for blood, not gold.
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Barristan I and II
Transcript of Victarion I
Tyrion I
Tyrion II
YouTube: Video of Victarion I (last 9 minutes)
History: The Iron Islands (spoiler free)
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