History of Westeros

The Great Empire of the Dawn

The Long Night, Azor Ahai, strange stone, dragonlords & ancient bloodlines! This episode on The Great Empire of the Dawn, with 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. That’s 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, included below!

Credits

Our introduction, stone animations, and the awesome new Essos map were created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox). dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces.
The Reader (Martin Lewis of Echoes of Ice and Fire).
Durran Durrandon’s “Daenerys is the Amethyst Empress Reborn” Essay.

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 Bones and Beyond

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

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

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 5 – Bittersteel

The Blackfyre series returns! This time: the life of Aegor Rivers, aka Bittersteel. Aziz also does a Grandpa Simpson impression.

Credits

Our new introduction, animations, and the Bittersteel sigil were created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox). dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces.

“Younger than Daemon Blackfyre, older than Bloodraven. Bittersteel was also a warrior, and looked the part. He was only half Targaryen, so he got the purple eyes, but his hair was black. As an adult he wore a beard, cropped very short, little more than a shadow on his face and jaws. Somewhat of a Conanesque look to him, but not the Frank Frazetta Conan and definitely not the Arnold Conan, more the Barry Windsor-Smith version, or the one described by REH (Robert E. Howard)– he is tall and well made, but lean and lithe as a panther. And angry. No smiles here. Bittersteel was pissed off all his life, and had a special loathing for Bloodraven and his mother, who had displayed his own mother as the king’s favorite.” – GRRM

Serenei was the most beautiful of Aegon’s mistresses, but she was also reputed to be a sorceress. She died giving birth to the last of the king’s bastard children, a girl called Shiera Seastar who became the greatest beauty in the Seven Kingdoms, beloved of both her half brothers, Bittersteel and Bloodraven, whose rivalry would ripen to hatred.

“I should have gone with Bittersteel into exile, or died beside my sons and my sweet king. That would have been a death worthy of a chequy lion descended from so many proud lords and mighty warriors. Daeron’s mercy made me smaller.”

Bittersteel Sigil by Klaradox
Bittersteel Sigil by Klaradox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IyZi47RyM4

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”! It is a truly epic chapter. Find PoorQuentyn’s transcript of The Winds of Winter: The Forsaken here. Check out our episode on Euron Greyjoy, also with PoorQuentyn, here. We are recording a Valar Rereadis episode on it too, so look out for that!

Credits

Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox) created our intro video. dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces.

“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.”

Valyrian Armor

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwjmMDMo-tQ

“Falia Flowers,” he called. “Have courage, girl! All this will be over soon, and we will feast together in the Drowned God’s watery halls.” The girl raised up her head, but made no answer. She has no tongue to answer with, Damphair knew. He licked his lips, and tasted salt.

Aziz vs. ADWD Epilogue

A breakdown of the final chapter in ADWD!

This episode was created as part of our Patreon reward system! Patreon voters will select from a short list of chapters and Aziz will record an episode breaking down that chapter. A new installation will come periodically. All the foreshadowing and parallels, the historical references, easter eggs and fates of secondary characters. All the fun.

These episodes will be available for Patreon supporters only until TWoW is released! When that happens, we’ll switch to discussing a TWoW chapter each time instead. The TWoW chapter recordings will be for Patreon supporters only, and the previous episodes will be released for anyone. This ADWD chapter is the first episode in this series, so we released it as an example of how these Aziz vs. Chapter episodes will work.

Credits

Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox) created our introduction. dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces.

A knight of the Kingsguard was always posted at its far end. Tonight the duty had fallen to Ser Meryn Trant. With Balon Swann hunting the rogue knight Darkstar down in Dorne, Loras Tyrell gravely wounded on Dragon-stone, and Jaime vanished in the riverlands, only four of the White Swords remained in King’s Landing, and Ser Kevan had thrown Osmund Kettleblack (and his brother Osfryd) into the dungeon within hours of Cersei’s confessing that she had taken both men as lovers. That left only Trant, the feeble Boros Blount, and Qyburn’s mute monster Robert Strong to protect the young king and royal family.

Ser Kevan was cold as ice, and every labored breath sent a fresh stab of pain through him. He glimpsed movement, heard the soft scuffling sound of slippered feet on stone. A child emerged from a pool of darkness, a pale boy in a ragged robe, no more than nine or ten. Another rose up behind the Grand Maester’s chair. The girl who had opened the door for him was there as well. They were all around him, half a dozen of them, white-faced children with dark eyes, boys and girls together. And in their hands, the daggers.

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

Grand Maester Pycelle bobbed his head. “Dragons. These same stories have reached Oldtown. Too many to discount. A silver-haired queen with three dragons.”

Asshai-by-the-Shadow

We look at this most ancient of cities, Asshai, the legend of Azor Ahai, and the origin of dragons. Are they all connected? Guest Lucifer Means Lightbringer joins us. Asshai is one of the most mysterious locations in the series, if not the most mysterious. There is a lot to talk about here. Let’s get into it!

Credits

Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox) created our new introduction. dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces. Joey Townsend did our intro music, as you all know by now, and Ash did the video editing.

And so we come, nearly, to the end of the world. Or, at least, the end of our knowledge. Easternmost and southernmost of the great cities of the known world, the ancient port of Asshai stands at the end of a long wedge of land, on the point where the Jade Sea meets the Saffron Straits. Its origins are lost in the mists of time. Even the Asshai’i do not claim to know who built their city. They will say only that a city has stood here since the world began and will stand here until it ends. Few places in the known world are as remote as Asshai, and fewer are as forbidding.

The dark city by the Shadow is a city steeped in sorcery. Warlocks, wizards, alchemists, moonsingers, red priests, black alchemists, necromancers, aeromancers, pyromancers, bloodmages, torturers, inquisitors, poisoners, godswives, night-walkers, shapechangers, worshippers of the Black Goat and the Pale Child and the Lion of Night, all find welcome in Asshai-by-the-Shadow, where nothing is forbidden. Here they are free to practice their spells without restraint or censure, conduct their obscene rites, and fornicate with demons if that is their desire.

The City

Travelers tell us that the city is built entirely of black stone: halls, hovels, temples, palaces, streets, walls, bazaars, all. Some say as well that the stone of Asshai has a greasy, unpleasant feel to it, that it seems to drink the light, dimming tapers and torches and hearth fires alike. The nights are very black in Asshai, all agree. Even the brightest days of summer are somehow grey and gloomy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McX_v93MaLE

Q: [Will we see Asshai?]
A: Only in flashback and memory, if at all.

– GRRM, SSM, 2008

Dark Sister

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! Plus we have speculation about the sword’s future. Let us know what you think the future of the sword is.

Ash has since learned new information straight from GRRM himself – that Bloodraven took Dark Sister with him to the Wall! She asked him this in August 2018, which is two and a half years after this episode.

Credits

Thank you to Joey Townsend for our intro music, and to Ed Scheer for the art. And as always, thank you to our wonderful patrons.

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 by Ed Scheer
by Ed Scheer (The Art of Geekishness)

On one occasion in 10 AC, Aegon and Visenya were both attacked in the streets of King’s Landing. 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.”

“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.”

Bloodraven

“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.”

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

House Dayne: Part 2 – History & Lore

Aziz and special guest LML 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!

Credits

Thanks to LML of Astronomy of Ice and Fire for joining us on this episode, and for helping with the quotes. Michael Klarfeld made the maps used.

“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.

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.

Sword of the Morning

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…

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.

Dayne of High Hermitage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBv3eU_rA8

House Dayne: Part 1 – Characters

Aziz & Ashaya break down the major characters from House Dayne. Theories, background and predictions!

Credits

Thanks to Lucifer Means Lightbringer of Astronomy of Ice and Fire for the quotes! Michael Klarfeld did the maps.

“The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him the Sword of the Morning, and he would have killed me but for Howland Reed.”

“He wondered what Ser Arthur Dayne would have to say of this lot. “How is it that the Kingsguard has fallen so low,” most like.”

“The Prince of Dragonstone had never trusted him as he had trusted Arthur Dayne. Harrenhal was proof of that. The year of the false spring. The memory was still bitter.”

The Dornishmen who had come to court with the Princess Elia were in the prince’s confidence as well, particularly Prince Lewyn Martell, Elia’s uncle and a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard. But the most formidable of all Rhaegar’s friends and allies in King’s Landing was surely Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.

Darkstar

“Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night.”

“Continuing the most ambitious and imaginative epic fantasy since The Lord of the Rings The action in Book Four of A Song of Ice and Fire begins the day after the end of A STORM OF SWORDS. While the remaining northern lords war endlessly with each other and the ironmen of the isles attack the Dreadfort, Sansa becomes a skilled player in the game of thrones with Littlefinger as her mentor, Arya a skilled assassin, and Bran a magician and shapeshifter of great power. All seek to gain revenge for the death of their parents and Robb Stark, whose head was cut off and replaced with the head of his direwolf. Valar morghulis. All men must die, and wolves, too. Danerys trains her growing dragons and learns from Barristan the secrets of her father, her brother Rhaegar, and other matters that will culminate at Starfell. And Jon Snow is the nine-hundredth-and-ninety-eighth lord commander of the Night’s Watch. The Wall is his. The night is dark, and he has King Stannis to face. The cold wind is rising, and still there are inhuman powers gathering in the north.”

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

House Royce (spoiler free)

Aziz delivers a sermon on House Royce, the ancient Bronze clad stalwarts of the Vale. Included are connections to House Stark, Ser Waymar from the prologue, and Bronze Yohn, who is dealing with Littlefinger.

Credits

Thanks to Lady Gwyn of Radio Westeros for the quotes!

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. The Bronze Kings
  2. Steel Beats Bronze
  3. Dragons in the Vale
  4. A Song of Ice and Fire…and Bronze

Royce Runes

One of the mightiest houses of the Vale, the Royces still boast proudly of their descent from the First Men and their last great king, Robar II. Even to this day, the Lords of Runestone go into battle clad in the bronze armor of their forebears, etched with runes that are said to ward the armor’s wearer from harm.

“…the number of Royces who have died whilst wearing this runic armor is daunting.”

“Maester Denestan in his Questions speculates that the armor is far less ancient than it appears.”

Though Gulltown itself was seemingly secure behind its thick stone walls, King Osgood and his forebears had long been waging an intermittent war against the Bronze Kings of Runestone, a more powerful neighbor from a house as old and storied as their own. Yorwyck Royce, Sixth of That Name, had claimed the Runic Crown when his sire died in battle three years previous, and had proved to be a most redoubtable foe, defeating the Shetts in several battles and driving them back inside their town walls.

Royce Connections

Not all the lords and kings of the First Men were so foolish as to invite their conquerors into their halls and homes. Many chose to fight instead. Chief amongst these was … Bronze King, Yorwyck VI of Runestone, who led the Royces to several notable victories over the Andals, at one point smashing seven longships that had dared to land upon his shores and decorating the walls of Runestone with the heads of their captains and crews. His heirs carried on the fight after him, for the wars between the First Men and the Andals lasted for generations.

“Daemon had been wed to Rhea Royce in 97 AC when she was heir to the ancient seat of Runestone in the Vale. It was a fine, rich match. But Daemon found the Vale little to his liking, and liked his wife even less, and they were soon estranged.”

“At the Great Council of 101 AC, the Arryns played little role, as Lady Jeyne was in her minority. To the Council in her stead came the Lord Protector of the Vale, Yorbert Royce of Runestone.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmsvu8vbYpg

Blackfyre Rebellions: Part 4 – The Battle of Redgrass Field (spoiler free)

Aziz is joined by guests Steven Attewell (Race for the Iron Throne) and Jim McGeehin (Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire) to recap and explain one of the largest battles in the history of Westeros: the battle of Redgrass Field. The Red Dragon vs. The Black Dragon, winner takes the Iron Throne. Find the rest of our Blackfyre series here.

The primary topics in this episode:

  1. My Kingdom For An Arrest
  2. Red or Black: Recruitment, Propaganda & Ambition
  3. The Battles before Redgrass
  4. The Day the Grass Bled

“I will never forget the way the sun looked when it set upon the Redgrass Field…ten thousand men had died, and the air was thick with moans and lamentations, but above us the sky turned gold and red and orange, so beautifully it made me weep to know that my sons would never see it.” He sighed. “It was a closer thing than they would have you believe, these days. If not for Bloodraven…”

Red or black? was a dangerous question, even now. Since the days of Aegon the Conquerer, the arms of House Targaryen had borne a three-headed dragon, red on black. Daemon the Pretender had reversed those colors on his own banners, as many bastards did.

“It would suit Lord Bloodraven if their names were all forgotten, so he has forbidden us to sing of them, but I remember. Robb Reyne, Gareth the Grey, Ser Aubrey Ambrose, Lord Gormon Peake, Black Byren Flowers, Redtusk, Fireball . . . Bittersteel! I ask you, has there ever been such a noble company, such a roll of heroes?”

Daemon

Old fools and young malcontents still make pilgrimages to the Redgrass Field to plant flowers on the spot where Daemon Blackfyre fell.

Daemon was the Warrior himself that day. No man could stand before him. He broke Lord Arryn’s van to pieces and slew the Knight of Ninestars and Wild Wyl Waynwood before coming up against Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard. For near an hour they danced together on their horses, wheeling and circling and slashing as men died all around them. It’s said that whenever Blackfyre and Lady Forlorn clashed, you could hear the sound for a league around. It was half a song and half a scream, they say. But when at last the Lady faltered, Blackfyre clove through Ser Gwayne’s helm and left him blind and bleeding.

“There was much and more afterward, I know. I saw a bit of it myself . . . the rebels running, Bittersteel turning the rout and leading his mad charge . . . his battle with Bloodraven, second only to the one Daemon fought with Gwayne Corbray . . . Prince Baelor’s hammerblow against the rebel rear, the Dornishmen all screaming as they filled the air with spears . . . but at the end of the day, it made no matter. The war was done when Daemon died.”

“Some have written of the boldness of the men who fought with Daemon, and others of their treason. But for all their valor in the field and their enmity against Daeron, theirs was a lost cause. Daemon and his eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon, were brought down beneath the withering fall of arrows sent by Brynden Rivers and his private guards, the Raven’s Teeth. This was followed by Bittersteel’s mad charge, with Blackfyre in his hand, as he attempted to rally Daemon’s forces. Meeting with Bloodraven in the midst of the charge, a mighty duel ensued, which left Bloodraven blinded in one eye and sent Bittersteel fleeing.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYbwv1jkdwU

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