the wall Archives - 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? What’s up with the Raven’s Teeth, and much more in this episode on the Three-Eyed Bloodraven!

Thanks to guest producer Zack of Game of Owns!

The Last Greenseer

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

The last greenseer, the singers called him, but in Bran’s dreams he was still a three-eyed crow. When Meera Reed had asked him his true name, he made a ghastly sound that might have been a chuckle. “I wore many names when I was quick, but even I once had a mother, and the name she gave me at her breast was Brynden.” – Bran III, ADWD

Three-Eyed Bloodraven Images

Bloodraven's sigil by Abjiklam — Bloodraven’s sigil by Abjiklam

Eastwatch — Bloodraven’s sigil by Abjiklam

https://youtu.be/szq21CZrwts

History on Blood and Fire w/ Daniele Bolelli

A special episode! This is a collaboration with Daniele Bolelli of the History on Fire podcast. We chat about a wide variety of real world historical influences on A Game of Thrones/ASOIAF.

“The Wall comes from Hadrian’s Wall, which I saw while visiting Scotland. I stood on Hadrian’s Wall and tried to imagine what it would be like to be a Roman soldier sent here from Italy or Antioch. To stand here, to gaze off into the distance, not knowing what might emerge from the forest. Of course fantasy is the stuff of bright colours and being larger than real life, so my Wall is bigger and considerably longer and more magical. And, of course, what lies beyond it has to be more than just Scots.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pMXb0FkGM

History on Blood and Fire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pMXb0FkGM)

Euron Greyjoy (TWOW spoilers)

We’re joined by special guest PoorQuentyn for a look at Euron Greyjoy and his 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 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.

“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

Images of God

“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

Euron by Mike Hallstein — Mike Hallstein

Euron had seduced them with his glib tongue and smiling eye and bound them to his cause with the plunder of half a hundred distant lands; gold and silver, ornate armor, curved swords with gilded pommels, daggers of Valyrian steel, striped tiger pelts and the skins of spotted cats, jade manticores and ancient Valyrian sphinxes…

– AFFC, The Reaver

“When I was a boy, I dreamt that I could fly,” he announced. “When I woke, I couldn’t…. or so the maester said. But what if he lied?”

– The Reaver, AFFC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwKWMSTb1qE&t=6555s

Euron Greyjoy (TWOW spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwKWMSTb1qE&t=6555s)

Plots: Religion & Magic Part 1 – The Comet (spoilers)

The Red Comet

History of Westeros’ series on Religion & Magic kicks off with the great red comet, a sign interpreted by many and seen by all. Was it sent by the gods or is it a sign that magic and dragons have returned? Whatever the meaning, there will be blood and fire. Ash and Aziz give an overview of what to expect in the series while asking a bunch of tough questions. Particular attention is paid to parallels between various supernatural elements found throughout the books. Listen to the rest of our Religion & Magic series here. Our YouTube channel is here.

Quotes

The comet’s tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.

Dany looked and saw it, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.

It is my comet, Theon told himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVxAJ7t6W4

Religion & Magic: Part 1 – The Comet (spoilers) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVxAJ7t6W4)

That night she lay upon her thin blanket on the hard ground, staring up at the great red comet. The comet was splendid and scary all at once. “The Red Sword,” the Bull named it; he claimed it looked like a sword, the blade still red-hot from the forge. When Arya squinted the right way she could see the sword too, only it wasn’t a new sword, it was Ice, her father’s greatsword, all ripply Valyrian steel, and the red was Lord Eddard’s blood on the blade after Ser Ilyn the King’s Justice had cut off his head. Yoren had made her look away when it happened, yet it seemed to her that the comet looked like Ice must have, after.