I mean when D&D said they don't care about the magical & mystical elements of ASOIAF it should have been obvious that the show won't do justice to Martin's work and S8 was doomed.

It's hilarious that some people think Dany wakes up "mad queen" after her fever dream in the dothraki lands. They think "remeber who you are" means she's mad like her father. 😂😂😂 Such a basic idea. Thankfully GRRM is not basic.

I love how u connect the dots and show all the foreshadowing while simultaneously DESTROYING S8 of GoT. Respect. Lol Solid video as usual

Sam killed a white Walker using "frozen fire", so I can only assume fiery fire will melt them...

GRRM: "Alrighty fellas, it's important to understand that Danny is a Messianic/Savior character" D&D: " Right! She's a crazy Hitler/Stalin lady, Gotcha! "

I’m gonna cry like a baby when we get to read the chapter where Dany dies

I liked the idea of Dany and Jon go beyond the wall to destroy the heart of winter. Something similar to Frodo and Sam going to mount doom!

I really like the idea that using dragons for the conquering of man is a trap, the hubris of a dragon lord's power leads them to the obvious conclusion that they should be king/queen simply because no one can oppose them. Dany realizing that a true dragon lord has the power to actually change the world fits so well with GRRM's anti-war message! Great vid!

Unlike Rhaegar, Dany actually has some smarts and self-reflection abilities and will most probably win because of being a startegist and learning from the likes of Baristan

She's like Spiderman. Tells her husband she wants to claim the iron throne, then after unfortunate events he dies because of her desire. Then gets gifted with powers via her dragons and decides to use them to help the most amount of people she can.

If there is a hero in Game of Thrones, it's Daenerys. She's flawed and often ruthless, but her heart is pure. She will never be a killer of innocents. She must redeem the sins of the Mad King, revert the curse of Targaryen madness. The final battle is between the cold cruelty of ice and the cleansing fury of dragon fire. Even if Martin never finishes the series, it is so.

Dany's biggest lesson will happen when she connects the dots between the Valyrian Empire, modern slavery in Essos, the Dothraki and the cities who thrive on owning slaves. To me, one of the ways she can right the wrongs committed by her ancestors, is to understand that a good and just queen must protect her subjects from harm, first and foremost. She will do this by not becoming a queen, but by burning the Others and ending the cycle of summer and winter. I just started this video, but you can't imagine how grateful I am for stumbling upon it. It gives me a bit of solace to know that there are still people who believe she will not become a tyrant.

Love it. Dany is my favorite character I feel so sad and angry with how her story ends in S8. Thank you for giving us hope.

I never would’ve thought to put the connection between the white walkers in the unsullied together. That’s why I appreciate your videos because you’re always put things in a different perspective you make me go back and re-read the books.

Wow, I never caught that "ants coming over the Wall thing before". It's so obvious, I can't believe I missed that.

If we think quaithe is shierra sea star than we have her and bloodraven supporting two different champions. Funny we never really speak of dany in the same breath as bran but they are the two most magical characters right? Also the show robbed us those two interacting on screen

I cant believe I missed the connection between the unsullied and the wights.

Daenerys Targaryen is one of the most revered fictional characters of all time.

LML, the ligtbringer, father of birds, and liberator of minds

“Burn Them All” Aerys could have seen the Nightmare to come. He’s madness was just the product of his dragon dreams. Aerys had no dragons to tame and he felt powerless, use wildfire as a substitute.

"Ser Jorah touched Her hair" Jorah, at it again..grooming, Dany.. literally this time. Great vid though!! :)

Was not expecting this so early in the day. Also, the word Robot is drawn from an old Church Slavonic word, robota, for “servitude,” “forced labor” or “drudgery.” So its an apt description for the wights who are enslaved to the will of the Others.

Great parallel between the Others and the slave masters..The imagery is a perfect

I’m pretty convinced that by time Daenerys gets to Westeros she’ll head north ASAP.

This is why I feel like Dany won't be involved with the Aegon-JonCon plot. I feel like it would be way too much to cram into the last two books to have her be apart of both that plotline and this one. "This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened." sounds like her realizing her "true" purpose, which does not involve chasing the Iron Throne.

Her destiny is linked to The Others, and it's obvious. I also think she'll burn Volantis since it's the center of the slave trade, and her entire arc is about freeing the enslaved. I think Cersei will be the one to destroy KL when FAegon attacks KL.

Absolutely brilliant. I don’t really understand how a careful reading of the books can lead one to any other conclusion. Thanks for your careful analysis and explanation of foreshadowing.

"Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver" sounds like weirwoods waving as she sails the astral sea. You've spoken on Nissa Nissa *becoming* the weirwoodnet. Is Dany destined for something similar? How do you see the magical mechanics of that working? Would Dany retain any sense of identity or does she melt like Ygritte in the Winterfell pool and become a kind of elemental mother goddess? I like the idea of her purifying the weirwoodnet by fire and undoing the icy segregation that Azor Ahai/Night's King created.

Your theories are amazing! This one truly hits the mark. D and D really sold themselves short not utilizing Quaithe in the story.

This is one of my favourite videos of yours thus far! Makes me so excited for Dany's future arc in TWOW and ADOS

Good stuff, I really hope Dany gets a far better storyline then the show gave her but not convinced yet the GRRM wont make her do a heel turn. Great artwork too and that Daenerys Hiding in the Dothraki Sea by Hanhange is actually really cute and reminds me randomly of Princess Mononoke. Sure D and D would argue that the ants are those in kings landing not the others because they said how she isnt on the ground

We usually talk about the non-magical people as "stand-ins" for the magical ones (kingsguard for Others, unsullied for wights) because the magical ones are the endgame Big Bads, but from a literary perspective, it's really the other way around. Our author is expressing his anti-slavery morals, and in that way, the magical Big Bads are stand-ins for real-world non-magical oppressors.

I've been watching everything you have for months now, quietly. You are the only person I've heard mention Graham Hancock in the same sentence as ASOIAF, and the whole idea of the mythical astronomy is absolutely fascinating. I look forward to each and every one of your videos. Thanks for taking all the time you do with them! ❤🐉🐲

If Martin is a good writer, which he is, there are only so many sensible endings he could come up with for the series. Becoming Mad Queen doesn't feel like a sensible ending. Maybe sacrificing herself to destroy the Others, in that way both fire and ice would die out. It would be sad but if written well I think it could be accepted. I still want Dany to live to the end of her days obviously, but not every hero gets to do that. Some die in a blaze of heroic glory and we love them all the more for it.

Interesting the unsullid killing a baby just like the Others do (or what ever they do with the babys, transform them into a new Other). The unsullid are also castrated and can't reproduce by themselves. The masters need new human sacrifices in order to make more.

Daenerys won’t burn kinglanding That bit was invented the last second by Dan and Dan Emilia Clarke was never even told that this was the case Show only thank god cause it’s very poor writing No offense LML if you are a proponent of such a notion Great work as per always

Once more the stars have aligned to deliver us the Lightbringer himself!

I like how, after the disappointment that was the ending of the tv show, the fandom basically said, "ANYWAY....." and went back to the books. XD

"Where DID that horse come from? 🤔" made me chuckle

The Dragon dream in a storm of swords, daenerys riding drogon and burning an army of ice soldiers under the banners of the usurper. "the other was a nightmare". Also dragonfire is magical in the first place, since valyrian steel is produced thx to it, so it's illogical that dragonfire doesn't have any effect on the others as portrayed in the show

I believe the dragons were born to fight against the army of the dead and somehow her actions will lead her to that very end, if she'll dye or stay alive I can't tell but I believe she will feel responsible for dealing with this enemy . She already know how sad and lonely is to be a ruler, she's always working to find a common ground between the slaves , masters and her own will so I don't think she's mad, there's a point were she says she would give it all up to be with Daario if she could.

Burning the others and the slave owners are one in the same and I like the way that this way connected and foreshadowed this really well. Do love listening to your deep depth and input on this.

One nitpick about the Night King's death on the show: The dagger Arya used was Valyrian steel, not dragonglass. Your point obviously still stands, but that detail wasn't quite right.

I cant believe that the author had so much capability of putting this incredible story puzzle together, grrm martin is a genius! Great channel!

Nothing burns like Ice

This video came out just when I got home from school. Perfect timing👌

I've spent days/weeks of my life watching your content. I remember when you were first starting to put videos on KZfaq. Thank you for always providing binge worthy content and doing so with obvious passion and joy!

Haven't finished the video yet, but it's already so good. I mentally made this connection years ago but it's just so freaking good to hear exact quotes and expanded parallels. Thanks again LML!

If Dany still kills everyone in King's Landing, maybe she has no choice. Maybe, to make sure she kills a pervasive infestation of wights, she must kill the living, dying, and dead of King's Landing in a dragon equivalent of a drone strike.

Excellent video as you promised in your stream. Great work.

OMG this video is astonishing ! It is all I love, all I didn't even dream. The quality of the analysis, so clever, so well demonstrated, so beautifully constructed and illustrated ! And your voice !... Perfect, it's just perfection, thanks so much.

In the show, based on how magic is set up in this world, Danny's flames should have incinerated the Night King. How can dragon glass kill him and not a dragon's flame? Does not make any sense.

@LML I am sure that you are joking about the horse, but that horse, whether mean to be same horse or not, is the one "Harry" of the "Golden Company" was knocked off of before he was trampled to death and stabbed by Mad Worm. Another waste of a good character. I am talking about the horse. The horse would have done a better job at defending the city than Cercei did.

Thank you for the continued content! Top notch!

Thank you for the new content. I'm fighting covid at home by myself and hearing a friendly voice helps a ton.

Holy shit! I was rewatching your stream from last week like 15 minutes ago where you mentioned this video, and had a feeling you'd be releasing this soon. Can't wait to watch! 🔥

Saving this to get through work later, thanks LML!

All the work you have done for the series is so unique and eye opening. You have reveled many secrets and an overall understanding of ASOIAF, but I think more than that, you have discovered a way (Georges way rather) that each characters arc is laid out. And now that the story makes more sense we can guess at the many paths of the future ( when expectations are subverted it will be because their are so many options). Here's to your health!

Another excellent video! I was expecting Euron Part 2 as your next video. So this was a surprise. But a welcome one! 😄

I'm so excited. I've been looking forward to this since you announced it. 🐉 🐲

That intro song man....its so awesome and epic!

Love ur take on things man keep it up 🤘🥳

You always do right by Dani, so I was excited to see this video was up, but the Cleo cameos were a great unexpected surprise, I think I found my favorite video on your channel. 💗🦜🐉

Man, I just love your channel! you've made me look at structure and writing in a completely different way. It's mind blowing how you connect the dots and not just make theories based on popular opinion, you can back up your stuff with damn facts! haha I love it.

I love falling into these videos. The art, the art, the art! But it’s the narration and sound and ideas that light it all on Fire. 🔥💕🌳💕🔥

I’ll have to rewatch it like 10 times! Love it!

Been waiting 2 days for the right time to watch this. Time is finally right now. Thanks lml....

This is the first time I’ve really watched one of your podcasts lml and I must say , it was very impressive. You can tell you have really studied this subject and your predictions seem to make perfect sense

My feeling is that foreshadowing of Dany flying north to destroy the Others is useful to catalog but kind of obvious. The parts you identified that I thought were interesting and new are: 1. the temptation to use the dragons against other humans (ok not new but in light of the show hard not to talk about); 2. the repeated dreams of the Trident as a key battle; and, 3. the parallels between the Undying of Qarth and the wights. For the first, I guess you covered everything that needed to be said: that D&D's hacked up ending for the show was a disaster and unlikely to be GRRM's idea of a finale. I wouldn't write off the Trident as the location of the decisive battle in the war to come. It's been called Chekhov's Wall: if you show a giant wall that protects the realms of Men from the apocalypse in Act 1, then it should have come tumbling down by Act 3. I'd go a step further and say that if the Others are stopped in the North, then their threat ends up being as much of a nothingburger as it was in the show. The Others really have to drive into the South for the threat to be truly cataclysmic. Not to say the North is annihilated, just that the main Other force marches that far South, perhaps driving to take the Isle of Faces before the Green Men somehow take action. GRRM keeps emphasizing that Moat Cailin is nearly impregnable from the South but indefensible from the North. That's just screaming for the Others to take it easily, walk over the now-frozen swamps of the Neck, ignore the poison arrows of the crannogmen, and enter the rest-eros of Westeros, as it were. The Freys' key defense is that the Twins straddles the trident and can't be easily besieged from both sides, but if the Trident is frozen, then it's just an elaborate trap (and a chance for comeuppance for the Freys, as the army that Walder sired out of his breeches turns into an army of wights). THEN you have a war where nearly everyone and anyone is potentially affected. Watch for King Fake-gon to rally the armies of the South and lead a gallant but suicidal charge against the Others (destroying much of their remaining military might and fulfilling Maester Aemon's warning that a false light can only lead them further into the darkness). "Oh." So yeah I think the Trident might be home to a decisive battle of the future, not just the past. Finally, I see some major parallels between the Undying and the wights, and I'm glad you did, too. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how this interacts with your theories about the War of the Dawn. Your textual analysis (and Quinn's) is second to none and I'd love to see how you interpret it. One place where your main theme in this video is interesting is the theory that the resolution of ASoIaF will be some kind of Gaiman Ending, where the two sides gear up for a cataclysmic showdown, before the hero realizes that the war is unnecessary and that understanding (and maybe getting the commoners to turn against their corrupt leaders) is the key to resolving the conflict once and for all. It's a hippie ending, but GRRM is a hippie. A lot of the icy king / bridge-building metaphors used to describe Jon Snow are at odds with the imagery you identify in this video, which I agree clearly foreshadows Dany as a fiery destroyer who annihilates the icy army of the Others. So which is it? Fire: destroy the Others. Or Ice: make peace with them? I'm guessing GRRM is intentionally providing both potential stories, not just to keep us guessing but because the characters will themselves have to choose between Ice and Fire by the end of the story.

Re ants: Tyrion also tells young griff about how Daenerys has "trodden the slaver cities to dust beneath her dainty sandled feet"...

Fantastic! A ton of stuff I've never noticed from the oft repeated same passages.

Due to your mythology and myth deep dives as well as your excellent art presentation are going to make me join your channel! U rule LML!

Fantastic work LmL. This is one of the best videos you have ever made (which is saying a lot), and I’m grateful for your presence in the ASOIAF fandom

I love Daenerys themed videos!

Just when I am about to prep dinner. Perfect👏🏻👌🏻

What a good and welcome notification!

One of the best of your videos I think. Most convincing parallels and symbolisms. Still the best one was great empire series.

Made me think or makes more sense all the R’hlore customs and religious practices like you’ve said in prior videos being things they’re forgotten or that have changed with time like fire cleansing being warped and their fire wights being like you’ve said all being customs and secrets they’ve forgotten.

I really really liked this video extremely well explained

RE: her turning the trident into a torrent with the water of melted wights: could that happen?? Could there be an apocalypse-scale flood as the cherry on top of the Long Night Sundae?

The quote at 20:19 brings back the lyrics of haros bartossi, the fire sings to dany like it is mentioned in the song

This is a really excellent analysis

My dog perks up and sits still and watches your videos! I think she really likes your voice lol. I put one on now whenever I need her to chill out. Thanks LmL!

Why was I not notified about this video, dawg? These are my fav of your content!

Was skeptical when this showed up on my dash but my God I am more than sold

Always look forward to videos 👌

Thank you so much for these, I bet there is noone on KZfaq who puts so much hard work and research into their videos about ASOIAF symbolism. I'm already planning to reread the books as soon as possible and look for all those allusions, symbols and metaphores you mentioned!

This was a great video. Really liked all the passages you highlight, honestly you have a great mix of satire style but also a strong knowledge behind it all so it feels almost loving when you course correct what our brains fear will happen to the Queen we don't deserve. Yay birds, they are to cute. Great job all around once again.

All of this foreshadowing, and in the final season, they gave us Mad Queen Daenerys, smh. A theory they probably found on Reddit, where they probably also found out Lyanna is Jon's mother.

Thank you for this D. My family loves you so much! Give Quinn our love, too♡

great video loved it !

Love it!! Thanks Lucy

The beginning is already amazing! Freeing the wights from icy servitude!

sacrifice to the algorithm also these videos are amazing

That picture by Zarory is just badass

Fantastic as usual

A couple of reasons why I think this theory is fundamentally correct: 1) Zombies have always been referred to as the undead condition, one both in counterposition to life and death. It is life, without any of its good qualities. Without its freedom. Now, this of course is a metaphor for slavery, for the dehumanizing aspects of bondage. And this is a fact since such myths appear in culture and religions that have endured subjugation and slavery. Think about hoodoo and zombies. Wights are effectively the Slaves of the Others. What is important here is that some myths show them suffering internally, imprisoned: as a real alive person would be. I do not think the wights feel like they belong, like they fit in. We do not know if their souls are caged in there, somewhere, wailing 1.1) Another interesting aspect about this is the slaves' condition "uprootedness", that is a lack of foundation, not belonging to a place. That is related, of course, to the fact that slaves were bought or subdued and brought to places were they didn't belong. This brings about a very particular form of syncretism, as can be seen again with hoodoo, a practice that combines Christianity with Yoruba. And there are parallels to this in A Song of Ice and Fire. Think of the huge syncretism that is the cult of the Faceless Men, former slaves, to the One God with many faces. And also the wights have an even greater syncretism: all manner of races of Men, plus Sentient Creatures and even Animals coexist there, not as equals as such, but serving the same Masters, equal only in how much from their concrete freedom (their mode of life) has been taken from them. As the Unsullied, their very names have been taken away, and it is for them to reclaim it. 1.2) Another related notion is that in ASOIAF, both resurrection and deathlessness are de-humanizing. True freedom requires concrete boundaries, as boundlessness is also a lack of definition. Resurrections in the R'hllor manner, as in Beric Dondarrion, chip away a little piece of he who comes back. And Lady Stoneheart is an even more traditional ghost: only coming back for haunting, trapped in this realm, only set on one particular ambition. The same happens for deathlessness: think of the coldness of the Undying Ones, completely analogous to the Others. 2) Finally, Dragons in ASOIAF are a symbol of concrete freedom, through flight of course. But also through their capacity for struggle, for war, and finally their independence, which is not the same as loneliness. And riding them then is riding such freedom. Using them for slavery and conquering, for the subjugation of the Many by the Few, is something that does happen, but in the end it limits the freedom of those involved: the Masters are bound to their Master condition, and they will not release it but with struggle (with violence), and the Slaves are denied all freedom, and can only win any through violence, whilst keeping their humanity saved from the inhuman aspects of slavery. (I am thinking here of a simplified version of Hegel's master-slave dialectic, and the parallels with his philosophy of history, about the concrete development of freedom in History). Dany, by contrast to her Valyrian ancestors, uses her Dragons, her power, her freedom, to break the chains, to free those who have been subdued. And she also uses it, though not mistakenly, to oppose those who would oppose such acts. She effectively acts as a progressive figure bringing about freedom to all - with its hardships, mind you, as can be seen in the conflicts that happen in Slavers' Bay, with both masters and slaves adjusting to the new reality. 3) I particularly appreciate the detail of the "melting", rather than "burning". Ice is transparent, and heat can burn it away. The metaphor is that of a mirage, of a paper tiger. Dragonfire may be the solution that Dany, as a slayer of lies, shows to the wights, to the thralls of death: that Masters are in the end impotent, toothless, as much as the Unsullied do, tearing them down but only after being given a choice, freedom. A choice for which of course slaying the Masters was the only option. Dany would be more of a liberator than a conqueror. In conclusion, we do not know how the wights will go, but the Lord of the Rings idea of the mere defeat of Sauron, and the destruction of Barad-dûr and the orcs and all of Mordor with it, does not appeal to George R R Martin. In this sense, perhaps after the melting of the Masters the wights undeadness is reversed, their wounds transformed into their release, the Gift of death. And freedom is given: some may die happy, some may die very scarily. And perhaps as the Others are being melted away, their grasp on the wights is loosened, and some of them may fight their Old Masters one last time.

*less than 40 seconds in* "Let's not over-think this." Me: Well that's not what I'm here for... XD

Random comment, but I love the way you pronounce Quaithe! 💙🦑

I know this is an old vid but I've been meaning to say... love the montypython- intro lol Also yes fire is absolutely an Ajax for evil... if i recall correctly the first mention of heat equation cleanliness w heat is before Dany meets drogo and steps into the way too hot bath and her hand maiden tries to stop her but she thinks how she like the heat bc it makes her feel clean