Thanks Elijah and remember this was all about the backstory of the world, and didn't even touch the main plot or characters hardly!!

Yes. But this spine is the kind of work that is needed if someone wants to write in the same kind of style as Tolkien and Martin. Or even someone like Glen Cook, who I can catch references to. The gray waste description reminds me of the Glittering Fields in a very deliberate way. Including K’dath taking the place of the Nameless Fortress

It’s how expansive this world is. That’s why it takes Grrm a long time to write. Genius stuff, and always thinking about asoiaf even when he’s not writing.

Yaas

I truly believe that with the large network of authors, who make up George Martin’s circle of friends, that he has some sort of contingency plan, if he were to die before the series is finished. I know that it is widely reported that George has told people to f*** off when he has been publicly asked this very question. But I think people have taken that the wrong way. I have actually seen people say that Martin’s attitude is that if he doesn’t finish his magnus opus then it will remain unfinished. But I strongly disagree. I think that he just finds the question extremely rude, and that he doesn’t owe anyone a public answer about it. But while keeping an eye on his NotABlog, I noticed something interesting about one of his entries that occurred sometime in the past year or two. I didn’t write down the details, but I have gone back to look it up a couple of times, and anyone can find it if they take the time to look through the entries of the last couple years. What I’m talking about is that George made some comments when one of his author friends passed away. He has lost a number of his longtime friends and colleagues over the past couple of years, and you can tell that he takes it hard when that occurs, as it’s only natural. When this particular author died, he commented on the fact that the man had not completed his seminal work. In fact, George made sure to say that this author had been working on this particular book for longer than George has been working on Winds. He then said that he really hoped that one of this author’s colleagues would complete the story for him. In my opinion, this was a VERY telling comment. It certainly shows that Martin is not adverse to the idea of an author finishing up the work of someone else due to their death. Martin has a large circle of friends and colleagues who are fellow authors. He has also mentored many people who love his stories, like Brian Condal who he specifically asked to head the House of the Dragon series, for example. And we know that George has lots of material that he has written and rewritten, including chapters that are always being pushed forward toward the next part of the series. Besides material for the main story, I expect that he has lots of notes and partially written pieces for the second half of Fire & Blood and future Dunk and Egg novellas. He has probably thought through a lot of details about the Blackfyre Rebellions and he certainly knows more about Summerhall than we are privy to. I find it really hard to believe that George hasn’t made some plans of who would take up the completion of some of this if he were not able to. And after reading that particular blog entry, I was convinced of it. I know that he famously hates the idea of outlines. So I don’t expect there is any kind of step-by-step roadmap. But I do think that between his wife, his employees, colleagues and author friends that he has some thoughts on who would take up such a task. So when people say that Martin will never live long enough to complete the stories, I worry more about whether I will live long enough to see their completion. We all hope that George will have many years to come, and the time and ability to complete this story of his that we are all so invested in. But if the worst happens, I still believe it would not be the end of the ASOIAF saga. Hell, for all we know, he may have some contractual plans, drawn up legally to appease the corporate interests in these properties in a way that still gives him a voice about what happens. He is too smart of a man to believe that he is immortal, even if he is unwilling to publicly give answers about this issue, which he finds objectionable for the public to ask him. Sorry for the long rambling thoughts here, but I hate seeing people go on about how he can’t finish these stories. And I know that’s not what was being suggested here. I too think that David would be a great resource for working on these stories.🙂

That's an old forum theory believe it or not. It's very possible but so awful I don't like to talk about it

Totally agree on GRRM using TWOIAF and other things to set the table for TWOW

Don’t forget he wrote Elden Ring and tons of these ideas and ideas that DL talks about are literally smashing your face in the game - even two moons and dragon taming empires 😂

You're a legend and we love you, take all the time you need

Oh praise R'hllor I was hoping you'd manifest 💚💚💚

I'll pin the comment whenever you do it, thanks a million

​​@@DavidLightbringer The spaceberg Drew me from the depths. I figured if I needed a sign to come back into ASOIAF after my break it's this lol.

hahah that's awesome! I got more excited the more I prepared for this one! Icebergs are fun but once I had the idea to do a GEOTD iceberg, it made so much more sense.

those are the sucky ones we want Leyton and the Mad maid, reading books of prophecy and preparing to counter Euron's magic

It's been a minute since I looked it up and yeah it felt a but scrambled when I said it yesterday. Cheers and thanks!

Azor Ahai the evil lemur dude! Love it ❤️

I always say that backwards for some reason

Oh! Maybe the first technique of fusing stone was a type of bricks? Before they learned to "shape the stone with magic". It could explain Asshai and even Yeen and Moat Cailin.

@@jonhauge-evaldsson783 Oh, I think they're ALL fused stone. I think the technique at the point of creation is the same. Some sort of magic, maybe blood related magic as David states. And maybe, some aspect of the stone being magical means that it has some sort of response to life related energies, like human sacrifice. Hence the seastone chair being oily, given its significance to the ironmen. Moat Cailin I'm frankly unsure of. It may be that a similar but different magic was used.

Well if the moon has a "dark" and 'light" side maybe it's good and evil sides. All the rock is moon meteor but some is bad and some is good. The fusing of the meteor pieces was the same but the magic inherent was different

Me too, they seem to have thrived in the desert, somehow

The water gardens, which is basically an oasis in the Dornish capital comes to mind.

Yes I used to make that exact comparison but kinda forgot about it. The idea that Minus Morgal has a moon association might actually be a HUGE source on inspiration for GRRM

Heads up audio was a little low

It was Black Dread!

Yes absolutely that's why we won't ever see another Valeria

Basalt isn't slimy. Also, the stone breaking in the story told to Dany is just one of dozens of inconsistencies that seem to be there more as either a series of mistakes, or to throw the story Viserys tells her into question.

The Storm is supposed to be divine in the story. If not it's a tsunami. I don't think we have ever seen a typhoon, tsunami or other similar incident against the fused stone. Except Valyria which is a smoking ruin. I don't see it as inconsistent, just symbolic of the power of the storm.

Etymologically, Azor Ahai sounds suspiciously like Azores + Ashai. The Azores are 9 island in Portugal that are renown for being a magical land of volcanoes, thermal waters, steam geysers and beautiful waters. Ashi (aka Ashai in GOT) is a Avestan word for the Zoraoastrian concept of "that which is attained or earned." So basically I'm thinking the Empire of the Dawn had Ashai as a paradise location that got destroyed by someone working to it's destruction aka the Bloodstone emperor. I think Martin is using some references to Moorcock (unfortunate name) but because Martin likes to play linguistic and mythology games... anything used will have a real world name or a real world religion ties in.

@@soxpeewee very astute observations. Have you read the Elric saga? So much was borrowed from The Bright Empire when GRRM described Valyria

One of the few happy failed experiments haha

I missed ya for sure!!

his backstory is very influenced by the Silmarillion

I was wondering how many people did, lol, and thank you

that's about as much as I can put together yeah, the water women connection

I really think it was more than a targeted missile strike, more about obtaining the power of the gods. I think the meteors were an accident

I could see that

I second that emotion ❤❤❤❤

oh that's sick I love that

hard to say if that is what was intended

Dolores Edd is constantly speaking the truth about the zombie watch, I believe it

I deliberately steered away from that level of specificity for this one and I also was trying to stick with the GEOTD side of things. I'm going to do a white walker theory iceberg soon and we'll get into all all that. In the meantime check out the video called "The Weirwood Goddesses"

@@DavidLightbringer Oh, I can't wait! I'm planning on rewatching all of your videos lol

Yes we don't really know who the FM were

Like who was Garth who led the migration over the Arm? Where'd he cone from?

This feels like an Australia / NZ comment 😅

@@DavidLightbringer lots of love from down under 😂❤️

Repeating the Azor Ahai wife stabbing would be the worst possible thing, and in no world will it be the solution to the story

@@DavidLightbringer Pretty sure OP was implying Jon would be using his meat sword to stab the squish mitten, hence the reference to Brown Ben Plum's ancestor's huge member.

he didn't live thousands of years before Alyssa Farman

and it was Corlys Velaryon who saw Sunchaser not Lomas L. If is said Lomas then I just misspoke. it was the Seasnake

@@DavidLightbringer Oh actually you're right! Thanks. Just wanted to say it was Corlys who saw the Sun Chaser~

Definitely part of my inspiration!

Never thought of that but that could make sense. I'd bet my bacon that there's an oily black stone at the heart of Winter