So for all we know, Daynes and Hightowers could be descendants/loyalists of the Amethyst Empress who fled to Westeros after the Blood Betrayal.

The Dayne's have another strange tradition, they only give their sword to someone that is worthy. What if this tradition started because the owner of dawn was not able skilled enough to vanquish the Night's King, and had to lend the sword to a Stark who's own sword had broken during the fight. The Stark then returned it once the battle ended and returned to Winterfell with his own broken sword. Him being remembered as the last hero.

The sheer amount of lore built around dragons, which GRRM added to the story in the eleventh hour, is astonishing.

This theory strongly implies that you can reach westeros by sailing through the saffron straits which I would love for Dany to do in the books along with Victarion's fleet

As to how Dawn got into the hand of the last hero (if the last hero wasn't a Dayne), the books mentioned the last hero had a group of companions, who one by one died, leaving only the last hero. So perhaps a Dayne was in that group, died, leaving his sword available for the last hero. And then the last hero returned it to Starfall after the war.

You almost completed the point also that at the Tower of Joy (incident) we had Dawn (the sword), two Starks, a Hightower, one maybe two Daynes (Arther and Ashara) and (not present) a Targaryen involved. All the ingredients and houses with heavy links to the original myths.

The first hightower putting an end to the dragons at Oldtown is kinda good foreshadowing for whats currently happening in House of Dragon

The mysteries surrounding Asshai are so interesting as is the background of Battle Isle on Oldtown. To reach west you must go east!

What if the Daynes didn't follow a falling star to make a meteorite sword, what if their ancestors from Asshai followed the falling star from there all the way to Westeros?

It does feel like the next books have plenty of space for them to finally visit in depth Hightower and Dayne.

I was a huge Melisandre fan when she first came onto the show. She was just so vastly different from Westeros, and I started reading about Asshai and the legend of Azhor Ahai. Then I went down a rabbit hole about Yi Ti, the Asshai dragon lords, and dark magic. Seeing this in my recommended made me excited, I’m glad to know others appreciate the Far East of Ice and Fire.

If Asshai is "by the Shadow" and guards the straits which are the only known sea route through it, "Shadowchaser" could be an epithet for a person who attempted to navigate those straits and find what lay beyond; Eldric could have been the first person to discover that route to Westeros. It mirrors "Sun Chaser", the name of the ship Elissa Farman attempted to sail west in.

I always assumed the Amethyst Empress had several sets of children: some became the Valyrians, some became the Others (who are described as quite beautiful in the books), and then maybe some of the Westerosi houses who have vaguely Valyrian traits

Lmao Jon having the Blood of every deeply important house is crazy he on some Ichigo shit fr

What if the earth is round and Asshai is just west of Westeros, and the freezing waste near the fire forts is the same as beyond the wall? GRRM has already confirmed that Westeros is a sphere.

Wow such a great catch about children born from a Dayne/Hightower and Targaryen match still having their Valyrian looks! I never pieced that together. Even Jocelyn Baratheon who was born to a Valyrian woman and who had children with a Targaryen still had dark haired children.

To me, the simplest and most logical reason for a Stark to use Dawn is that a unnamed Dayne was amongst the companion of the Stark Last hero (and probably died). Like, of course you would want to have a magical sword user to go to save the world with a man used to live in the cold and probably able to control some wild animal like a direwolf. (Plus it screams for epic fanart ^^ )

I actually tried to calculate the amount of Dayne blood Jon and Dany had and my calculations came up with 25% for Dany (assuming that due to the incest practices of her house, her genetics are the same as her parents and grandparents), and 12.5% for Jon.

The Starry Sept in Oldtown with walls of Black marble - surely repurposed from a Church of Starry Wisdom building - right?

Jon has Stark, Dayne, and Targaryen blood, huh? The Dragon has three heads.

Regarding the last portion, I think it's makes a lot of sense for Dawn to be Lightbringer. I mean, if you need to put it away for safekeeping in the event of another long night, way the fuck down in Dorne is actually a pretty logical place to put it in case of an early collapse of the North. Also, could it be possible that the original Dayne is actually a son or daughter of the Great Empire of the Dawn and the First Men (Stark), who took the blade south for safekeeping after the long night? That might be why they can have both dragonrider (pale/blond hair, violet eyes) and stark (dark hair, stern eyes) features. Thus, in a parallel Jon also being of the same heritage will wield Dawn and repel the long night again? But thats probably too much tin foil.

This sort of detail just makes me hate the show even more :( so much missed, so much could have been used. I need to read the books again.

I find it odd that whenever you or Quinn bring up the LoTR parallels in ASoIF - specifically Narsil - you never namecheck the sword’s new moniker of Anduril, Flame of the West.

A few things on Tolkienisms with Lightbringer and Azor Ahai: Eöl the Dark Elf made TWO swords using iron from a meteorite - Anglachel (meaning: Iron of the Flaming Star) and Anguirel (Iron of the Eternal Star). Not much is known about the history of Anguirel after Maeglin - Eöl's son, stole it but a lot happens with Anglachel. It is said to harbor a great malice inside itself (both swords seem sentient) and due to this malice, Beleg cut an unconscious Turin while trying to free him which caused Turin to panic, grab Anglachel and kill his savior with it. Turin would go on to have the sword reforged by humans as Gurthang (Death Iron). Most notably Turin used Gurthang to kill the First Dragon Glaurung (the name most likely means Golden Worm as he had no wings unlike some later dragons) and later himself after a certain revelation that he had unknowingly made his own sister his wife. The blade broke as Turin cast himself upon it and as far as we know, it's still buried with Turin. Gurthang is notably described as black, shining with pale fire, a trait which as far as I remember came from Anglachel and Anguirel should also share those properties as they are made from the exact same material. It could be that instead of Dawn being the original sword Ice, they are sister swords made from the same material. Ice like Anguirel has an unknown fate, while we know exactly where Dawn is right now like Anglachel/Gurthang.

I forget the exact wording, but: to go west, you must go east. Pass the Sapphire Straights to the Lonely Light. It has always bugged me why the oldest port city in Westros is as far as possible from civilization in Easos. If sailing east from Ashai lands you on the western shore of Westros, that would explain it. Sail east until you see the Lonely Light, aka, the Hightower lighthouse. Qaith gives Dany 10,000 year old directions from Ashai to Oldtown.

23:08 "We light the Way": Could it be possible that an Empire as great and powerful as the Great Empire of the Dawn also had contact with/discovered a continet west of Westeros? Thus making Oldtown the last trading post before said continent, "lighting the way" to this land.

The Hightower’s must have dragonlord blood or they would not have been confident about the Alicent marriage producing dragon rider children.

So happy you brought up some king arthur stuff. Even just a little. Everytime I get into High Tower lore I always wonder if they have some kind of ancient dispute with House Dayne. Something in Dark Star's comment that Daynes have been killing Oakhearts for thousands of years made me look up the lore that house Dayne has warred with the reach for probably thousands of years and Samwell Dayne once burned Old Town. The Daynes look like Dragon Lords, and house Hightower is suspected of killing dragons(possibly twice). There just seems to be something there.

I think LML’s content is so compelling to me because after I’ve heard his exposition I can’t remember what I thought about these unresolved questions before i found his channel. It’s like he is spelling out clearly the thematic connections and textual clues that I had internalized all along.

I always wondered why Grr Martin put two kinds of special swords in his books, but it would make sense if “dragon steel” weapons were made from meteoric metal, that required dragons and magic to create, and then since meteor metal is scarce they used the same techniques on iron to create what we know as Valyrian steel.

Leo Tyrell also has ash hair, whereas other Tyrells tend to have brown hair- this is actually pointed out as a distinguishing feature. We don't know who his mother is, but as his father is commander of the Old Town city watch it's a fair bet that she's a Hightower, and if this is the case (although it may be a stretch) that's another little hint that the Hightowers have "dragon lord" features. As an aside, the artwork at 18:15 is so cool.

I think there could be something about Daenerys wielding Dawn because she dreams at least twice (from what I recall) about herself in armour in a battlefield which suggests some kind of fighting. Maybe she'll wield it but in a sort of magical way, not actually fight with it. I don't know but all this is super interesting, thanks for your great work!

1) Ashara Dayne, who's brother is Arthur, has a name with practically the same as Morgana. Ashera, 'she who treads on water', whilst Morgana means, 'circling sea', or, 'bright sea weller'. If that doesn't describe Ashara, and connect the sea with House Dayne, then what does? They might be an off-shoot of House Hightower, founded by Uthor/Usher, forefather/father of Arthur and Morgana/Ashara 2) Another weird literary connection between House Stark, the adversaries of Ice Others, and the Dawn Empire is Topaz. The Topaz Emperor was the grandsire of the Amethyst and Bloodstone Emperors, whilst Topaz is a wizard/sorceror/witch character from Marvel Comics published in the 70s (the same decade that Marvel Comics had Conan the Barbarian meet Elric of Melnibone). Marvel's Topaz once had her power used to raise an army of zombies, like Ice Others and wights, and she used her own empathetic powers to bond with and control the Marvel character, Werewolf by Night, like warging with wolves in North Westeros. Also, Topaz was found in an Indian camp by another sorceror, implying a Vedic influence like Dany Stormborn. So does House Stark have some ancestry thanks to the Topaz Emperor? Did a daughter of the Topaz Emperor fly north to marry a Stark King? Is the first Night King descend from that Stark-Topaz lineage? Did she bring the original Dawn as a wedding gift to her Stark husband? Did Houses Stark and Dayne originate from the same Stark-Topaz lineage? Find out in, 'A Winds of Winter'. Someday.

I think "Bran the Builder" is just a code for: Built by people from The Great Empire of the Dawn. The base of the Hightower, Storms End, The Wall and The first keep of Winterfell all built with different and more advanced techniques and forgotten magic.

I watched The Disputed Land's video about the Mazemakers of Lorath, how it connects to Battle Isle, the Fisher Queens of the Silver Sea, Kingdom of Sarnor, The Great Empire of the Dawn, and the Isle of Leng, and my mind was friggin BLOWN!!! It makes so much sense in the context of this theory too

Your interpretation of this world and it's history is almost as great as the imagination behind the world itself. Impressive doesn't cover it. It's like calling the sun hot.

It actually makes a lot of sense for there to have been multiple flaming swords known, as a series created to defeat the Others during the Long Night, as "Lightbringer" blades. And multiple warriors entrusted to weild these "high tech" blades.

LML it’s great that you recognize all other content creators ideas/theories, when they help prove yours. Good job as always

It would also make since if the Iron Islands were including in the GEotD overseas outpost, considering the ominous kraken throne made of the same or similar stone as all the other dragonlord stuff. Possibly another thing could be Eurons “Valyrian” armor, my thinking is that it was always a relic pertaining to the Iron Islands, just like the Daynes and Dawn, it was said that an Ironborn hero had some sort of special “skin” that was essentially impervious to all attacks. It would make sense if this “skin” was the armor, and it was merely a relic of the same people that built the kraken throne, and could’ve have possibly left long before the Ironborn got there, and therefore are the so called “Deep Ones”.

Hot damn..."Uthor" of the Hightower & the continent of "Ulthos"! If Asshai was the capital of the Great Empire of the Dawn it would totally make sense that they had also conquered the lands directly across the Saffron Straights from Asshai. What real world empire has ever built their capital in a location without exploring the area around it?

God-On-Earth(Earendil) ascends to the stars. His son the Pearl Emperor(Elros) and his heirs rule the Great Empire of the Dawn (Nmenor) until the Amethyst Empress (Tar-Muriel) is usurped by the Bloodstone Emperor (Ar-Pharazon), who practiced dark arts and eventually brought about the Long Night (Fall of Numenor). More Tolkien parallels!

Probably have the best thumbnails in the biz, have no idea why it took so long to come across you after watching AltX for so long.

Another piece of this that seems to be missed, is that the location of oldtown is on the western side of westeros on the sea. Meaning that if the dawn civilization settled, they would have to cross all of essos, go past and around dorne, and then eventually found oldtown. You would assume more examples of their civilization would occur along that way.. but they arent. You’d assume as well that a giant lighthouse to light the way (hightower having the great lighthouse of Alexandria vibes), why would a lighthouse be located in a place that is obstructed by the landmass of westeros from those traveling from essos? The dawn civilization however is located on the far east of essos. If oldtown was inhabited by seafarers based from asshai, then it reasons that they may have traveled east, not west, to arrive at westeros. A giant beacon on the lower west coast of westeros being the logical location for that. If they traveled the globe in the “off map” direction, they would most likely arrive there.

There is another connection to Tolkien's work, particularly to _The Silmarillion_. There is a literal _Lucifer_ in this story, a bright morningstar destined who brings back the dawn. And this role is fulfilled by two people, husband and wife: Ëarendil and Elwing riding on the holy ship Vingilot. As Jon and Danny, they carry blood from the great lineages of Men and Elves (the three houses of the Edain and the three tribes of the Eldar). They manage to bring down a dragon, the greatest amongst all: Ancalagon the Great, so monstrous he drove back the combined forces of Men, Elves, Dwarves and Maiar (angels) and whose wings obscured the sunlight (sounds similar to the Long Night to me). And to top it all, they fathered the twins Elrond and Elros,the latter of whom was the First King of Númenor and the forefather of Aragorn.

Only Daenarys and Jon can bring the dawn…. Arya: hold my face

Hmm, shadow chaser, shadow chaser. Meteors have tails, during the day the tail would be smoke, or shadow. If a meteor hits the ground, causing a fire, there would also be smoke, and if the atmosphere near the Hightower is foggy then the smoke mixed with fog would equal shadows. A shadow chaser would have to enter these shadows to find the debris to then forge a sword from it.

The biggest regret is that we ll probably never see the entire map and most intriguing stories about far off places will be incomplete

I love The Flamenco music and the intro sound.

In old Brethonic (ancient Welsh) Utha Pendragon translates as " Terrible Head Dragon" you were very, very close

Will watch later in the week but one question that I was thinking about regarding Magic Swords in ASOIAF requiring Blood Sacrifices; what if it wasn't this way? What if the "blood sacrifices" that a lot of magic in ASOIAF requires is a result of the Bloodstone Emperor's machinations & experiments that resulted in the Long Night/Reaction to the Long Night that caused the magic of the world to require Blood magic? I.e. Dawn a possible pre-Long-Night artifact created by the GEoTD was magically created but was a pre-Bloodstone Emperor sword?

Also The bleeding sea & bloodstone emporer have any significance said he practiced necromancy, torture and all that crazy shit is mentioned being legal in Asshai.

Dude... this is the exact kind of material that I keep coming back for. I love this so much.

Also the first level of Minas Tirith is made of black fused stone like the Orthanc, while the rest is white. Almost like the High Tower. Also Minas Tirith means Tower of Guard and it was called Minas Anor, Tower of the Sun before...

Oh god, your suggestion of house dayne 's words is now my headcanon

Thank you for all this lore

The first Hightower could be one of the first men to flee the Bloodstone emperor. Seeing the evil the emperor could do with dragons, he slayed the ones at Oldtown, in a battle with ancient dragonriders stationed at Battle Isle.

Thanks David; I teach mythology to middle college students in the San Francisco Bay area, and I have been listening to your channel for the last two months, in preparation for fire and blood, and I am thoroughly enjoying your analysis, your predictions, your goofy charm, and you’re absolutely wonderful insight into mythology. Keep doing what you’re doing, you are a wonderful intelligent instructor.

Since it seems obvious that the world is a globe it seems to follow rather easily that the Saffron Straights must connect to the Sunset Sea and that's how the Empire of the Dawn made it to Westeros.

I'm changing my entire digital persona to "Fly Alaric".

I love this! I never thought of this and the ending about jon and dany gave me so much goosebumps. Im getting more and more excited for the books now.

Also, what about the gargoyle statues at Winterfell? I had a theory that they're dragon statues. Bran dreams of them having brazier hot red eyes. Sound more like a dragon than a lion.

If the empite of the dawn also built the wall, it could also be partly built from black fused stone and just extended by ice. That would help make the wall more realistic, since ordinary ice piled up that high would collapse under its own weight.

*VERY* well done video! Looking forward to more, as always.

Hell yes. Thank you for the continued content!

One of the best Videos in the series so far! It just keeps getting better

Another great deep dive into the the complexities of ASOIAF! Fascinating

Yes!!!!! Much love LmL I can't wait to watch when I'm off work.

I love your videos so very much. All the disparate pieces of the puzzle assembled with care, humor, and beautiful pictures. They are like picture storybooks, with the little accompanying records that I used to have as a child back in ancient times. I am engrossed. Thank you many times for sharing your gifts.

The artwork and your editing are both awesome!!!! Great vid as usual🌮🌮🌮

Oh a new LML video? What a nice surprise this morning. Can't wait to give this an in depth watch tonight. Love the content man.

Loved this! Thanks LML! You made my day! Welcome back to the West Coast!

You deserve way more subs for the amount of work and the quality of you videos!!!

Love you man, appreciate the work you do so much ! You bring up the quality with each video ! Stopped studying for this one 😁

Every time I watch these videos I love them even more! Thanks for sharing these with us ❤️

Love this! Missin your compendium day! Enjoy all your content!

always grateful to hear your voice, giving me more to think about in the world of ASOIAF. thank you!🥰

So so so good! My eyebrows flew up several times.

wow! I love this video, all the references! This make sense. Thank you for your hard work!

You have really taken your content to the next level as of late, some seriously good work dude.

Wow this is the exact topic i was looking into not even an hour ago, you really are supernatural!

You give me light, good sir. Thank you.

This keeps popping back up in my feed. So that's nice.

Intriguing as always. I'm grateful for the work you put in to provide evidence, clues and background info. The artwork you feature to tie it all together is supreme. Quips and puns appreciated as well! 🤪

The format of this video was impeccable! I love all your videos/theories but sometimes I have no time to watch the longer videos and when I do is just at the end of the day and I end up falling asleep(not for your video per se but because I'm tired). This time was not the case. This time was magnificent!

excellent video brother! Looking forward to more!

That was one of the best asoiaf theory/analysis videos I've ever listened to. Great work!

Really appreciate the quality content and theories during this quarantine. You and Quinn light the passion of ASOIF again. Thank you 😊

Mad respect for making these videos. Literally full documentary length and very thorough and well organized. Hats off to you sir 🎩

I'm 2yrs late...but Dude, you just blew my effing mind!🤯 Greatly appreciate the time and effort you put in. Now imma roll a fat doobie and watch the "Ice is Dawn" videos! Again well done! 🎯💯💪👏👏👏

Mind blown!! Great content

I really love the idea that the Last Hero had to kill a Dayne to get Ice, er Dawn. People seem to have a habit of missing the bigger picture and it makes sense that the ancient Daynes might have been the same way.

Well done! I love your work! Stay safe!

Great work LML!

No mention of Dorne/Dawn being homonyms and the name possibly coming from a Empire of the Dawn colony that used to be there?

This was a masterpiece and without a doubt my favorite video ever made

Hey, I just heard guitar music in the background for the first time in your stream. It's really good, I love solo guitar music.

Yay, another Empire vid! Love this lore

Great content as usual!

I was looking forward to this!!!

Your content really invigorated my thirst for knowledge for the ancient stories of the world of ASOIAF. Wow, the Dayne/Dunedain theory blew me away.