Can we also talk about how the undying one’s magic comes from drinking sap from a magical tree? Like they are literally trapped in a place by tree magic. The connection is so on the nose that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before, your realization of the wall being a weirwood line with others enslaved inside really was the key for so many locks Also the evil thing being referred to as the “Heart” of Winter specifically when the wall basically functions as a giant circulatory system, genius

The Others basically being souls that are enslaved to the Wall and unable to die and seeking a way to be freed from it also lines up with some of GRRM's comments that the Others aren't your typical evil villain

That last bit about the tree imagery and burning was particularly interesting. I remember watching the show with a friend way back when they discovered the wights. My friend scoffed at how quickly the wight burned completely when Jon threw fire on it. He said it was way too unrealistic. I argued, "Have you ever lit a christmas tree on fire? Even one branch can catch instantly and light wet wood around it easily. The wights are probably dried out like a dead tree."

Man this is amazing content and you have 100% convinced me that weirwoods make up the wall and have people strapped to them. The language here has tons of tree symbolism, “parchment”, “dry wood”, “papery voices”, her role as the ultimate freer of slaves, etc. It all connects and I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection before, nicely done! Subbed

Finally, someone else. I've been trying to convince people for years of the parallels between Will watching unable to speak and Dany being unable to speak. Will's experience ends with Waymar wrapping his fingers around his neck, Dany's ends with the Undying crawling over her. The HotU is a long snaking hall, the west half of the Wall is long and snaking. All of this makes sense. Now do Arya (the water was heavy, but her arms were strong) :). Who is the ultimate No One? The ultimate Stranger? Who has no name?

The red wedding vision not actually being about the red wedding is so fucking genius that I’m having a hard time believing George actually had that in mind when he wrote it. Like, your theory perfectly fits, but it’d take one of the greatest things ever written and elevate it to a whole new level.

This interpretation of Dany's experience in the House of the Undying is nothing short of brilliant and I can't believe it took this long for someone in the fandom to come up with it! That ending where she supposedly kills the Undying always seemed to me a bit... lame, for lack of a better word. They're supposed to be ancient and powerful, and then Dany just burns them, and then there are no consequences ever? But if the whole sequence was yet another vision, well, that changes everything.

I dont' like this theory much but I salute you for coming up with *"Freezer Units Powered By Eternal Revenge Against Your Fallen Foe"* A gem.

Bro can you write Winds if George never gets around to it? I think you’d do it justice lmao

Well it could be Rob, cause it clearly says that the visions could be past, present or possible futures. However, the theory you mention seems to fit 100% in my opinion. Regarding the "last door on the left" = the first door on the right: - it's close to the end of the exit from the visions probably meaning it marks the end of the story - it might have something to do with the idea/theme of the lesser evil since the hallway is long an doesn't technically have a *right* door (aka: a right decision) - George said the ending is going to be bittersweet so i expect something will be wrong, even after everything seems concluded

The undying have captured other victims who unlike Dany do not have dragons - they are trying to get out. Dany IS told she will see some Never Happen things, like her son with Drogo being born healthy and becoming a great khal.

Hey Michael, just finished binging all your Other related content. Insanely fascinating analysis. Strong work man, keep it up.

I love the idea of the red wedding vision, the most obvious vision that everyone agrees is what it appears to be, actually references something completely different.

You could also link the turns to the right as making the right choice. And then coming to the line of doors all on the left. Being frozen and making the least bad decision as the last door on the left with her being frozen in meren and she will have to make a not so good decision before she can continue on.

I feel like some of this may be reading into it too much, as I don't feel like "the Others are actually good" is really the direction George seems to be going here, but it's fascinating to think about it that way nonetheless.

Very thoughtful & insightful. Clever take on everything.

Well, the others were supposedly receiving sheeps/lamb as offerings from craster.... Another slight hint that that's how it ties together even more, the others offers the same food they revived from craster or whatever

Love the perspective on the Wolf headed king from Dany’s vision. Holding a leg of Lamb you say… like the sheep Crastor gives the Others…???

My only question is: why? What is the purpose of the Wall? What benefit does it grant? Why take the Others and trap them in a giant ice wall--just to block the rest of the Others in the North? I don't think so. No, the Wall must be doing something. It must be providing someone some kind of concrete benefit.

To some extent the prophecies the Undying speak are automatic, Dany says the right words, Of course they try to suck off her life essence, because they are vampires. They attack her - somehow they DO move. Drogon scorches them. Good Boi!

This guy always sounds like he's drawing lines on a chalkboard while recording this.

This channel is just like when I first discovered Preston Jacobs and he gave me a whole new appreciation for the books. Fucking insane work and crazy that you're the first person to really delve into the fantasy aspects of the series this deeply. Awesome.

I don’t necessarily agree 100% with the facts you present for your topics, but I AM 100% addicted to your videos and absolutely love hearing new theories as we all await TWOW!

Also, don't we know who "the undying" are? Aren't they stated to just be a bunch of weird wizard dudes in Qarth that are blue due to drinking a lot of shade of the evening? And I think it's stated that they all died in ADWD. I feel like this for this to work, the "undying" in the vision have to be a different undying than the Qarth wizards.

You earned my like and subscribe right at 7:40 .. the heart of winter being the wall. Chefs kiss

I’m loving your videos! Do you think shade of the evening could be used in the wall*tree pumped into it giving them some blue and the powers of communication with visions? Maybe blood supplement because of the lack of all that Royal blood?

I love the weirwood wall theory . Adding it to part of my head cannon. Hope its confirmed in some way

Couldn't Winterfell, rather than the Wall, be the heart of winter? Looking deep into it could mean looking into the deepest (condemned) levels of the Crypt.

Perhaps also the Night's King was placed in a weirwood in the wall as well? (oh you said this later in the video). His soldiers slaughtered as blood sacrifice or the same tree othering in the broken areas. So Dany's vision would be both past present and future all at once there. The Night's King of old, the Red Wedding, and Jon's future.

Bran has to "live" meaning I think only "not die" for the moment, and then live for a very long time as king, restore the balance of the seasons. I don't think the implication is that his siblings all die.

I'm new to these videos now and I'm just now making my way through them so forgive my ignorance if I don't know that someone already made the connection or it's specifically mentioned later down the line, but Sansa is said by the Ghost of Highheart to "defeat a giant in a castle of snow". Given that you equated giant to the giant weirwoods within the wall it is literally spelled out giant within a castle of snow lol

How is this tied to the strange spiral symbol at the beginning of the story? When seen from above it kinda looks like it might be roots of a tree. Could this also be a different line for each of the kings who each have their own ability or power? They could be granted this power by the trees as long as some of it would be returned to them through blood. That could be what the pact is about. But is the symbol a representation of that? Is there any indication what it is supposed to be other than a neat design?

*Twines finger through her hair* "Please help us." *bites her nipple* "Yeah, we wanna go back to our tree house." Jk. I dig this theory and think it's probably what's actually going on, especially after playing Elden Ring.

I'm new to your channel abd haven't watched all your videos yet, but judging from the titles, you haven't expanded on other popular fan theories regarding mythology and early history yet, e.g. the Great Empire of the Dawn, the Hammer of the Waters, the creation of dragons, Bloodstone Emperor = Azor Ahai or the possibility of the Andals being present during the Long Night. I would like to hear your thoughts on these theories! I think that your ideas regarding the Wall, the Others and the Weirwoods can aswer many, but not all questions and you have to widen your scope beyond the North to provide a conclusive picture! :)

5:36 I have several theories about this particular part which kind of link together, so here we go: I think this part is proof that westeros and essos are connected imo, because when he sees the heart of winter, I believe he sees the blue rotting heart Danny sees in the House of the undying. Read Bran’s first vision and Danny’s vision again: Bran consumes wierwood paste which is red, Danny consumes shade juice which is blue. They first taste almost the same. This is why I think that heart trees used to be shade of the evening trees, and turned white and red via blood sacrifice and this is how the Others were created. I also believe that the Others being males is bc they are the shadows of those male children of the forest (probably many of them greenseers) in bloodraven’s cave we see wrapped up in the roots (I have an other version which I’ll elaborate in a bit). And this is why the numbers of the children are not growing at all (declining to be precise). Most of the women we suspect to be children of the forest are all on the south side of the wall, Leaf and the rest are the only ones we see in the north and in their true forms. We know that Bloodraven was a human being with blood of the First Men and blood of old Valyria, so it’s safe to say that he actually WAS a Son of Ice and Fire. Perfect candidate to be “the prince that was promised”. I believe that when he was at the wall, became lord commander, and lead ranges beyond the wall, he got mislead by prophetic dreams, given to him by the Three eyed Raven. Yes, the same one who has been giving dreams to Bran, Euron, Rickon, etc, and began living in Bloodraven from then on, bound to the tree. And now he wants to move on to Bran. My theory is that his (Three Eyed Raven) goal is to find a host that doesn’t need to be wrapped up in a wierwood tree (immobilised for eternity), get through the black gate disguised as Bran, breaking the magic of it, thus letting the Others over the wall. Knowing men, he can be sure that people would try to fight them, but the Others would outmatch them, so he could hide behind the army of the dead and keep blaming them for the long night, as he has always been doing for thousands of years. If the Three Eyed Raven can reach theIsle of Faces, he would be able to control all races: The remaining Children, humans, and the Others. This is the only way Bran being the king of all kingdoms makes sense to me. And If Bloodraven had went to the wildlings and had used his abilities to understand the past, rather than believing himself to be the hero of the story (as it frequently happens with Targaryens), he might have been able to solve the problem by reaching out to the shadow lands where demons and dragons and other monsters live. I also love to entertain the idea that if Bloodraven had been raised with the Starks how different his story could have been. Back to the dilemma of female children being active in the south spreading stories and legends and prophecies is one thing to think about. The Other thing is that the Others have their own language. It’s like screeching of ice. No one can understand it… or? I’m guessing someone like Jon Snow who dies and wargs himself back to life somehow would be able to understand them. Especially if that particular Jon Snow is the Son of Ice and Fire, King in the North, King of the Seven Kingdoms, and (undead) King of Winter (three heads of the dragon if you will). So if he can understand them, either by warging into Ghost, or via some weird ice magic, then it is highly possible that he will learn that they are just like the wildlings, a misunderstood race, that are kept hostage like slaves, and all they want is to die. They are searching for the Prince that was promised, so that he or she, if resurrected, can lead them to their salvation. And If the rotting blue heart is the heart of winter, I think it’s clear why it is rotting. It is because the Three Eyed Raven is keeping the Others hostage/slaves, and intends to use them to get rid of human kind for good. (Remember how Bran thinks that “men wouldn’t be sad, men would be furious” after Leaf tells him about their story. Is that really Bran thinking? Or is it the three eyed raven talking to him in his mind? We may never know…) I think the Others accept human babies because they can either raise them to be white walkers, like they did in the show, or to use them as life sources, just like the Children do with human babies left in wells or in the deep of the forests. The similarities in their behaviour suggests that special blooded Children of the forest were used to create the others, wargs and greenseers for example. Or they used a different species of humanoids from the far north, people from the heart of winter, or from the shadow lands if you will, and bound them to their will with blood sacrifice. Similar to how you explain dragon bond with their riders.

Really good analysis! Watching this I found a connection I've never noticed before: Strange voices called to her from days long past. "Melony," she heard a woman cry. A man's voice called, "Lot Seven." She was weeping, and her tears were flame. And still she drank it in. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks. Both are describing having fiery tears. Are they experiencing the same thing? Is this the organism within the Wall feeling the ice melting?

Perfection.

So the lord of light dont really want people to burn, HE want to burn and be free from the the wall? 😮 Great vids

This is crazy I think you really nailed it bro..

Honestly I like the mechanism for the wall and it’s definitely something to do with the weirwoods, but I’m not quite convinced, a lot of the evidence is kind of just tangential or requires some serious leaps in logic, like the Jon guest right thing, could happen, but we don’t really have much suggesting something like that will happen, it kinda feels like confirmation bias, if arriving at a conclusion and looking for things to back it up

I cant believe I missed a video in this series.

We don't know WHO the wolf king is, for all we know it could also be Bran, especially if Jon is a Wolf with Dragonwings (Son of Rhaegar and Lyanna). When we read ALL of the Books, Jon has little Imagery of Wolf with him, except for Ghost and even Ghost leaves him alone for some time. Yes,, Jon has Wolf dreams and calls for Ghosts in his last Chapter, but most of the Time, the Imagery surrounding Jon are Birds! Crows, Ravens, etc. So I am not sure Jon is the undead wolfking, because we don't know if he is dead. Sorry to say this, even Bran survived the fall from a very high Tower, because of Magic. Drogo survived a deadly infection, because of Magic he just lost his Soul and Spirit in the Process. So although we know Jon will have a Role to play in the Plot of the North with the Others, we can't be sure it is the Role of the Wolfking. If Lyanna was married to Rhaegar like in the TV show, Jon wouldn't even be a Wolf, he would have the Coat of Arms of his Father, a 3 Headed Dragon. So the Wolfking is most likely someone with Stark-Blood, but we have still Bran, Rikkon and Jon who fit that Description with Jon being the most unlikely because of his Parentage.

like mirri says in the first book: what is life when all the rest has gone?

Does this theory tie into the Pact and/or the weird seasons?

Where does the Shade of the Evening trees fall into this? Assuming they are inverted Weirwoods, what do they represent?

Hmm. I wonder if Samwell will be the one to finally destroy the Heart of Winter? I mean, his House is the one who a Valyrian Steel Sword called Heartsbane.

Head of a wolf over slaughtered human remains could allude to the theory that Lady StoneHeart gives her last kiss to Rob, with Greywind's head still sewn on. No one knew what happened to his body. Walder Frey clearly kept it as a trophy. 😮 in a cooler area like at the Night's Watch to preserve it. He, like the other Stark children, could at least "warg dream"... Just like the Targaryns and their dragon bond. Anywho. Rob might have gone into Greywind, inadvertently, as he was dying. So StoneHeart resurrects Rob's body and his now wonky/ screwed up mind in the head of a dire wolf. Like if Varamyr Six Skins were to be resurrected. Would definitely explain the slaughter and limbs ripped off. The crown on the king in the north. Jeez! LADY STONEHEART was creepy and violent as shit! And that's only a little bit that we know.

"Shade" is sometimes used to mean "ghost". So "Shade of the Evening" could be "Ghost of the Evening". "Evening" like "night". Long night?

Salty as a tear - the Wall is made of ocean water?

Like the overall theory. Not sure how to interpret a pinched nipple as a cry for help but perhaps the others communicate in mysterious ways aka nipple pinching and eyeball sucking

The heart tree. The heart of winter is smack dab in the middle of the wall. Just like a human heart is in the middle of the chest.

And honestly if this is a free the slaves metaphor is freeing the slaves of the three cities a mistake?

The Attack on White Walker theory

Could be Giants inside the wall. Either way, very Attack on Titan

I think you are falling to confirmation bias in a major way. The chapter clearly states that Bran was looking from the South to the North hence the _"North and North he looked"_ bit If there was something disturbing in the Wall, he would not just calmly observe "Oh Jon is freezing off his ass on the Wall" No it would be "Holy fuck! there are *people* in the Wall!!!" It would immediately occupy all of his attention and freak him out Instead Bran keeps scanning _beyond the Wall_ into the Haunted Forest and the Frozen Shore then further and further North he scans until he reaches this "Curtain of Light at the end of the world (probably Planetos version of Aurora Borealis) It is there _beyond the curtain of Light that he sees something that terrifies him_ My personal theory probably wrong, is that he saw eyes staring back at him and I'm not talking about mortal human eyes but eyes in the Lovecraftian sense. However I'm willing to bet 10 to 1 that I'm wrong Also another quick side note the 'Storm' that Bran saw in his coma dream is a literal storm not some metaphorical storm (Although it could be that too) Catelyn's later chapter notes how they were caught up in a storm near Dragonstone and poor Ser Rodrik was so sick that he had to shave his beard after the storm because of all the vomit he threw up. She also rewarded the sailors with silver for getting them safely past the storm. _"...He (Ser Rodrik) was looking better. A shade thinner than he had been when they set out from White Harbor, but almost himself again. The strong winds in the Bite and the roughness of the narrow sea had not agreed with him, and he’d almost gone over the side when the storm seized them unexpectedly off Dragonstone, yet somehow he had clung to a rope until three of Moreo’s men could rescue him and carry him safely below decks..."_ Catelyn IV AGOT In this dream Bran is seeing a lot of literal things and some symbolic things currently on going. Lil bro was like a CCTV camera during that dream.

Algormancy!

But why wouldn't Bran think of anything about the Wall when he's at The Wall??

Why if your theory is so do the warlocks want to kill her?

Everytime i watch a video of yours i think to myself: This is either the most stupid conspiratorial BS or the most genius well thought out theories and interpretations i ve ever heard. Only Winds of Winter ll tell us wich of those it is

so like a lot of this is very convincing but i have to ask why the children would just turn their backs on the spirits of the weirwood trees they made an agreement with to win a war against the people the children would betray the others for. i think you are right on a lot of this but i dont think the children betrayed the others bc it basically makes no sense and requires them to just as a race be littlefinger-esque machiavelli's to all go along with betraying this race of forest spirits they would have to take out of the trees in the first place. like, did they warg a weirwood and see the connections and be like "this is worth starting an infinite war over." ????? i jsut dont. understand. like conservatives are stupid, dont get me wrong. but i dont think theyre "summon demons just to betray them" stupid. the others are more of a consequence of something, i think. maybe the children were already at war with the others and had to make a treaty with humanity to not be fighting a war on two fronts? i definitely think you have a lot of evidence, i just think you went with the "find evidence to support this" instead of "find this that is supported by evidence" yknow

So this is why Georgey boy can't finish the next book(s)!!!!

Dany's dragons have been in the House of the Undying. So if the Weirwoods and Others in the wall are connected to the HOTU could that be why Dany can fly her dragons over the wall?

Can someone please talk about how insanely backed up these theories are? Theyre hardly theories dude theyre insanely cool and prob better than anything that will come out officially in our lifetimes