"The man who passes the sentence" bit is too perfect. A secret blood sacrifice hidden in a lesson about honor. Just. *chef's kiss*

So Hodor fed a stone to the well instead of a baby, like how Cronos was fed a stone instead of Zeus 🤔

Im obsessed with these theories

This is great insight keep up the great work. The practice of leaving a bastard of the first night in the “snow” had me think about all of the other bastard names. We know the children lived all throughout Westeros before mans arrival. In each place where the right of the first night was practiced they’d leave the possibly gifted children in the snow, by the rivers, on the hills, in the sand, on the stone, in flowers, or out in the storm.

"The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living."

I love this. The culture of honor being so characteristic of the North makes even more sense with this theory in mind. The Wall lapses into a place to send your thieves and bastards as a means of discarding them socially, but there's a dignity with the Night's Watch from back in the day that makes a lot more sense if dying on the Wall was a physical contribution to the safety of the realm. "It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it" combined with "It's a simple job, anyone can do it" makes this handy-dandy baseline for the worth of a person: if your contribution to society would be improved by using you for mulch, the Wall has you covered.

One interesting thing is that John has a short and quick flashback where Ned intended to make a deal with the NightWatch in order for him to become the lord of an unused castle and have a few families to populate the Gift. In other words, with this new line of Snow certainly following the stark traditions, there would be litteraly a little village of people living as sacrifices for the Wall and a potentially huge line of bastards/kings blood constantly feeding the wall.

I think Preston Jacobs have also theorized that theres also Weirwood trees deep deep down under the House of Black and White, a place where so many people willingly off themselves. The roots of this network reach really deep, like, bottom of oceans deep to reach other continents.

This series is brilliant and Jon dying with his King's blood at the wall would help explain his pending resurrection...the magic of the children and Weirwoods.

I think when Patchface says, "Under the sea the old fish eat the young fish. Up here the young fish teach the old fish." he might be talking about this. The Old Gods eat the young and seem to be undead.

This is the best ASOIAF theory I've ever heard

Ser..... you have kicked me in the balls with this line of discourse. If this Theory isn't true it damn well should be. well done. You have earned my sub.

I wrote a whole ass essay style theory about Gendel’s children actually being the children of the forest years ago. It ties in all the underground caverns being connected by tunnels and how the crypts of Winterfell, I believe, are connected to that network via the oldest, collapsed part. I think Jon is the “Last Hero” figure and his dream of being called in the crypts could be him finding the children of the forest.

I have never commented on a post before but I am so excited by these revelations. I think you have absolutely worked out the mystery of the novel. I'm thinking we could have further evidence of glass candles and first nights being linked when we consider Varys account of him being cut and he hears a voice. Could the sorcerer be using Varys blood as a sacrifice to use a glass candle to communicate with someone? We know Varys is an orphan and potentially another first night by blow but from the Targaryen blood line.. just an idea!

So when the free folk found out what the children were doing so many years ago they started burning their dead rather than power the wall and singers

"We all shed our blood for the Watch..." -Jon Snow, Samwelll I, AFFC.

Good stuff, man! Keep it up 👍 Regarding pacts/making deals: Cersei’s dream of her childhood encounter with Maggy the Frog, I think, is at least in part an allegory or metaphor for what happened when the CotF made these arrangements with the First Men: Maggy requires her blood in exchange for knowledge gained through magic, everything in the tent is green, there is so much description in that chapter that I am sure there’s plenty to unravel. There are other similar deals that occur throughout the story, like Mirri and Dany sacrificing the horse (and Rhaego), although Mirri isn’t a true CotF, her symbolism seems to put her in that role and there is definitely treachery there at the cost of the non-CotF figure). Then there’s Mel, basically tapping Stannis’ life force so she can make shadow assassins for him, all exchanges of human sacrifice in some form for magic. And we are told that all magic was rooted in blood, George kind of spells it out, doesn’t he?

Wow, this makes a ton of sense. Looking forward to checking out more of your vids. Random Internet Guy gave you a shout out, and you have a new sub.

8:35 interesting that they use the term burned out. Not burned down made me think of all lights going out. Think of the hell these undying ones are going through being and endless observer not capable of interacting or being part of the world you are forced to endlessly observe. I am so glad I found your channel very informative.

You are starting something with videooo topic!....This was good and very well put......I've had my thoughs, twists, ideas about ASOIF but this is 🔓🧠💡💯☝🏿.

I like to think there’s a guy in Winterfell yelling this stuff on the street

The Andals never conquered the North, and yet House Glover of the First Men has built their castle in the deep woods. Idk what this means, but its there.

Really good. Lol at your laugh when you said "we're just gonna see what happens".

My New Favorite asoiaf KZfaq Streamer... You're a breath of fresh air Michael! Love your work and eagerly awaiting all your future theories and thoughts...🤙

So much for " The North remembers"!

Discovered your channel yesterday and I'm OBSESSED! Now I have to reread ASOIAF and Fire & Blood before House of the Dragon S2 comes out in Sumer 2024!!!

The Doomsday Switch scenario is great - really hope it turns out true. It'd give so much more meaning to the Big Bad Evil. One thing I would add is that I imagine the children of the forest, despite their hive mind, might have not been of one mind (pun intended) on how to deal with the First Men. Some were willing to take them down with them in vengeance, creating the Others, others found a way to coexist, leading to the creation of the Wall and all those customs. And the reason the purpose of those customs had to be kept secret might have been that equally, some Men thought they could just fight the threat and wouldn't play along in their effective subjugation. PS: Also, where's the Part III you talk about at the end, delving into the narrative implications of this theory from an auctorial perspective? That sounds really interesting.

there are plenty of Hart trees left south of the neck, we know of Riverrun, Highgardern and Storm's End (Mel burned it) had them. also one of the old ways was the blood eagle, and execution was done at the Hart Tree, where all of the blood is drained

So the Nights Watch culture is a bit like the Grail Ritual from Fate - it’s a subterfuge masquerading as a conflict that’s actually one big sacrifice to boost magical power. Neat.

I have often thought that the Weirwoods are all connected across Westeros underground almost live a giant hive mind.

It would be great if theory channels had dissertation defences like in academia. Other channels to have a live or edited critique of the theory from as many directions as possible then with the defence of the theory.

you sound like a youtuber i like but i can’t think of who… oh okay after a bit i’ve realized it is the elder scrolls youtuber Zaric Zhakaron. Don’t tell him bust i even like your voice slightly more. Great channel, happy to have found you btw!

Omg dude this is 🔥

May have already covered this, but could the Night's Watch Oath line "(I am) the horn than wakes the sleepers" be reference to the Horn of Jorramun waking and freeing your theorised sleeping wall/tree-bound others? You mention in one video the link between Stannis sleeping and his shadow, and shadows of the 'sleeping' Undying ones, so maybe it's a combination of all that symbolism, once again implying the need to free the wall-bound others, per your theory. Then again I'm not sure why that would be the Nigh's Watch oath as they are surely doing the opposite in their role and sustaining the wall. Or maybe I am just reaching!

Amazing bro

Ive always been meh on got. But when its broken down like this i LOVE it. Martin may have buried stuff too deep for me lol

Ok, so pulling from memory here, so feel free to correct anything I am misremembering, BUT: I watched a video on the Deep Ones in ASOIAF, and it got me thinking about a universal magic that ALL of the in-universe magics pull from. Sort of like the maybe physical, maybe extradimensional sea of darkness wayyyy wayyyy deep down in the earth and its "rules" underlying blood magic, COTF magic, fire magic, ice magic, greensight, warging, etc. (I am imagining the dark ocean under the mines of moria that gandalf and the balrog fell into - the one with the eldritch monsters gandalf feared talking about) Basically some eldritch force that accepts bargains in exchange for some of its power. Instead of blood sacrifice being some sort of innate mechanic in ASOIAF like physics, the children of the forest sacrifice to this eldritch force in exchange for their magic. Each magic system would be different cultures discovering a way to bargain with this eldritch force or deep one because, no matter where they are, that deep one is always underneath them. I remember reading ages ago a theory about the Others (or something sounding just them) existing in the far east, past those giant black towers. The theory was basically the far east wrapping around to the north of westeros on a globe, but WHAT IF the eldritch magic causing the others and all these magics is below EVERYONE's feet EVERYWHERE. I wonder if the parallels between the children and squishers, red priests, etc. are less them ALL being the same thing (all children with glamours, all secret deep ones, etc.) and is really several ancient groups that have been twisted by millennia of interaction with the eldritch force (the red priests being more recent than the children or squishers). The force could be beyond mortal notions of malevolence, and instead simply by its nature "corrupting" those imbued with its power. The children, the squishers, or whatever uses this magic could have been ancient humans that interacted with this Old God long before even the first men showed up in westeros. The weirwoods could function as eyes/limbs for the old one such that it can consume whatever it needs to. The chlidren could have created the weirwoods whose roots pull from this ocean (might be this ocean that the wall gets its water/warding power from - thats why it blocks dragons too) and access its magic, and inadvertently alerted an eldritch force to their existence and even they don't grasp that it is directly tapped into their hive mind. Bloodraven could even be some sort of avatar of this entity/force/god, and is basically trying to get the blood flowing again to feed this old god. The children sought its power for their own use, and are effectively in too deep with some entity now thirsting for blood it had no means of accessing before. Now that it has weirwoods to observe the world, it can influence the world to its own end, and this would all stem from a people seeking power for - from their perspective - perfectly justifiable reasons. Another note: In a video about the Hammer of Dorne, where the children sank dorne / raised the ocean around it, the video author mentioned the children calling their spells "songs". This played into an idea that the others and the targaryens were created by the children in a SONG of ice and fire. The greenseers and wargs being turned into "singers" might imply the children use them to amplify their own magic. It could even be that the children use humans to create more beings carrying magic COTF blood to use in their spells/songs or to sacrifice to the old one. I wonder if the motivation and sort of thematic tie-in to the people-focused nature of the story is that the others were a song/spell the children used to fight the first men and it effectively backfired because they were meddling in forces they could not comprehend (parallel to Dany and the witch with drogo and her would-be first born child). The children could have tried to rectify the others mistake by creating "fire-imbued greenseers" and made the targaryens (who would later go on to undermine the entire setup between the children and the old one). So either maliciously or just by existing as some universal force, the old one would have fed the children all the proverbial rope they would need for their own undoing. It simply is power that can be claimed, but claiming power is never without consequence (cough cough major theme cough cough). I think this idea of some force/entity representing the dangerous and consquential, but not necessarily innately evil nature of power, would resonate well with the story's themes. It is less about some universal evil that the good guys must defeat, and more so a story about people wielding power they do not fully understand, the reasons they do so, and the consequences for their actions. It does not matter the justification, whether children fending off colonizers, or Bobby B wiping out the targaryens, the use of power itself has consequences, and the compelling part of the story is how these characters grapple with the decisions/consequences of if/how they use the power available to them. tl;dr I think a dark, evil ocean at the core of the world deep, deep below the surface is both literal and the source of all the different magics we see in the story, but also a metaphor for the core theme of the story - that being the relationship between people and power. How do people decide how/if to use the power available to them, and how do they grapple with the consequences of their choices. I do not think this eldritch ocean, or whatever old one living in it is necessarily malevolent, but by the nature of the power it grants, it doles out consequences for wielding whatever power it grants or is drawn from it. You can maybe minimize the cost by paying up front with a magic baby, but use of power in the books never comes with some clean-cut, 1-to-1 exchange. Use of power is by its nature consequential, and each perspective will come with its own justification for wielding power regardless.

Good Stuff.

That's not a wood's witch, that's just some Goonies looking for One Eyed Willie's gold.

I found you. I am here now. Be ready for your channel to glow up dear. See you in the comment section.

I always thought that the king's blood is valyrian blood or some specific bloodline. Everybody can be king... remember that melissandre can misunderstand the fire. Maybe Garth bloodline??

So the surname of bastards is literally where they're supposed to be abandoned as babies. It's pretty dark. After Westeros becomes modern and urbanized, bastard surnames will become "Dumpster" "Sewers" and "Alley".

Going after the Children of the Forest like a criminal psychologist 😂❤

Ok. Some of this is pretty compelling.

Thrashing around at the bottom of the well: a Singer running to save the potential baby thrown in the well?

The ending of children having to be sacrificed for the sake of mankind would definitely be bittersweet...not that I think this will be the outcome

I love this theory

Just had a thought about the whole right to first night: you know how in some classic fairytales the evil witch or antagonist of some kind wants the first born on exchange to grant them a wish? Well I guess those sacrificed bastards are often the first born. They're sacrificed to the weir woods/wall to grant the wish of keeping the others out or the children or whoever, but as you said as long as this tradition lives on the magic is fulled

Brother, you cracked the code. How do you feel?

It is generally absurd how Attack on titan and A song of ice and fire have so many similar elements.

Upon rewatching this many motivations and timeline inconsistencies clicked into place. Many theorists look to the Nights King and Corpse Queen as the origin of the others but it's always sat wrong with me because how can there be a Nights Watch and a Wall before the others? Wtf were they watching? Also, there is some debate in the timeline on exactly how or when the Long Night happened and if there was more than one. With George confirming the Long night happened 5000 years ago, not 8000. Which coincides with the arrival of the Andals. This also melds with it being unclear about when exactly the Nights Watch was founded. Rewatching this video everything clicked into a perfect timeline in my mind and Idk how to explain how this, so I'm gonna lay it out as best I can. Children: (minding own business with giants) First men: Hey, nice continent you have here. We think we'll live here. Children: Ugh I don't think so, peep this, we're gonna create these things called The Others and they're gonna fuck you up. Also we're gonna do the hammer of the waters and try to keep anymore of you from coming here. First men: we would very much like for you to not do that. Children: Well we already did, but, if you promise to follow the old ways and give us lots of blood sacrifices and unwanted babies we will make a giant wall fueled by said blood sacrifice as a fail safe to ensure you stick to the agreement otherwise the wall comes down and the others kill you all. First men: All hail the old gods! The Children Tack some people to trees and the wall is created. The first men form the original nights watch. The children and the first men live in harmony. All of this happens before recorded history. (Put a pin in that) Then, the Andals come. With them they bring their religion, their writing, and begin burning Weirwoods and abolishing the old ways. It's around this time or before that the tale of The Nights King and Corpse queen takes place. They were a part of the original prehistoric Nights Watch which existed to offer sacrifices to the Heart Tree of the wall. This did not sit well with Andals sensibilities and he was defeated, wiped from history, and retroactively portrayed as a villain. All these actions weaken the magic of the wall enough that the others can breach it, ushering in the Long Night. This whole time the others living north of the Wall have become quite pissed off at the Children for nailing them to trees so by the time they breach the wall all hell breaks loose as the Others go full on assault in an attempt to kill the Children and the Wierwoods to set themselves free. Then everyone bands together from all over the known world and figures out a way to get them back north. A new pact is made with less desirable terms for the children than before. The Nights Watch is reestablished. (Now with historical documentation) The others are driven back north. The wall is repaired or replaced. The old ways, the pact, the children, all fade to memory and legend. Fast forward to current times. Blood sacrifices have dried up, barely any unwanted babies to be had, nights watch attendance at an all time low, and Mel's running around the south burning up weirwoods. The magic of the wall is weakening and the others are even more pissed then they were before and they still want free. That brings us up to date. I'm curious what you think about how this fits in with what you've been saying in this video series or if you have anything to add. Apologies for tons of misspellings and bad grammar. LoL

So,Jaime Lannister broke guest rite by harming a Stark of Winterfell,correct?

If I remember correctly, it was the targaryens that ended the right of the first night in the books, specifically in fire and blood. I wonder if that has anything to do with the white walkers coming back

Hi! I really hope you read this. These are the best theories and I want to stick to them (working on a show rewrite)). BUT. I have the following questions. If you could answer them, the theory is flawless. If the last hero was “cornered” by whites, what exactly happened? How did the children of the forrest drive whites back after the pact with men and adoption of old ways? What exactly happened during the long night? What did the white walkers want, why were they destroying everything for so long? Where did the Starks get their power to conquer the north if not from a WW marriage (talking before Brandon took his brother's baby). 13 Lord Commanders and therefore, a few Stark generations lived before the Night's King married a White. Perhaps, warging from children of the forrest helped, but why “winter is coming” then? If white walkers were gone at the start of AGOT to the very far north for thousands of years, how come were they still around at the time of the 13th lord commander (so he could marry a White). Did the 3 eyed raven help then? If so, why did the children of the forrest continue trusting this position to men? How did Brandon/ Joramund drive the WW away for good? So a new Night’s king scenario couldn’t happen? Thank you! You are incredibly clever man, so I hope you can help us find the answers.

OHHH THAT"S WHY THEY"RE CALLED SNOW. oh my GOD

I'm not sure about the weirwoods needing blood. I mean, what did they feed on before the CotF started sacrificing people them? Would they have relied on the occasional wolf or mountain lion bringing down a deer at the foot of a tree or murders in a grove and the CtoF noticed the trees grew better when that happened? How did blood sacrifice get started?

I don’t understand what the point of the wall is in this situation. Is growing a massive line of weirwoods, and tying a thousand others to them, really easier than hunting Others in the far north?

i think you should develope more the idea of why would the wildlings be allowed north the danger of the others would be enough to keep the night watch and eventually every man dies no matter if by your roomate or by old age

Some of this is great, but if it's blood they want, why the celibacy? "I shall take no wife" still fits very well, but "father no children." sticks out like a sore thumb. Was that part added after the Night's King? If so, why?

Algormancy!

What if the tunnels are remnants of an old root system?

😨😨😨💙💙💙

Amazing video, keep doing your thing

So Craster does the same as the Fathers of Magical Bastards. So, could any of his offspring be the Children of the Forest? The CoTF created the Night King in the show, so did the NK/The Others inherit this from the CoTF and accept sacrifices for the same Gods?

Omg!

the old attack on titan theory

Are you on Twitter Michael?

i wonder why night's watch swear to celibacy? seems counterintuitive to the plan

Like Vow Breaker Nights Watchmen being executed by the Stark of Winterfell now don't you think originally that act was done at the weirwood? Also, these are plenty at least back then of King's blood bastards so you know that didn't want to be nice watchmen that were forced into it and maybe took off and every single one of them if caught had to be killed by the Stark of winterfell in front of the tree this has been in my head for years like nobody's ever said this but it's been in my head for years I think it's part of their deal you know.... Now it's still the Stark of winterfell he doesn't kill the night's watchmen man in front of the heart tree but he's still "cleanses himself" I get to them he they are cleansing themselves of the sin of murdering a guy but having to do it as the leads Lord of wherever etcetera... And cleaning his sword by his heart tree which is his God or whatever you know into that yummy probably lake that probably has lots lots and lots and lots and lots of dead people in it!!! If this is worded off I'm really sorry I'm using voice I lost my glasses and I can't see typing at all so forgive me but I think it's a good theory!

So you are missing one thing that is important but it doesn't effect your theory overall. The reason the CotF and The First Men suddenly both stopped and started worshipping the trees is because is because the CotF messed up and lost control of their weapon they made the to defeat TFM. They tied humans to the trees and the hivemind tha is the WWnet was overpopulated by barbarous, warmongering men and the singers they did have already connected were corrupted or silenced or just too weak to affect the overall mission of the weapon. Basically the WMD that the CotF made was too powerful and they didn't predict the damage that using said weapon would have and that it would backfire and hurt them too. (Nuclear bombs?) This corrupted the WWnet and possibly is what turned them white with red leaves. The Others were the tip of the spear so to speak and sacrifices were made so they could make shadows to go around and mess everything up... like fallout almost. The humans that were turned into the others then took full control of the trees since once a weapon is made then others will copy it and use it against you(nuclear proliferation). So now humans and CotF have a common enemy and both suddenly have to kneel and worship them as gods... this is where your theory gets the details correct... Now *I* think, at the moment* that the Isle of Faces might be where there is a separate colony of trees that are not connected to the rest. There is a team of the strongest CotF there to protect it from anybody seeing them or going there and coming out alive to tell the tale. It is their only hope to correct the past and reset the balance of planet. There is a heart tree there that has been being tended to and growing hidden for 10,000 years, either because that's how long it takes to grow or because the time has never been right to do anything. Bloodraven is a super strong Greenseer and so is Bran which is why they might be able to fight the ill effects of the net and why Bloodraven has been trying so hard to find someone like Bran. (Could also be why it took so long) He will not be fully consumed by the hivemind and can do what needs doing, whatever that is.Probably planting the prophecy via time-travel warging into people's dreams to give them visions as warging appears to allow a type of psychic communication without fully warging a person. (See Multiple Starks hearing voices of dead people and Ned hearing Bran in his first tree travel) So this is how they implant dreams without candles. They have to be Wargs inside the tree. The Others leave Craster alone because the y have been using the babies to power themselves and their shadows and wights possibly. The Others are pissed they aren't getting enough babies and know about the prophecy of Azor Ahai and have gone out to kill him preemptively, kinda moving things along - See prologue of book 1 and the description of the watchman they killed.. they thought it was Jon Snow or a Stark at least- I think is a preston Jacobs video) Edit: Oh yeah.. The Others bring the long night because the WWs are the heart of the planet. They can control winter for a few years when they have a lot of power . Power is blood and sacrifice. The first one they had lots of wars so lots of power for a super long night, This summer was long because they wanted people happy and procreating and warring so they could get more blood and babies. They have saved a bit extra in prep for this battle to come and essentially use winter as a siege weapon and ight to move shadows around... but shadows take blood and babies.

Soooo Jon’s blood is now in the wall.

16:46

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Oh don't worry Michael, I'm aware of what the children did and I more or less support them. Dont like colonizers either.