I've always hoped that the valonquar thing would happen by Arya coming back to Westeros for a job, being at the inn at the crossroads and I'm not sure how it would go down plot wise to bring him there but I kind of want Jaime to be there. Maybe Arya is disguised as someone from Westeros Jaime knows? Anyway, I always hoped he would be drunk and let it slip that the Mountain couldn't die to Arya in disguise, unless you do this very specific thing, which as you said crosses two names off of Arya's list. Even tho neither Jaime or Tyrion do the killing, it fulfills the valonquar prophecy because it wouldn't have happened without the help of the valonquar. I've never been clear on how she would do it but I also always saw it as her going back to the bowels of the red keep to do something in Qyburn's lab that would make the Mountain killable. I thought it could be some sort of poison, but I hadn't really thought this part through tbh. Hadn't considered a glass candle, but it would definitely fit. All that's probably just wishful thinking on my part tho (I really want Arya to kill Cersei and the Mountain and I always wanted Cersei's death to be because Jaime said something to Arya in disguise so trusted her/never dreamed it could get Cersei killed otherwise he wouldn't have said it)

The point you are missing is Ned didn’t really care that Jaimie killed the Mad King. The issue he had was he did it after he knew the King was going to lose the war and it showed no bravery or heroism when and how he did it. He was pissed that he should have done when his father and brother were about to be tortured and murdered. That would have been a brave and noble act. You clearly missed Ned’s point of view.

I feel like “The Others” are named that for a reason. The show used “White Walkers” almost exclusively because the show made them MONSTERS- however, in the books, I don’t think they are monsters at all. They’re different. They’re “other”. Though many humans fear things that are different- different doesn’t inherently mean “evil”. They’re just OTHER than us. I truly hope GRRM finishes the books- or, at the very least, creates an outline and allows a team to help him get the last two books finished so that many of our questions can be finally answered. Also- I’m new to your channel and SO IMPRESSED with your work. I’ve had many thoughts and theories that are similar to yours (esp concerning the Westwood trees/wall/etc) and nothing on KZfaq even came close. I appreciate you and your channel! You’ve got a new sub in me, and I’m recommending you to all my ASoIaF fan friends. Keep on doing your thing!

Good fuckin points bro! This changes everything!

“Micheal talks about stuff”(known for the WALLter Cycle) you are at the pinnacle of theorists along with: “David lightbringer” (known for the mechanism of Long Nights, Moon Meteors) “a song of ice and toodles” (lots more speculation, but with heavy citation) “Preston Jacobs”(known for the Dorne Master Plan and Time-Travelling Bran) and “Cantuse” (known for The Night Lamp a chapter in the massive Stannis-fan theory The Mannifesto). You are totally fully cannon. Well my head-cannon includes 97% of your theories.

I agree that this was a great change

He didn’t think they’d hatch and he wanted to give her a gift that would make her feel obliged to work with him when she took over Westeros.

Very solid defense of Jamie. My only thought is would Jamie kill or let Ned live. I think Jamie would let Ned live cause Jamie wants revenge for the King Slayer title Ned had branded him with.

I like the idea that Old Nan is a Singer as I think the same thing, but I do resist the idea that she has other aliases like Nettles or Leaf. Even if Nettles is Leaf (which I personally reject) the idea that she's Nan doesn't ring true for me personally because I can't imagine she would have left Bran and Rickon after the sack of Winterfell. Even if she didn't know at first that Bran had survived, their reunion would have been the resurrection of her 200-year duty and I imagine would have some powerful, overwhelming emotions from her regardless of her true identity. Leaf always acted as though Bran's existence just meant more chores for her essentially, as I read it, and that just doesn't track as the attitude of someone who helped raise him. Also, fwiw, changing the identity one-of-if-not-the-most famous brown-skinned Westerosi's in history into a literal inhuman being is a hard pass for me.

Jamie just wanted to see if he was actually as good as he thought was (himself)-What better way than to challenge and maybe beat the established Ned. Ned let him think he was good but not for long-Once Ned quit toying w/him and put his game face on it was over for Jamie and Jamie knew it-u could see the look on his face when he realized he had bit off more than he could chew. His man saved his life by stabbing Ned in the leg-or so the man thought because I don't think Ned would have killed him, just taught him a lesson and, to Jamie, that may have been worse than death.

3:57 Also worth noting that George lives in Santa Fe, California, which is located in the southwestern part of the state, very near to the locations of numerous "Tunnel Trees," which are huge Redwood Trees with tunnels bored through their lower trunks to allow people and vehicles to pass under them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_tree

I think a crucial part of dialogue you’re missing is when Ned goes on to say “you served him well, when serving was safe.” Ned would have respected what Jamie did had he done it earlier when it actually might’ve cost his something, but saved someone else.

I like to think of everything Patchface says is from the perspective of a dead man, which is why the living cannot understand him.

You are ignoring the line "blood on the thigh..." which implies she is recalling losing her virginity, in context it appears she lost it either to or for whoever purchased her. This world has made it pretty clear that sex is a big part of the magic system and I think whomever is in control of Melisandre and Thoros probably also raped her or at the very least seduced her. That might undercut your claim that her powers come from drinking wildfire, but idk tbh.

Wait, by your logic, the wights were invited in by LC Mormont, then by the laws of Guest Right, the wights shouldn't be able to attack Mormont, can they? Unless, they were merely invited by hospitality was not offered to them? I like this theory for sure, but this hole doesn't seem to go away too easily.

This doesn’t make jamie more honorable, tow different situations

Wonderfully broken down. Do you have an OnlyFans?

maybe it will done as more of a mercy killing and maybe the justification will be that shireens greyscale gets sigficantly worse or something

I do wonder how things would have went if Tywin did actually try and take the Iron Throne for House Lannister in a double-betrayal type of situation. Imagine a younger Ned and a less experienced Jaime going at it in front of the Iron Throne.

@4:37 AI generated images?

Whilst they may not be making a Snow Show, it's absolutely imperative that they do a Post Season 8 world. It's because of all the omitted plots and characters that it's so important that they fix the franchise by doing a sequel that retcons all of the mistakes made in GOT!

Those parallels you pointed out at the end literally blew my mind! 🤯😭 Gotta love long form videos like this.

The progressives enact change by taking over the conservative system of surveillance and censorship? That's why it's sometimes best to lean towards what's good for the story. Trying to balance message and narrative is tough.

Martin Luther King is as an adulterous. Of course he would go against the laws of god. Jaime was a bozo

i mean,jamie not killing ned vs ned killing arthur isnt the same,ned is still hand of the king,and jamie wants his brother back,he has reasons to not kill him,meanwile arthur was a loyal guard to the king who just lost the war that killed neds dad and brother

How will this relate to Euron and his love of the blue delulu?

The only thing that makes me sad about a reboot is i dont think ANYONE will EVER best Diana Rigg's performance of Olenna Tyrell ❤️

So Shireen is Nisa Nisa you say. Boom

Poor Dolorous Edd, his watch mayhaps has a chance to go on forever, and he'll have to listen to the lying corpses besides him complain about worm allocation.

I honestly dont watch many theory videos and theory crafters, but I dont think there should be any doubts about the idea that the Others are in the wall keeping it magically standing. My real pushback is from your notion that Arya will actually kill the Great Other, as she and he are both agents of the god of death. If anything they are on the same side as she is a killer who stands to add more corpses to his army.

Because he was fighting the guy who beat Arthur Dayne - the greatest of all time.

Really cool theory, but I have two main issues with it. 1: Leaf would need to have dragon rider blood. 2: Dragons don't seem to go north of the wall.

Just go around the wall, duh.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but Dragon's in Westeros don't do that good in captivity? Sadly, another point for no Dragon underneath Winterfell....

Jaime had a very specific reason for not killing Ned and it had nothing to do with honor. Ned specifically states kill me and your brother is as good as dead. Ned on the other hand, killed Arthur Dayne as an act of mercy. Had nothing again to do with honor. Either he could leave Arthur to bleed out or he could put him out of his misery much like you do for an animal with a serious injury.

For now, I still believe that the Undying are just a symbolic stand-in for the others. My main problem is that I don't see other clear connections between Qarth and the Wall. What I clearly see, however, is a connection between Euron and both Qarth and the Wall: He might have disguised as Urrathon Night-Walker an vlearly took the warlocks prisoners, while he might also aim to bring down the wall with Sam's Horn of Winter in Oldtown and/or by stealing one of Dany's dragons, and he might also try to bevome the leader of the Others. But these parallels are indirect and do not link the Wall and Qarth directly.

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!

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! :)

EXCEPT IN THE GOD'S EYE!!!!

What if in. Order for Bran to better or more efficiently. Control westeros he only can manipulate certain family trees or has to move explicitly around them. Maybe he has to set up certain places where he has to allow to remain unobsercable by him in order for it to happen? Idk theres a lot of trippy concepts in Dune when you start looking at Harkonnen No chambers, face dancers, bene txeleliu spice tanks. Id have to imagine George would put in some of the weird body horror of Dune.

I came across this passage in the Torah. Emor 21:9: "If a [Priests] daughter becomes desecrated through adultery she desecrates her father; she shall be burned in fire." There is an esoteric line in ASOIAF between Royals and Priests. Some might even say that it is non-existent. Robert defiled Stannis's matrimony bed with an act of infidelity. Stannis's daughter was born with Grey Scale, and as this video and the show go on to have her burned, I feel like this is significant. There's a further parallel to be drawn between the faith of the R'hllorists and the faith of the Seven, to the real world parallels between the Christian Church and the Jewish Faith.

Holy Weirwoodole! Did Mad Axe finish chopping through the wall and get his vengeance on the NW for blocking his tunnel? Must have taken him years. Years motivated by nothing but hate...but surely he would have starved to death well before carving through the Wall, no??? Not if you have unlimited ice chips to suck on for water and *Weirwood roots* to suck nourishing sap from...might also explain why he was so frenzied when he finally broke through. Imagine the sensory deprivation (prisoner's cinema etc) you would experience in a dark ice tunnel. Combined with the the sap, ol Arson would have been seeing through time, future and whatever horrors conjured up by his depraved mind. 👀

You're doing great, I've been loving watching you grow as a speaker and a critic. Keep going and I'll keep watching.

The Other's mouths look like those chocolates where you take a casting of your...butt and gift them to your s/o

Michael, I like your videos. If you swap 'rat' for 'tree' in the legend of Rat Cook, some interesting ideas arise to explore.

Tying the Westerosi magic to the emphasis on bloodlines like the Starks would parallel the blood magic that gives Targaryens their abilities and dragons. It isn't some divine gift, but a blood ritual tied to the blood line that performed the ritual. The Targaryens have the three heads, with their ancestral ritual caster as the third head. The Starks get warging abilities and greensight through a similar blood ritual and the "third head" is the ancestor that bonded to (or warged into after expelling the tree's shadow) the first weirwoods. The diminishing of the dragons may have been maester sabotage, OR it could have simply been maester's making it impossible to keep up with blood sacrifice in the dragon pits while simultaneously keeping that prized knowledge away from the maesters. If the loss of Targaryen fire magic was just from maesters unwittingly stopping crucial fire magic blood rituals, and the Targaryens ending the Rite of First Night unwittingly stopped crucial green magic blood ritual, it would make for a nice parallel. I would almost prefer it be revealed the maesters were more curious about the dragon magic than deliberately trying to kill them, because that would better mirror Alyssane ending the Right of the First Night with noble and justified intentions, even if she didn't realize she was also undermining a blood ritual Brief aside: Imagine Bran the Builder is Bloodraven-fused to the roots of a weirwood that spans the castle walls. When we assume it's Bloodraven or a time-travelling Bran controlling the ravens and sending the dreams that would drive Bran north, they or just some could have come from Bran the Builder in the crypts. The issue with Bloodraven warging past the wall, and the counter explanation of the wall not being DIRECTLY between winterfell and bloodraven's cave seems like a lame solution. Time-traveling Bran is cool, but Bran the Builder sucking up centuries of blood and running some puppet master outfit? Maybe Allysane deliberately ended the right of the first night because she figured out what was in the crypts. Maybe Bloodraven had to go north of the wall to merge with a Weirwood because of Bran the Builder's presence south of the wall. The final march to winterfell could even end with Wight Jon confronting Bran the Builder to release the ritual and accept death. He dies, Jon dies again, the Others return to the tree under winterfell and into the state of non-life they were yanked out of. Further aside: What if Bran the Builder was Bran warging into someone (like he did to Hodor) in the far far past? Like Bran warged 1000s of years into the past and has been posted up bloodraven-style beneath the crypts of winterfell where he'd one day be born. The final confrontation would be between resurrected Jon, and an effectively undead Bran. Like Bran set all these events in motion trying to change things out of fear of the Others, and the emphasis on Guest Right comes down to Jon getting through to Elder-Bran and helping him let go of his fear of the Others. Bran releases the ritual it turns out he initiated, he finally dies, Jon dies for real as the magic reanimating him is released, and the Others are able to return to their natural state in the Weirwoods. It could even be that Bloodraven tried to stop all of this from happening in the first place by intervening with a young Bran and training him correctly, but Bloodraven and Bran were effectively destined to play the roles they played. Not by prophecy, but by nature of who they are as people. The reason the ravens sent Bran north is because they would NEED to for Bran to warg into the past, become Bran the Builder, wait 1000 years, and warg into those ravens to send himself north. I've now convinced myself all these videos are true, but Bran did it.

There was once a time when there seemed an endless treasure trove of theory videos that blew my mind. Now it is a rare thing to hear a new theory that makes me 🤔🤫😮🤯🤯 Naturally I'm not in agreement w all the nuances but you are the first to get me hype on a new theory in a long time. Cheers! Well done 🤘🤘 Preston is still the GOAT to me, and I know not popular opinions but I'm at least semi-convinced by The Green Hand with N+A=J...I just love the idea of the infamous GRRM/D&D conversation of R+L=J being Martin WANTING the show to be different from the books and playing those two dopes like fools. I'm also semi-convinced on Mance/Quorin/Tormund=Kingsguard theory - Mance is the first name mentioned in the books and I have always suspected all three of them of being more than they seem. I used to think Mance was Rheagar but Arthur Dayne does make more sense. I particularly just can't ignore the scene where he kicks the crap out of John like it's nothing.... Hahaha am I still welcome here after that?

"That is the only time a man can be brave" is one of my favorite single sentences in anything I've read, ever...

Very interesting idea there. Greenseer Magic power in humans would come from a kind of symbiosis with weirwood trees, with blood sacrifice powering specific magical artifacts (weirwood+human+wall) which.

I can see Melisandre lying to Stannis and telling him that his "fire" that was "burning low" would burn at full strength again and he could produce another shadow baby to kill Bolton if he burned his daughter. He'd be pissed as hell after he realized she was "wrong"(what she'd likely say or it was Rhilors will) and jon got revived instead. Im probably way off of any possibility of that being what will happen, just a theory i thought would be interesting and understandable since i can't see how Stannis could do it any other way. He would need to be led to believe its his daughters life or the kingdoms lmwoukd be destroyed in the end and he had to choose to save his daughter for a short time more or save the kingdom. The need to kill her to save the world would be the same, Stannis would just have to learn after the fact that it wont be him saving it.