Everything GRRM Ever Wrote Discussion w/ Trey the Explainer

Trey and I talk about everything George R.R. Martin has ever written and what we thought.
Trey's Channel:
/ @treytheexplainer
▬▬▬▬ Follow Me on Social Media! ▬▬▬▬
/ prestonjacobssweetrobin
/ sweetrobin9000
windsofwinter.com
▬▬▬▬ Check Out These Videos! ▬▬▬▬
The Purple Wedding: • A Song of Ice and Fire...
A Frey in the Snow: • A Song of Ice and Fire...
The Deeper Dorne: • A Song of Ice and Fire...
▬▬▬▬ Information ▬▬▬▬
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on the fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. A Game of Thrones is one of the most successful television series to ever made and continues to captivate audiences all over the world. The series is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second covers the attempts to reclaim the throne by the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North.
#asongoficeandfire
#gameofthrones

[@TREYtheExplainer]

2 HOURS of us discussing stories even George RR Martin doesn’t remember writing!

[@TREYtheExplainer]

Thank you for having me on Preston! I had a blast as always haha

[@pumpkin2477]

Always love when you two collaborate!

[@manband20]

I still find it funny that despite George being the second most famous living author in the world right now (behind joanne due to broader appeal in their main property, sadly) there is literally no interest in adapting any of his works for a GRRM Expanded Universe. All we got was a not great Nightflyers adaption and then an indie film adaption of Night of the Cooters that has a grand spanking total of 20 reviews on IMDB. Meanwhile they're performing seances at the Tolkien Estate to ask his spirit what a Lord of the Rings High School Docu-Drama would need to get good ratings because they can only get so much to rip off from the Silmarillion.

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

@@manband20 Night of the Cooters isn't even George's. But there is one other GRRM property that seems to be going forward and that's In the Lost Lands, likely due to it being one of George's few fantasy stories. One thing to remember is that GRRM's rights are all currently under contract with HBO, save for Nightflyers (because its rights were already owned by someone else). That might be why we don't have that many adaptations. Also, I think because Hunter's Run was co-written, it is free for development as well.

[@manband20]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin See that makes me even more confused because HBO and their parent company Warner Bros. Discovery are absolutely hemorrhaging money lately. None of their superhero properties are drawing and Furosia didn't make triple it's budget. Considering how Warner Bros is trying to buy out Harry Potter from Rowling just to get more properties from it so they can stay afloat, I'm genuinely shocked they aren't going scorched earth just to get GRRM properties pumped out while he still has any name value left to offer. And I totally forgot that NotC isn't his because given how much he promoted it, I just assumed it was his baby and not his love child.

[@atlas6145]

Trey's smile is infectious 😁

[@immakitty88]

Trey is adorable! I want to bake him fresh cookies

[@YarPirates-vy7iv]

​@@immakitty88aw I read that as you want to bake him with fresh cookies, which would be a terrible crime. Luckily I read it again. I kind of like the cannibalism version better, it's more unexpected.

[@immakitty88]

@YarPirates-vy7iv to be fair, I'm sure he'd make delicious cookies

[@chadsummerchild1120]

When Trey was explaining the Nimble Dick amulet story, I couldn’t help but imagine the story playing out in animation.

[@campzilla]

I think its funny that nearly all the elden ring character names all start with G R R M, and his little turtle symbol is all over the place.

[@scolioscraps8612]

Please keep doing stuff together, I feel like the two of you have so much more deep dive conversations to have

[@Tabletop_Goblin]

It's crazy how few people know anything at all about any of these stories despite how popular A Song of Ice and Fire is. I don't know anyone I could discuss even Sandkings with, let alone some obscure deep lore like Tomo and Walberg.

[@monkeyboy4311]

This was SO MUCH FUN! Your shared moments of "who could we even talk to about this aside from each other" had me shouting in my mind "SAME!" Thanks for this, fellas 💚🙏

[@JackisaMimic]

EDIT: I added a list of examples in the replies. As one of the people who makes videos trying to reinforce how much GRRM worked on Elden Ring is disheartening to hear Elden Ring be dismissed as one of GRRM’s pieces of work. There are so many elements of ASOIAF and Thousand Worlds present within Elden Ring that, when inspected with a careful eye, can be used as a Rosetta Stone to understand ASOIAF Now I haven’t read as much as Trey or Preston, but I’ve read ASOIAF, Fevre Dream, and a fair bit of Thousand Worlds and the parallels between all of GRRMs literature and Elden Ring is right in our faces but hidden under a veneer of Dark Souls aesthetics It’s really all right there 😢

[@MHF013]

FACTS. SPEAK YOUR SHIT, KING.

[@allthe1]

Mr Is A Mimic shaking the tree up 😂 Don't give up, you're the bridge between ASoIaF and Soulsborne nerds!

[@Sairagna]

It's difficult to parse what elements belong to whom in Elden Ring because Martin and Miyazaki both draw from very similar themes imagery and mythologies. I think most of the really "George" stuff was previously cut content that has been relegated to the DLC. Messmer is so George, the Elric/Odin/Bloodraven vibes are off the chart.

[@globesurfer122]

Why not give actual examples?

[@JackisaMimic]

​@@globesurfer122 Sure, here they are for free. I havent had time to put these into videos yet. Rykard and Tanith are Stannis and Melisandre, men tempted with a heretical religion by a foreign women and end up burning and sacrificing people , they also want to burn magical trees. Godfrey and Robert Baratheon both win their crowns through warfare and then marry a blonde woman who cheats on them with their twin. They both take on the sigil of the Lion, one literally wears a lion. And if you believe my theories, both of their blonde haired sons are bastards. Miquella and Mohg are Bran and Bloodraven. Bloodraven has a weirwood root growing into his eye and feeds Bran blood porridge. Mohg has an omen horn going into his eye and slakes Miquella in blood, he also sprouts raven wings in his second phase and is the Lord of Blood. House Marias is much like House Arryn, the boys of their line are sickly and weak, their houses are both known for executing people. Since the Shaded Castle has a Miquella connection that has interesting concentrations for ASOIAF. Ranni's blacksmith forges her a rapier called the "Frozen Needle", much like Arya's Needle. Arya joins the Faceless Men, a league of assassins who's motto is All Men Must Die and are descendants of the Valyrians, and based on the show, she betrays them. Ranni teams up with the Black Knife Assassins, group of all female and Numen assassins, who don't have faces, and eventually betrays them. Arya in the show kills the Night's King with the Valryian Dagger. Ranni created the Godslaying Black Knives that were used to kill Godwyn, which gave rise to Deathroot and Those Who Live in Death. In the character list for Elden Ring the Tibia Mariners, who can summon Those Who Live in Death, have the Japanese name yoru no o no kenzuko, which loosely translates to Night King's Kin. Caitlyn's husband Ned Stark has to leave her at Winterfell with her injured son after the king recalls him to the capital to be his Hand. Rennala, who wears the same colors as the Tully Sigil, is left by her husband Radagon when he is recalled to the capital by the Queen to become Elden Lord. Celestial Objects give people pysonic powers. Glintstone is literal space rocks that give people telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers. Above ground in the Lands Between people worship gold and the Erdtree, below ground are the Nox who have everything made of silver tears. In The House of the Worm has the Yaga-la-hai who are closer to the surface use the iconography of the Golden Theta, further below ground are the Grouns who are near halls covered in the Silver Theta The Grouns are multilimbed humanoids who recoil at light. Royal Revenants are multilimbed humannoids who recoil at Erdtree healing incantations. Both ASOIAF and Elden Ring have sentient fungus theories that have developed indenpently of each other. Men of Greywater Station has actual sentient fungus. The first line from Men of Greywater Station reads: "The men of Greywater Station watched the shooting star descend and they knew it for an omen" From the Remembrance of Astel, Natrual Born of the Void: "A malformed star born in the flightless void far away. Once destroyed an Eternal City and took away their sky. A falling star of ill omen" GRRM wrote Elden Ring and its just so apparent.

[@ColonelGeorge93]

As someone who has read most of his stories and also has no-one to talk about them with, this was like watching Dune Part 2.

[@Mersault26]

I've only read Dreamsongs and Tuf Voyaging and I feel you there. I wanted to contribute to this conversation many times. I at least wanted to remind them of the premise of the Monkey on your Back.

[@LincolnMaurice]

I love the ridiculousness of the car twist ending. I think you could make like 8 changes and 3 extra sentences and the whole story would make sense. The Anne Hathaway movie Colossal has a similar twist vibe, and that movie works.

[@Hoosier765]

And we're back

[@allthe1]

Geez, indeed we are

[@PainCausingSamurai]

I was listening to the "500 Open Tabs" podcast, and Trey's friend/cohost Mike Greb was a guest, and that just confirms to me that all the media I consume, no matter how niche or obscure, is connect to each other somehow (and usually within 2-3 degrees of separation from Lindsey Ellis for some reason)

[@JaninaStormborn]

I love 500 open Tabs! And I a also loved Musicalsplaining... But now we are here :)

[@BookishDrummer]

Oh man, I love GRRM’s old stuff! He used to be my second favorite writer. But as soon as I started reading his older stuff, I bumped him up to number 1. I’m gonna have so much fun watching this!

[@obviousalias132]

GRRM reuses characters throughout his work, time traveling geek is reused as Tyrion, and yet you deny time traveling fetus? Curious.

[@michaelengelbrecht-hk8zw]

As a lapsed Catholic, can confirm that The Way of Cross and Dragon is fantastic. I always found the language of it evocative, and I’m a sucker for a story about Judas.

[@michaelstalkfleet6989]

In the Norse dictionary marten means "judas" and I think that was the germ of the story.

[@jenniferkelly3941]

Sounds to me that George was doing what a lot of people in the 70’s were. LSD.

[@666thebeast4]

One of the things Grr does best is finding those safe spaces where you feel tucked away, and twisting them, almost like there is nowhere to hide and even if there is its a dark place

[@obviousalias132]

Look up KZbinr Jack is a Mimic. He’s an Elden Ring lore guy but has read most of GRRM I think. Also is a fan of yours.

[@MrPhbahia]

these two are the GOATs of this community! saudações do Brasil

[@ashleyg2610]

Interesting to hear the completely honest thoughts and critique of all George’s works from Preston and Trey instead of heaping slavishly over the top praise referring to him as one of the greatest authors in human history like so many of his super fans online do without reading so much as a page of his earlier work. From this I’ve gathered that George is a patchy author that whilst has great prose and flashes of brilliance in his works is also wildly inconsistent with a good chunk of his output being very middling. Could be a summary of ADWD funnily enough. Keep it up lads 🙌

[@iceberg_dmb]

I have been waiting for this type of content. Super excited to watch.

[@casey9439]

I think it's funny that Preston actually loves the period he says was the worst.

[@julioulloa5403]

Unsound variation must be my favorite non asoif george's story

[@SolarPlayer]

"Unsound variations is a stinker" is Preston's most far fetched and ridiculous theory ever

[@afjkarey5366]

How did george become from someone who published hunderts of stories in couple of decades to this retired guy who doesnt enjoy writing anymore...

[@adashofbitter]

I’ve read monkey treatment… It’s basically GRRM’s version of Thinner. It’s nuts and not very good, but I kinda dig it.

[@HickoryBill]

I know it’s a fake name, but Kleronomas seems pretty clearly to be a Herodotus type of pronunciation and sounds way cooler

[@WezMan444]

Is there anyway to see this list online? I’d love to read GRRMs other work, good and bad.

[@DasGam3rz]

In regards to elden ring; What I heard, and this might be baseless, is that grrm was given pictures and names of key npcs and he wrote backstories and helped flesh out the shattering / night of black knives.

[@leftofyou]

Trey explains it all!

[@silverstorm3729]

I'd say George's endings are full of longing - that's the word I'd use, anyway.

[@smitty1647]

It wasn't you who violated copyright. It was frank decker!

[@TheBigDizz]

This was awesome! Enjoyed most of these during the Thousand Worlds Book Club and have revisited favorites several times over the years.

[@BenjaminJimJimothy]

Dude you gotta look up Robert Zadar if you wanna see an actor with a realllly distinct face and jaw.

[@Jeffari1]

Trey face reveal? Possible Carmine face reveal in the future? Stay tuned..

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

don't hold your breath

[@sixstring68]

btw Preston, I don't think you ever did that retrospective on the Thousand Worlds that you said you planned to do at the end of the "With the Morning Comes Mistfall" video.

[@AndreD97]

The Moment when you realize, I read all of that.... except Wild Cards.

[@jroygbiv]

2 hours of discussing books I haven't read and I listened to all of it

[@iliaponomarev1624]

> S'uthlam trilogy I think it needed a sequel, where Tuf visits the planet like 20 years later and finds that there are 80 billion people on S'uthlam (because mana ain't perfect, and those unaffected bred like rabbits) with about 15 minutes of resources remaining. We also absolutely needed a cringe sex scene between Tuf and Tolly Mune.

[@jeramy9787]

I'm proud to own a copy of his first published work in Fantastic Four #20 first appearance of Molecule Man. Little George got his letter in the letters section of the comic. My wife get me the best birthday presents 😂

[@DaveFreeborn]

Trey and preston I literally started this same experiment for the same reason. Preston your 1000 worlds book club is so good as an accoutrement to those books. And because of going through them, I have a much stronger understanding of george and asoiaf. And seven times never kill man especially as it applies to the war manipulation and classes in the books. Very well done. And trey I have recently began pouring through your catalog. Bravo gentleman. @treytheexplainer @prestonjacobs.

[@vondas1480]

One of you (probably trey since he might remember preston), should get an interview with George. And ask him nothing but Hollywood and production questions for as long as you can, at some point even say that it’s his life’s work, until he protests and says it’s his books. Then for the next hour ask only about his non asoiaf works, maybe even tease him like “I really want to know about Jaime - what was the inspiration for Jaimeson’s world?” Or “there’s a really epic work of yours people have been waiting for so I have to ask, how far along is Avalon?” Drive him nuts until he demands you ask about Winds

[@migarsormrapophis2755]

The Elden Ring god twins, Melania and her brother (I forgor), they're basically just Starlady and Golden Boy. The boy in particular has all kinds of paralels to Golden Boy, he's associated with 'Unalloyed Gold' and everyone feels this mysterious love and need to protect him. Good example of a re-used GRRM character.

[@norge29]

Preston really needs to read 20th Century Boys, I think he'd really like it and of course, I'd love to hear his thoughts.

[@LNawka]

Love your conversation, so fun! ❤

[@engineerforthefuture8593]

Run To Starlight is a great football story, you can tell George is a big fan of the sport. I uploaded an audiobook version of it on the Internet Archive.

[@standuplive1]

Commenting now, this video seems exciting as I first open it. PJ thousand worlds book club is amazing.

[@nogodsnomasters7669]

You guys have great chemistry

[@Jotari]

47:45 Have neither of you seen Casablanca?

[@psevdhome]

"You presume I would honour you in duel? I have no cause to do so." He pulled his sidearm and pointed it straight at Dirk. "Kill me if you like, but answer some questions first. If I had come to you in Challenge, in that basement as you asked, would you have dueled me then, or killed me for a Mockman." Bretan lowered his weapon. "I would have dueled you. In Larteyn, in Challege, here, it makes no difference. I would have dueled you. I do not believe in Mockmen, T'Larien. I have never believed in Mockmen, only in Chell, who wore my bond and somehow did not care about my face." A duel is subverted in Dying of the Light and changed into an earnest exchange of belief and intention, where it is revealed that perhaps neither party had ill intentions towards the other. Dirk did not want to shame Bretan, he was just afraid to die. Bretan did not wish to kill Dirk in duel, just satisfy his honour according to his culture. Both may have been misguided, but neither was the monster the other thought. They are about to start the duel and the story ends. I like that ending, much more satisfying than if the duel was shown. EDIT: I have to add that it wasn't even Dirk who killed Chell. It was the other Breiths, or Larteyns as they called themselves. Bretan isn't angry at Dirk about that. He did go on a murder rampage to kill EVERYONE after Chell died. He just wanted to duel Dirk because it was part of his culture. Even when Dirk was caught by all the Breiths and Pyr wanted to hunt him, Bretan wanted to duel DIrk then and there. It was just a part of his culture, but he never considered Dirk not human. He perhaps thought it was strange how Dirk kept running. That's why Bretan is respectful when Dirk chooses to face him. Also the being called strong thing is really easy. Kavallars believe that if you give a thing a name, or mention something, it will happen somehow. Dirk was weak. But nobody had ever called him strong. So him being strong is not his fault. Jaan was weak too, But Garse was there to call him strong and make sure he had someone to call him strong, himself. Garse is saying that Dirk would have been a good man if only he had had someone to teyn like Garse who called him strong. "You are not so terribly bad a man, T'Larien. You are weak, I know, but no-one has called you strong." Later: "Perhaps you might have known what it is to stand teyn to a man and wear an iron bond." "Or perhaps I already do." Implying that Garse has shown him the importance of being a strong man.

[@virticrew11]

I agree with the love for Fevre Dream and how great of character Sour Billy is. I would also say that the Skin Trade is awesome and I wish there were more books with those characters!

[@yggdrasil2]

Ngl, the story of the medallion that turns people into their car's model name sounds like an amazing concept for a 5 minute comedy short here on KZbin. Perhaps animated by MeatCanyon.

[@invasorgabe714]

I loved the 1000 worlds book club too! Great to revisit it, though briefly.

[@ELFBOYMUSIC]

I hope George doesn’t watch this. Dudes roasted him. I love you George.

[@chargodude]

I feel that pizza would be invented in Lys, not Volantis

[@ianspottiswood2419]

Don’t have time to watch right now, but I don’t see Windhaven on the list? It’s the only non-ASOIAF GRRM I’ve read so I’m interested to hear what they think. If they do discuss it, can someone drop a timestamp?

[@deuceyd8468]

At the very end

[@squidexorcist7564]

I would listen to this for 12 hours. Please do more!

[@smotp]

Preston & Trey is literally the greatest

[@manband20]

Huh. So this is why the fanfic will never get done. /s i swear

[@Cyynapse]

the most GRRM thing about Elden Ring is that there are no Statues of Marika in Raya Lucaria Academy because Rennala is still salty about getting cucked by Marika. So yes that annoying boss runback is there for lore reasons.

[@masonrockwood7732]

Placidusax and Maliketh must've gotten cucked too haha. I still don't see how Renalla can think that way when Radagon IS Marika. If anything it's like your partner leaving you to transition. Idk, maybe Renalla doesn't know that, it's a secret to everyone in-universe. Though we knew from the first promo.

[@ChristofCube]

PLEASE do more collabs, two of my favourite youtubers together is a dream come true!!!

[@YourXavier]

The Stone City is a personal favorite of mine. The mood really gets under my skin. I'm not even really sure what it's about, but it's just so creepy and weird.

[@michaelstalkfleet6989]

It's essentially Lovecraftian, the idea of being stranded on in the Stone City is a metaphor for being stranded in Bayonne as a young man. They are being kept there by the Dan'lai (which means "underhanded" in Welsh) His friends are all stranded also, and have become drug addicts and have given up hope or died. Only Holt and Sunderland remain. Sunderland's plan to escape is to map the Stone City and sell it. This is a metaphor for writing stories and selling them to escape Bayonne, whereas Holt goes into the Stone City and live there forever, which is a metaphor for immersing yourself in books and movies and never doing anything in life. R'lyeh is called the Stone City, and R'lyeh is another guise of Yuggoth, which is a black desolate planet with cyclopean ruins. It is called "the crosswords" and Aex "x" means "goat" in Latin. And the name Empty is another name for Yuggoth the black abyss, the void. And no-one knows who built the structures on Yuggoth, the current inhabitants found them already built, and there are endless mazes of tunnels on Yuggoth, just like the Stone City. The blasting winds are a reference to sidhe gaoth / shoggoth. Yuggoth is a very cosmopolitan place, and the Crosswords has many types of aliens on it. Visiting Yuggoth drives people insane, and that is why everyone in the Stone City is slowly going insane. The theme of the worship of The Builders, and each successive alien race getting worse and more insane is a metaphor for the decline is quality of authors contributing to Lovecraftian lore. The greats where Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch, etc, and everyone after them got worse and worse, until now they are not even worth reading. But Sunderland's idea to escape is to map the Stone City, to get a true understanding of Lovecraftian mythology, and to sell that as a story. Which is what George did to escape.

[@allanthomas1183]

"there's pizza in Volantis" - Trey the explainer

[@Pikepaw]

Ok since these two won’t talk about “The Monkey Treatment”, I will. Maybe it hit home to me more since I have struggled with my weight. But Kenny, the protagonist, comes off as decently likable as a man who acts like he is living life to the fullest, but you read between the lines his self hatred of his obesity. Then the Monkey placed on his back, maybe representing an addiction taking the place of his drug addiction so he loses the weight. In story, a monkey sits on his shoulders and eats any food Kenny tries to eat, thus starving him into losing weight. To be continued

[@profoundpronoun4712]

Love ya big P ❤

[@WhoIsCalli]

Fun chat guys

[@asherahstruebornson5971]

The Pear Shaped Man pronouns are lifted almost verbatim from Gene Wolfe's fantasy series. At the time only Tolkien and Earthsea rivaled its popularity. It's about a boy becoming time traveling godking after eating his closest companion in a cannibalistic ritual. The pure cloak represents obedience to sadism. The Wall is at least 700 feet high in it, arguably 3000 feet based on how far it can be seen. There's a character named Dorcas who shows up immediately after a search for a (not really) different named character who is sort of a spy.

[@May14533]

Welcome Tray

[@chvsmr9369]

I have never been this excited

[@praetorxyn]

Steve Busemi doesn't get his teeth fixed for the same reason as the acne scars guy.

[@SkidMcMarx123]

Think you guys missed Dark, Dark Were The Tunnels

[@TheKingOfRooks]

Had you ever heard of Comicstorian Preston? He did audiobook forms of comics and a bunch of podcasts, really big guy in the youtube space for comics. Died on the 8th after an accident at 40, I'm gonna miss his videos. I know you were big in to comics back in the day, don't know if you ever kept up with it like that these days though.

[@MrBell-iq3sm]

Am I the only one, who keeps checking articles announcing Martin's death, because this is the most likely news we will see from him?

[@christophermills4067]

Team black ❤

[@DaveFreeborn]

And trey i feel for you there are a few that just arent out there and i was only able to find some because of preston or someone inspired by preston

[@jeanbutinfrench]

a cant unsee Trey's similarity to the guy that plays the drag queen TRIXIE MATTEL

[@Mersault26]

Trixie Mattell = Trystane Martell

[@frewthelookingglass860]

Great news

[@catlord760]

Trey face reveal?

[@wastedaga1n]

I use to get so HIGH with Trey. He is a cool guy.

[@deuceyd8468]

Irl? Metaphorically?

[@Alyx.A]

I’m only here for the George “Har Har” Martin impressions.

[@Mersault26]

It sounds more like George Lucas than GRRM.

[@phantomjoker5]

wooooo 2 hours

[@jaysemitchells497]

1.57.00 unintentionally hilarious when talking about class warfare, gender politics, and Vietnam being different to fantasy when those are probably 3 things Robert Jordan touches on the most (I know he was mostly speaking on Tolkien in this part, but it was still funny)

[@gokbay3057]

Yeah, RJ was pretty big on all three of those.

[@gokbay3057]

1:57:00 Shut up Preston, you obviously have no idea what Wheel of Time is actually like.

[@michaelstalkfleet6989]

Many or most of George's early stories are direct ripoffs of works by other authors, And Seven Times Never Kill Man is a direct ripoff of Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest. The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (with Lovecraftian elements thrown in) Meathouse Man the idea of using reanimated corpses for gladiatorial combat comes from Lovecraft's The Mound. Fevre Dream is heavily "inspired" by Interview with the Vampire--and Sour Billy is just his version of Renfield from Dracula. Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels is a retelling of The Time Machine from the perspective of a Morlock. In the House of the Worm combines HG Wells' Time Machine with Merle Prout's The House of the Worm, and many Lovecraftian elements--the story takes place on Yuggoth, and they worship death, and the Manworm's mutilation isn't just gratuitous--they worship death, and when we die we essentially turn into worms, and so their leader tries to hasten this transformation and tries to turn himself into a worm while still alive. Several of Georges stories take place on Yuggoth, Tuf Voyaging is about what if a human took control of Yuggoth. House of the Worm takes place inside Yuggoth, Stone City is about Yuggoth, Sandkings is essentially about the Fungi from Yuggoth. The idea for Sandkings comes from At the Mountains of Madness, where Lovecraft mentions different crustacean aliens engaged in turf war conflicts on Earth. And the Sandkings are George's version of the Fungi from Yuggoth, alien telepathic crabs that live in caves and worship the ma /maw, gelatinous star-fall, the Black Goat of the Woods, Shub Niggurath. Telepathic crustaceans that came from Wo and Shade --they come from the Shadow, like the Fungi from Yuggoth. The Men of Greywater Station is a reverse version of John Campbell's Who Goes There? / The Thing. Where instead of the alien shapeshifting body-snatcher coming to Earth to take it over, we go to a planet it has already completely taken over. Elements of The Color out of Space in that story too. A Song for Lya comes from The Vaults of Yoh Vombis, about an alien cave fungus creature that lures people in and consumes them. Bitterblooms, the central idea that Avalon/the Otherworld is a spaceship, is found in several other works, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. And the idea that what the ancients took to be magic was really science. Windhaven probably comes from Jack Vance's Faceless Man trilogy. With Morning Comes Mistfall, in Lord of the Rings when you put on the ring you enter Wraithworld where everything is misty and there are Wraiths there, and the mystery of what the Ring Wraiths are is what enthralls the reader. And George imagined what is Wraith world were a real place you could visit. The Way of Cross and Dragon is just a re-imagining of established religious mythology, in the vein of Chamiel or the Lord of Light.

[@Mersault26]

I hope someone has read this comment besides me, cause that is impressive. You must be pretty well read. I'm not surprised, I know George "borrows" a lot.

[@OOUER]

Did you decide to stop the going over chapters video series?

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

Still doing them- been busy

[@zexis711]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin thanks a lot they are amazing

[@SHARKVADERS]

PJ IS BACK FOMOS

[@masonrockwood7732]

Lame

[@masonrockwood7732]

You

[@masonrockwood7732]

Are

[@masonrockwood7732]

Pointless

[@Titantro]

To be fair of the cursed necklace story and the cars. Ancient Greece created robots. Elden Ring maybe he gave some ideas but it's just like Marvel comics. They slap Stan Lee's name on many comics he didn't write just because of his name

[@Molnek]

Well good ship lollypop is now stuck in my head, I'm ever so pissed! It seems Futurama got the Hypno Toad from GRRM.

[@thewatcher2538]

let's gooo

[@ascorvinus]

If kids today aren’t listening to the Smashing Pumpkins, they damn well should!

[@curtis25920]

I love that one of the greatest living fantasy authors of our time also wrote something as stupid as closing time

[@masonrockwood7732]

Fast Friends for me. We get it George, you've had heartbreak, just like every human who has ever existed.

[@konradfischer8629]

1:16:12

[@arvaakuka8568]

Please do a Martin story TIER LIST Preston. It would be a guaranteed KZbin hit, I promise.

[@soko-ban]

genius, actually

[@kitkat6959]

Tuf Voyaging in S Tier

[@zifircin1797]

Professor of GRRM studies reviews phd thesis of his student

[@TheKrostiman]

at 125k a year its a steal for a non-accredited degree.

[@ted73318]

Lmao

[@Pikepaw]

The Master and The Apprentice

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

I love Trey with his "happy to be here" smile.

[@migarsormrapophis2755]

We love you too Carmine! :P

[@TREYtheExplainer]

I really am haha 😁

[@writernightly2397]

We know what George did for Elden Ring. He wrote the creation myth and “fall of the world” story. He’s confirmed this. Some Elden Ring themes which come DIRECTLY from George’s part: -death being a gift, and eternal life being a horrific trap -revisionist history written by the victors, covering up an alien invasion -“gods” actually being powerful aristocrats who can be killed -“gods” being aliens from outer space beyond human comprehension -alien invasion via a comet -alien parasites who start a religion -a world tree network that fuels consciousness and hosts a heaven-like afterlife (actually an alien) -“immortal” beings being slain by black (obsidian) daggers -someone dividing into two separate consciousnesses and mating -someone going insane after their lover leaves them for another person -the moon being a source of power -religious dogma being based on historical lies -ordinary people ascending to high status in a caste system world -immortal beings getting crucified -a queen from a civilized kingdom marrying a brutal warrior from the steppe and “taming” him -people sharing a psychic connection with an animal companion who protects them -a guy who has a lion consciousness grafted onto his own -a lady puts her consciousness into a puppet version of herself -nature healing itself with a plague/apocalypse -people “consuming” and “absorbing” others power by taking their body parts Just because dragons are flying around and wizards are throwing spells doesn’t mean it’s just “surface level” George.

[@dylanwagstaff2505]

This the fact that they missed the gods aren't actual gods was so frustrating

[@blueskull5027]

The death being a gift theme is present in basically every other souls game

[@CarlCreed76]

@@blueskull5027 And Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of Souls, is a GRRM fan. This is more a egg or the hen question than anything imo.

[@MHF013]

In regards to Elden Ring: There are already excellent videos on the matter that go over sources from both Martin and Miyazaki over what GRRM wrote for Elden Ring, so I won't address the argument that he didn't do anything and was just brought in for marketing reasons, I would just like to address Trey's main claim, the idea that Elden Ring differs from other George RR Martin stories because it has an actual pantheon of gods. Trey even calls it "Tolkienesque". I'm sorry, but the gods"in Elden Ring aren't a good argument against Martin's involvement. Because they can all be divided into two categories: 1. Abstract cosmic forces that we never directly see (The Greater Will, the Outer Gods, the Moons, etc.) These are all so vague and unknowable that they don't go against Martin's philosophy. They might as well be aliens, if you really want to take a sci-fi approach to all of this and say that there is no god. 2. People who were once regular humans but were elevated to "Divinity" upon obtaining power. Like, yeah, Marika is a Goddess, but she was once a regular person. She wasn't born special, she was just chosen to become a god. And her religion was one that was enforced through bloody conquest and historical revisionism. Marika's Golden Order is first and foremost an institution. One that is repeatedly criticized throughout the game. All of her "Demigod" children are flawed and failed people who were driven mad by the power they wielded. They are only divine insofar as the people in the Lands Between were made to worship them. This is as far away from Tolkien as you can get, where God is objectively real, he is benevolent and actively involved in Creation, where his angelic pantheon are all equally good and flawless beings working to help the mortal races.

[@belowbronze8588]

Yeah, he likely is just unfamiliar with the 'real' story of the game discovered the more you learn and further you get - where the 'pantheon' are just tools, willing and unwilling to various degrees, for horrific cosmic forces. Its much more Martin than it looks as initially presented in the opening.

[@brennan_]

I think George and Elden Ring is such a fascinating conversation because his and Miyazaki's previous work are surprisingly similar thematically so trying to parse what came from who is way more difficult than you'd think when comparing an American sci-fi/fantasy author and a Japanese action game developer.

[@GunterBrenner]

Trey thinking Elden Ring is just dragons and stuff is the same as ppl thinking GRRM is just dragons and stuff lol I think he just scratched the surface of ER lore.

[@nouhorni3229]

The game even tells us verbatim of the disillusionment that people felt when they saw how their "Gods" are just powerhungry egoists. The living gods take the place of Martin's highest lords and ladies here, the true gods are vague extraterrestrial forces that are all weirdly inclined to engage with people under special conditions. All very Martin. One thing that stands out as a FromSoft trope is just HOW helpful the Outer Gods are, compared to Tolkien where the Valar stance through the ages was mostly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. @brennan_ Doesn't help that both are in absolutely in love with norse mythology. Final boss is a muscular redhead with a weirdly short hammer, he hates giants and was forced to disguise as a woman. He's related to a world-devouring snake, hangs around wolves, his shape shifting relative killed the golden boy of the gods through trickery, attempts to revive him have failed. No way to tell who put in what. Like I assume Praetor Rykhart wasn't a snake when Martin conceptualized him, but the general RadaThor resemblance must have been his work? And so forth.

[@atlas6145]

Knowing GRRM was involved, I figured the world was one where aliens with powerful telekinesis influenced a comparatively primitive society and ruled over them. The real powerful being is far away in space, hence the Two Fingers in Roundtable freezing as it's really just waiting for communications to go back and forth over great distances. At the end of the day, the Greater Will just wants to rule and doesn't care what the structure is - monarch, god, mega corporation, whatever so long as there is some type of ruling body with the Greater Will at the top.

[@borysww5283]

Wait till we learn that George had a close friend in his youth named Richard Nimble

[@alexs_toy_barn]

That's a great theory lol. Same with someone named Jaime, that appears in other stories too

[@furtsmagee1513]

Nick Dimble

[@GunterBrenner]

Preston’s Elden Ring video is my Winds of winter

[@erickr199]

About Elden Ring.... Theres a "god" from outter space known as "The Greater Will" that send a golden star to the Land. That star was bearing a crature known as "The Elden Beast" and is described to be an emissary of The Greater Will. The Golden Order is a theocratic goverment that worships the Greater Will, and its capital city was built at the foot of this massive golden tree at the center of the map. The roots of the tree spread out all over the map and there are catacombs constructed near the roots of the tree in which people are burried, so their souls can go back to the golden tree. There is also this thing know as "grace" that is a golden glowing light that not everyone can see, its just a vision. Our faction is known as "The Tarnished" because our eyes were dimmed and we lost our "grace" when we were exiled. Many of the enemys of the game have golden flakes in the mesh of their pupils in their eyes. At the end of the game you fight the Elden Beast that is this wierd creature from outter space, and in its arena you can see other golden trees in the distance, like, are those other worlds in which the Greater Will have its influence? But yeah, I agree that GRRM involvement on Elden Ring is somewhat exagerated, its not an adaptation the same way the Witcher Games are an adaptation of the Witcher books. The way his collaboration is described by Miyasaki (The creator of Dark Souls) is that he was a consultor for world building. On interviews, Martin has said that his contribution was on the year 2017, and he didnt really collaborated much more after that. My guess would be that he provided 10 to 20 pages of world building he worked on passively for a couple of months, and then Miyasaki and his team work out how to create an interesting game with it. In the process, there must have being things they added, changed or removed. The problem when talking about Elden Ring and GRRM is that many people have only seen Game of Thrones and have not really read any of GRRM's books. About Elden Ring, the way is story is told is through "enviromental story telling" meaning that, all the infromation is scattered all arround the game and there is no easy way to reference information the same way you could in a book. Also the elephant in the room, that GRRMs contribution is somewhat exagerated

[@DrZaius3141]

When you're talking about his worst stories, "This Tower of Ashes" comes to mind. It's 100% angsty post-break-up whining. It's raw, and it's a universal feeling, sure. But it's not a feeling you should put out there.