George RR Martin on the Inspiration for the Faceless Men

[@gur123noor]

I just love listening to him speak.

[@benjamer200]

I was just thinking that

[@fenixchief7]

I prefer reading what he writes.

[@benjamer200]

@@fenixchief7 I thought you only read your own manifestos and sea stories

[@corybaker13]

I agree

[@youknowwho9203]

@lady galadriel he’s not your slave

[@j-dubb614]

"The more people live together, the more they f*ck with each other." - George R.R. Martin

[@Subject28-ou6fp]

😂

[@arthurr739]

2:04 "Come and worship with us, and you will die!" Sounds like something out of a Monty Python skit 😂

[@alanblair5379]

Like the Judean people's front. 'This lifetime membership card is only dated for 3 months' 'Don't worry about it'

[@paradoxicallyexcellent5138]

The faceless men that D&D "sorta forgot about".

[@SomethingClever1116]

Oh, you mean the same faceless men that purposefully coxed Arya in to their guild and trained her to take out the threat to protect man? Or are we just gonna regurgitate "d&d bad" with no forethought

[@paradoxicallyexcellent5138]

Ooh, respecting D&D, that's edgy. Respect.

[@realdaggerman105]

something clever Ah yes, because she definitely used any of her skills in that, besides an unrelated knife trick.

[@Hugehugebighuge]

@something clever Brooo just because D&D can regurgitate exactly what george tells them, doesnt mean theyre good show writers. theyre lazy as hell and decided to condense 4-5 seasons of content into one, 8 episode season, because they wanted to be done with it. They got impatient, and wanted to go work on something else, so they ruined the show for everyone. Thank god it cost them.

[@ladymercy5275]

BOOK GOOD. D&D BAD! NO HBO. SEASON EIGHT, RAAAAAAAGGGHhhgh.

[@Shamanized]

Very surprised that he kind of breezed passed the Faceless Men question by saying they're just an assassins guild. Sure they're a death cult, too, but the whole idea of "becoming no one" and that philosophy being drilled into Arya is so profoundly interesting not just on an assassin's guild level but as an idea of humans and individuality. If anything the Faceless Men were closest to actors to me because of their ability to tell perfect lies and change their faces; I thought that's where Martin's inspiration was personally--acting. So sad we didn't get to learn more in the series about them, really hoping to get more of it in the books.

[@bluecat1462]

I was thinking of the faceless men’s origins being a bit like IRL Hoodoo. Both are religions that slaves turned to-by finding commonalities amongst their different deities and spirits culture to culture, and combining them into singular entities, who they could call on to have some measure of control over their lives as slaves.

[@yosephbuitrago897]

Or maybe he just thought up that ideas of becoming no one all by himself because he’s clever like that

[@Shamanized]

@@yosephbuitrago897 Probably! I thought taking an acting philosophy and applying it to an assassin's guild was freaking clever in itself.

[@Egilhelmson]

Brights Widen Becoming no one, or more accurately becoming whoever the assassin needs to be, is very much what the Ismaili killers tried to be. My guess is he has forgotten most of his influences.

[@te9591]

Also keep in mind that once group members fully revoke their personal identity they essentially become one new faceless entity together. Like a shadowed puppet master pulling strings in society because not one member's face or actions can fully stick out. So if a couple of men are killed on opposite sides of Westeros the kills belong to this one entity.

[@theknifesong]

He speaks in a really specific and kind of nerdy way but he also sounds very chill and confident and relateable

[@SidewaysBurnouts]

he used to play poker with stephan king before they were famous. way more mob cred than dump.

[@pyramidion5911]

Sounds like how a robot would describe this video 🤔

[@JuanAntonioGarciaHeredia]

Whats is wrong with being nerdy? Its the obnoxious "Well acshhhually" nerds the ones who are annoying, not every nerd 😵

[@fruitionapt]

I love how Jaqen was smiling all the time, chained up with Rorge and Biter. GRRM absolutely capitalized on mystery-intrigue with this character

[@jcarroll7371]

George is an interesting dude. He see's shit in such a unique way it's refreshing

[@anonamous365]

Left is so unique...

[@dernurhalbwegsinteressiert5118]

That's true. He should write a book or something.

[@jcarroll7371]

Lol the dude created an entire unique planet with countless religions races empires and characters. Wtf u talking about

[@jcarroll7371]

@@anonamous365 left? Lol wtf are u talking kid.

[@dernurhalbwegsinteressiert5118]

I hope you are aware that George doesn't like Trump

[@TheKielbasaKid]

The problem with deathcults is the whole ritual suicide thing.

[@monmothma3358]

Yeah.... but, you know, apart from that!

[@juztenable]

I always had an issue with the cutting your penis off part; but, apparently it is optional.

[@LordSathar]

It's pretty dumb, you're going to die anyways, so why worship something you already are gonna get. Atheists like GRRM always assume that religious people will believe any old thing just because they believe in something they don't.

[@monsieur_onion]

@@LordSathar But history proves people believe in basically anything, especially if it is important within their way of living. Worshipping rain for agricultural communities, worshipping oceans for fishing villages.

[@TheDrexxus]

@@LordSathar It's not really about believing "any old thing", it's the weakness of people who can't accept death. They don't want to die, they don't want their loved ones to die, despite the fact that life and reality are full of hardship and pain and suffering for nearly every person alive, they want to keep living. So they delude themselves by persistent wishful thinking to believe that they won't "really" die, and that when you die, the bits of you that "matter", which is to say nothing tangible or observable so there can be absolutely no evidence of it, will pass on to some sort of paradise where you reconnect with all your loved ones and none of you ever really died and everyone is happy and fairy tale ending. Then of course this pathetic refusal to accept the reality and inevitability of death and loss also gets twisted into people saying you'll be robbed of your happy reunions and happily ever afters unless you follow specific rules and tenets made up by these random ass people. And boom, you got a religion, and they pretty much all follow the same format. Even in some of the asian belief systems where they believe in reincarnation rather than an afterlife, it is the same situation going on where they just cannot and will not believe their existence is utterly insignificant and will end and they will cease to exist. So they instead from up being born again so they never truly die, but oh wait, someone who wants to control your behaviors comes along and starts stringing rules to it, so now you are born again as something better and more awesome if you follow the rules, but are reborn shittier if you don't. On and on and on it goes... Every culture had a religion that said "OBEY THE CULTURE AND BE REWARDED OR DEFY THE CULTURE AND SUFFER". Oh but, by the way, our god or gods love you, despite being willing to torture you for all time, it's still LOVE, honestly, believe us! Religion is idiotic in every regard. The fact there are so many that worship different things and have so many different rules, but all fundamentally follow the same formula should be a clue to anyone that they aren't real things because they can't all be right. If any of them were real and true, it would only be one. And yet... All of them believe it is their religion that is the correct one, despite the fact it is the predominant religion of the region they live in or the one their family taught them growing up, they discount this reality that they were brainwashed by those around them as children and wouldn't have succumbed to those beliefs if confronted with them later in life as a logical and reasonable adult. They all claim to have spiritual experiences, to "feel" things, despite these events being common occurrences that are pretty well understood by psychologists and easy to replicate. But hey, keep believing nonsense. Shame of it is, since nothing happens after you die, you'll never actually get the realization that it was all fraud.

[@pheresy1367]

"The killer awoke before dawn, and put his boots on. He took a face from the ancient gallery.... and.... he walked on down the hall.... he went into the room where his brother lay... then he..... He went in the room where his sister lay... then he......HE WALKED ON DOWN THE HALL!..... Jim Morrison "The End" (last song on the Door's first album)

[@mr.lonewolf8199]

"There are so many religions that promise everlasting afterlife but none has delivered" GRR Martin has spoken truth

[@yomamas1559]

we don’t know that for sure tho. how can he know it’s never delivered if he’s never died?

[@Hiroakiarai88]

he's a redditor?

[@mr.lonewolf8199]

@@yomamas1559 most important question is how can people assuring others that there is afterlife if they didn't die 😂

[@samo4648]

G.R.R.M.: *says bad word* Audience: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@christianali5431]

To me it's more concerning that… G.R.R.M.: Talks crap about religion. Audience: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Alexander-tu3iv]

@@christianali5431 Ah yes because religion should never be questioned or made fun off.

[@christianali5431]

@@Alexander-tu3iv Well it is certainly worse to mock religion then it is to say bad words.

[@orendafni]

@@christianali5431 what killed more people, bad words or religion?

[@christianali5431]

@@orendafni G.R.R.M has killed more people than either thing has.

[@GANGLYMAN117]

Lol at the mount and blade picture when Vikings are mentioned.

[@bryankane9820]

“1 mans death is a tragedy, 5 billion deaths our a statistic.” Did my man George just quote jospeh stailin

[@iiTzoreo1]

sure did lmfao

[@neuralmute]

Shit history junkies say. XD

[@uhohhotdog]

Except there’s no evidence he said that. The supposed quote came from the Washington Post. Many people in the past have said this phrase

[@bryankane9820]

@@uhohhotdog I never knew that

[@baileycharlton2191]

Even if he said it doesnt make the quote any less powerful

[@ctastrophe]

Show me the guy who says he doesn't love Jaqen, and I will show you a liar EDIT: Even funnier seeing the joke lost on so many

[@panos617]

@Dragon Bane He is dead

[@joowonmo6800]

Faceless men arc in the show was lame as fuck in s5 to s6. In the book, Jaqen goes to Oldtown and disguise as Maester and he met with Samwell.

[@joowonmo6800]

Jaqen was more badass and mysterious in the book

[@redmilo92]

Jaqen doesn't exist

[@jcarroll7371]

This man does not exist

[@LPChipi]

I'm willing to bet he took the idea from The Doors' song The End. "The killer awoke before dawn He put his boots on He took a face from the ancient gallery And he walked on down the hall" The song came out in 1967, Martin's formative years so the timeline fits.

[@marcoarana9952]

Thank you for the information.

[@LPChipi]

@@marcoarana9952 My pleasure, though just want to mention that this is just my theory. I don't have any confirmation for this.

[@DR.DisInfect]

C'mon now lol

[@LPChipi]

@@DR.DisInfect what

[@Exorcist364xs]

I never heard that line shit, “He took a face from the ancient gallery” and walked on down the hall. That song is very Greek mythology. That’s fascinating. Well Jim Morrison is fascinating.

[@DarthPlato]

Who owns the land is the immediate reaction from someone living in recent times. But historically, the land "belongs" to whomever dwells and makes something out of the land. Some native populations didn't understand the notion of owning the ground. So when they were offered something in return for land, they thought they were getting the better of the deal.

[@DarthPlato]

You're not wrong. Some places really stress the genetics though, as apart from your actual appearance or name. Spain and some parts of the US for sure are like this--at least in the past. Spain still does.

[@Egilhelmson]

“Some native populations didn’t understand land ownership” because the farming Indians largely died off from the contact plagues, and the survivors could live as hunter-gatherers, again. And in the case of the Dutch purchase of Manhattan, the evidence is that the people who sold the island had only hunting rights there, and established the trope of Selling The Brooklyn Bridge.

[@ReinoldFZ]

@@Egilhelmson In my specific group (a South American one) we don't own the land but we care for it as a kind of grandparent. If you care for it you would be part of us too. It would be interesting to know how different are concepts for each native nation in North America.

[@utkarsh2746]

People who talk in simple terms like that don't even understand Intellectual Property or concepts like Community ownership. The Yellowstone National Park or some river isn't "owned" in the sense that this dumb history teacher seems to understand the word. The idea of "us versus them" and Culture wars is so ingrained in her psyche that she repeatedly brings up "siding with us" but doesn't recognize community ownership somehow.

[@CountStoczkowski]

I always figured he got the idea for faceless men from the Doors song The End. The killer took a face from the ancient gallery and then he walked on down the hall.

[@bradlynntorres1968]

Was just thinking this the other day after listening to the song!!

[@inventgineer]

HUH, that's kind of a neat thought, friend. Someone else in these comments said they were amazed that GRRM came up with the idea for the Faceless Men from the ubercommon fantasy nerd trope of assassin's guilds and.....NOT from actors???..... 😄and I kinda teased him good naturedly about that, like "Really? You thought he came up with The Faceless Men from the extremely broad idea of theatre and actors rather than the assassin's guild fantasy trope? 😆"............but bruh, your idea actually sounds reasonably plausible AND it's the sort of thing where GRRM could POTENTIALLY have been unconsciously inspired by lyrics like that in a song and not even remember/know it. I could ABSOLUTELY see the common assassin's guild trope getting mishmashed with his unconscious memory of that song, in the creative process of recombination of ideas that resulted in The Faceless Men. So, as playfully dismissive as I may have been of someone else's suggestion as to the basis of his inspiration for the Faceless Men.........I think yours actually holds up as possible, and COULD have been part of the basis in a way that is impossible to absolutely confirm or refute lol.

[@Sarcasmses]

I've always thought the Faceless Men were inspired by the Tleilaxu Face Dancers from Dune. They are exactly the same, assassins who can take on the appearance of other people to do their work.

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

He's spot on with the question of who America "belongs" to. History is full of conquered and obliterated cultures. No land belongs to anyone. To imply otherwise is to have a naive understanding of human history

[@iwantsomecookies08]

Skyrim belongs to THE NORDS!!!!

[@MstEli]

Ka is a wheel. Everything is connected; everything comes back around sometime

[@jcarroll7371]

@Tom Phelps yea it belongs to the American citizens idk wtf u talking about brother lol. Nah Look at England tho one group would come in and conquer they would rule for a bit then another would come conquer them and on and on. That is how it always was history is nasty and no race or nationality has clean hands. U cant go back and fix passed mistakes u just gotta do much better going forward. I agree but I'd say we dont own it permanently just for now.

[@d4n4nable]

Indeed. America to the Native Americans? Despicable! Accept the European migrants and join the global community, Cherokee! What's with their obsession with maintaining their people and cultures?!

[@samyrandome425]

Well in a sense nothing inherently belongs to anyone, but a whole society's way of life is synonymous with the geographical region they inhabit, taking that away from them through institutions and hierarchies, disrupting their existence through senseless claims of superiority, it would simply be dishonest and disingenuous, to claim a land doesn't belong to anyone when you live in a society that was built on TAKING that land from the poeple there, claiming ownership while oppressing said people with the system you put in place. I'm trying to say that it would be contradictory to use that argument as a way to justify colonial oppression and atrocities. It seems to me it would be smarter to acknowledge them to understand the mechanics that are still at play in modern societies and paint a more accurate picture of human history that takes in consideration all the complexities, and is also more informative on social dynamics which can help in moving forward better if we look at it from a practical standpoint.

[@Tommy1977777]

for some historical clarity: The middle eastern "Assassins" did exist. The name is derived from the name the assassins gave themselves. this name was orignially "Hashishen" because they often used Hashish to carry out a mission. the name was given by Crusaders from the middle east. now there are other cultures that in one way of another used assassins and trained them differently. The ninja for example had a VERY disciplined, well trained, class of assassins and spies, who were trained from a very young age. Now in India prior to British Colonization the Thuggee cults who worshipped Shiva. the Thuggee used disguises of sorts by befriending their victims. The caste system essentially made it impossible to quell the Thuggee cult due to an inability to cross class lines. The Thuggee for their part were able to do this. This ability to "Cross" boundaries is represented in George Martins "Faceless Men" who can quite literally "Be" anyone and as such gain access to different levels and aspects of society.

[@anon-iraq2655]

Hashashin wasn't what they called themselves, its a derogatory term that mainstream muslims called them by, essentially calling them druggies

[@inventgineer]

Dude........no, lol. Look, I WORSHIPPED ninjas a kid, so I ended up reading up on them, and while their cause was pretty epicly noble (oppressed peasants risin' up!), their methods were actually pretty crude. See, unlike the Bushido samurai class in society, who were nobles who lived their entire lives by a ironclad philosophy/religion of honor and duty, who had the luxury of practicing their craft of warfare down to a science cuz they weren't plowing fields like a common farmer...................."ninjas" were just poor peasants who, oppressed by ruthless feudal lords during the Daimyo period of Japan, picked up farm tools and fought back against the oppressing shoguns and samurai. Because they were able to proficiently wield farm tools as weapons in a way that the samurai had never been formally trained against, the samurai created this culture at the time that "ninja are honorless dogs" because "they don't live and fight by a strict code, they'll try to kill you with whatever first comes to hand, they're willing to kill you in your sleep instead of on the battlefield, they eavesdrop in on others' conversations and spread their secrets, etc etc." Ninja weren't, in great part, some kind of highly-trained warriors, not at least or especially for most of their history. They were primarily just common farmers who attempted to teach themselves how to use farm tools (like scythes) as deadly weapons and who fought back against their oppressors with a kind of "win at all costs" sort of mentality that comes when you have very little to lose and you could lose it all at any moment. The other way they served this purpose of resistance was, as you say, as spies. One of the reasons this worked so well is: again, they were just common peasants, so people had a much harder time identifying them as being spies in a given location. Was this because they *takes on epic voice* trained so hard their whole life to become master spies!............no, lol. Goddamn I wish that was so, but no, lol. I suppose it'd be fair to say they were studious in their craft, especially in time as feudal lords began to use these clans of weaponized peasants more commonly as more formalized weapons of war.....but nah, despite all the awesome, AWESOME culture around ninjas in modern day? Their reality is a FAR more humble one. As they, EVENTUALLY (and even then only a couple small clans, as I understand it) became formal warriors, yes, they put more emphasis on their martial training and, probably, also on their spycraft. But the simple, if disappointing truth, is that most "ninja" were just revolutionary peasants fighting and murdering their oppressors through guerilla warfare, and just taking regular women from their clan and having them listen in to conversations of their opponents to gain useful information for other feudal lords that promised them protection in return. I HAVE read that, once their usefulness as weapons became understood to the feudal lords and they actually started more formally training for such endeavors, they WERE deeply spiritual about the warrior spirit, internal peace, etc, very much like the samurai, but.........nah, most of the time they were, sadly, just scruffy peasants with little to no training murdering oppressive soldiers in the night with farm tools or just sitting in a room and listening discreetly lol.

[@tomisaacson2762]

Based stoner assassins

[@Tommy1977777]

@inventgineer go read Dr StephenTurnbull on this matter.

[@Arun-nv8zi]

Jaqen was a pretty cool name for boys born during GOT, Arya was popular too. If you named your daughter Daenerys, well....

[@jarrodedson5441]

Well true

[@faylure9985]

I know one fat moron who did, may god protect her daughter of picking up the idiotic atitude from his progenitor because his father is the kind of idiot who say "i've read the books" and then proceeds to mention show stuff that doesn't appear in the books. Sad af lmao.

[@theblancmange1265]

@@faylure9985 And the books aren't finished yet. She might become silly there too.

[@theblancmange1265]

With the ae it looks like a "pretentious" way of spelling a latin name.

[@joeski1073]

I would rather my kids hang around kids named Tyrion and Daenerys than 6 more Braydens smdh Those fuckers are eveywhere

[@johncouch587]

The dark brotherhood

[@Odinson224]

Hail Sithis!

[@TheNemisisx]

You sleep rather soundly for a murderer

[@theblancmange1265]

Within 5 minutes of one of the major villages of the province. With an ominous glowing door, right next to the main road. Or just outside another village, where children will likely go to play.

[@thiagoporto7879]

I thought he was going to mention The Doors's lyrics "The killer awoke before dawn He put his boots on He took a face from the ancient gallery an he walked on down the hall" Aways thought these had something to do with it.

[@neuralmute]

I've always loved that image, but somehow never made the connection!

[@lachlancampbell5679]

Damn I wish he elaborated on the faceless men more than just 'death cult', I was getting more occult vibes from it.

[@BRAD87225]

When the old man explains to Arya what the faceless men are I remember thinking this man speaks facts!

[@damianlopez9855]

La Santa Muerte is a Saint of death could sorta be considered a kind of modern death cult.

[@tiarezavaleta8850]

The comment I was looking for...

[@chadsknnr]

Facedancers of Dune = Faceless Men of ASOIAF

[@Galvion1980]

Finally someone else says it! Thank you!

[@chadsknnr]

@@Galvion1980 No prob! I'll take it further: Melisandre and the Red Priestesses = Bene Gesserritt of Dune Melisandre and the Shadow Binders of Asshai = the Honored Matres of Dune Tyrion = the Bene Tlellielax dwarf from second Dune book Bran Stark = Muad'Dib or God Emperor Leto, II of Dune the Maesters = the Mentats of Dune the Valyrians = Atlantis Targaryeans = evil elves Arya = halflings or hobbits And that's okay; GRRM's work is still unique and good, and I still like it.

[@Galvion1980]

@@chadsknnr Absolutely! Fantasy and Sci-Fi as genres contain sooo many archetypes that it is virtually impossible to be completely "original" . The art is in combining and mixing up these archetypes and allowing the audience to look at them in a different way. GRRM excels at that. Also, he is a master at word-smithing. Sir Terry Pratchett postulated the theory of "L-space" , the space in which all works of Literature interconnect through drawing influence from one another and in turn influencing others thoughout time. I like this theory a lot!

[@gandalfgrey91]

Radiyas 13 yep. When I first read Dune Messiah I noticed the obvious parallel between Tyrion and Bijaz. Not just that theyre both dwarfs but how bijaz plays with words and his general mischievous aura.

[@Leto617]

@@chadsknnrThe Bene Gesserit far out class the red priestesses. There is no contest, especially when considering their powers and influence. The Sisterhood could see the future, control people with her/ their voice, were master manipulators while remaining incognito. And then there are the physical abilities, which would class them as some of the best fighters in the universe. No contest, oh and they could control what kind of children they had with the most powerful and influential families in the universe. Serious, is there anything which puts the Red Priestesses anywhere near them?

[@ashleydavis3318]

Thank you, whoever asked about Tanselle! Ive been wanting to ask the same question myself.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

I played vampire the masquerade as an assamite. The familiy was indeed lead by 'the old man in the mountain' . Nice parallel :)

[@danielirl9252]

I love jaqen so much, one of a kind character and he truly is one of a kind

[@tanxeelhanif]

Even his appearance

[@dastandesanta7565]

Love the assassin's creed reference 😂😂

[@nikolalutov8898]

In all actuality, the Hashishins were EXACTLY like the 'fantasy' assassin guilds, mate. A great example would be their assassination of archbishop Conrad of Monferrat where the assassins impersonated Christian monks so well and for so long that they actually earned the trust of their target. Another brilliant example of the lengths to which the brotherhood would go to assassinate its targets is the attempted assassination of Edward I King of England during the Ninth Crusade where the assassins trained as puppeteers for months before killing and impersonating the actual puppeteers that were supposed to perform in front of the King just to get close enough.

[@inventgineer]

That's pretty rad, lol (less so for those original puppeteers 😄). Thanks for the cool share! 😀

[@adamantiiispencespence4012]

George almost certainly knows that he cites the Assasins as inspirations here and in another video he names Edward I as an inspiration for Tywin.

[@withalittlehelpfrom3]

*me seeing this video* I’d love to hear how a man came up with this!

[@Priceluked]

Sounds like a pretty young history teacher.

[@drummer8491]

Who apparently believes in conquering other human beings.

[@babalootukeke]

@@drummer8491 Who wants a fantasy writer to help her feel good about that.

[@whoiswho8146]

Yea i had a problem with that to...as a historian and teacher i think u should give your student's the facts and discuss the reasons why certain groups did thing's not spread your bias opinion.

[@zeiters2055]

She’s like “I saw Schindlers list and realized Hitler is awesome”

[@Extremeredfox]

@@drummer8491 The inconvenient truth is that we inherently believe in the "conquering" of other beings. The US just witnessed this in the presidential election. Both parties believes that the other side should be conquered and forcefully adopt their way of doing things. The difference is that there are rules to this engagement. Those rules are dictated by the constitution, or mutually agreed upon rules for engagement.

[@toxiczombeez5332]

I write my own little story. I always like hearing where people find inspiration.

[@hakansahin937]

He is talking about Hassan-i Sabbah If you are interested

[@brandonsilver6721]

I love this guy what an amazing mind he has

[@codranine6054]

Frank Herberts Bene Tlielaxlu facedancers!!

[@briannemorris5432]

The colonization of North America and Westeros was so different. As far as I have knowledge of the world of GOT, the Targaryens did not systematically suppress the people they had taken power from. The colonization of North America was a brutal conquest that is still happening today.

[@84C4]

Yeah, the Mad King was a lovely ruler and "submit or be turned to ash" was a very peaceful form of conquest, especially in all the times they didn't submit. But hey, at least to can shit on a whole country to make yourself feel better, how virtuous of you.

[@axrye800]

Might want to check on what the Andals did when they arrived on Westeros.

[@inventgineer]

"The colonization of North America was a brutal conquest that is still happening today." 🤣🤣🤣 Thank for that spot of unexpected humor on an otherwise somewhat emotionally dark evening. What a delightfully histrionic and dishonestly exaggerative take on modern society.

[@LordSpleach]

Reminds me of the Face Dancers in the Dune series.

[@gustavramirez2891]

Also the Bene Tleilaxu from Dune

[@oakabielb5406]

They always reminded me of the face dancers from Dune

[@Mazuto808]

So that history teacher was saying, conolization, slavery western expedition all these conflicts that subjugated the less technology advanced original inhabitants of the lands is right? Gheeze there needs to be more checks on teacher

[@eclipsewrecker]

Anyone else see the similarities between the show’s Jaqen and gi joe’s Zartan character? The toy even came with two extra faces.

[@WalterLiddy]

"...as someone once said." It was Stalin. Stalin said that.

[@codra9]

The face dancers from dune...

[@u.v.s.5583]

- Mr. Martin, do you embrace death? - That's the only way you guys stop asking me about winds of winter...

[@EricEsenwine]

I always felt the Facekess Men wre the fantasy analogue of Dune's Tlielaxu Face Dancers.

[@gauravmishra3917]

2:20 Asheya from history of westeros 🎉🙌

[@danielfrank2985]

I knew recognized her voice

[@ReinoldFZ]

The promise of eternal life actually to me is a scary one :S Death cult would be my favorite :D

[@inventgineer]

Oh yeah, definitely, lol. Most of my childhood I was absolutely CONSUMED with living eternally PURELY for the reason so that I could manage to acquire all knowledge in the universe somehow (not as a means of power, but just because I considered knowledge and understanding sacred). However it did NOT take long (probably around mid-to-late jr. high years) before I started to increasingly realize just how torturous living in a society of loveless idiots that are always trying to eat themselves alive is, and started to realize "OH YEAH!......a BIG OLLLLL 'nevermind' to that, ACTUALLY. I think I'll probably consider death a RELIEF, when it finally comes. I dunno if I can stand people for even ONE whole lifetime, more or less an infinite number....." 😆

[@kiwitheanimator]

2:46 wth is wrong with that history teacher, justifying genocide and teaching fascist ideals...

[@JasperForge]

Tanselle Too-Tall *Not Too Tall for me*

[@jonnysith]

6:10 george a real one

[@vis_18]

There are two types of people : First: Loves jaqen h’ghar Second: Liars

[@peggycearnach8034]

No one - if he beckoned to me, I would walk to him in a trance. He is magnetic 🙂

[@210SAi]

What do you know Harry Potter!

[@jaqenjordan3121]

Jaqen is the coolest character in ASOIAF

[@lxdead5585]

For me it's Victarion, that badass mofo with burned-powered arm and Dragon Stealing horn :D

[@n8-044]

Lx Dead The guy who beat his wife to death after his brother raped her?

[@theforgottenguise7971]

@@n8-044 What's a little wife beating between friends?

[@210SAi]

Jaqen had the most potential but hasn’t done much after leaving Harrenhal....yet

[@DarkKnight-wr1el]

RR: "one death is a tragedy and million deaths is a statistic" Covid-19: wtf

[@wjzav1971]

This is why Daenary's claim never really made sense to me. Her ancestors gained the Iron Throne through conquest and they lost it through conquest. So really, what kind a right does she have on it?

[@UnfoundFilms]

Its a good point. You could argue that the 7 kingdoms was unified under the Targaryens so that kingdom as a whole was brought about by them. But certainly the land itself they really have no right to.

[@MMAKOTV]

GRRM and Randall Carlson would make an interesting conversation imo… there’s something about the two that makes me think they’d hit it off

[@Jerry-gs4tc]

George R. R. Martin: "and then..." Audience: hahahahahaha

[@music4meh]

I'm sad George did not explore the (question about the) Faceless Men more As far as death cults and nihilism go, I always thought that the Faceless Men were based on certain sects of Buddhism Becoming and being with nothing and no one made perfect sense to me after reading Nagarjuna and the Heart-Sutra. I suppose George has never heard of them. Goes to show, fiction, especially of this calibre, shouldn't be read and written alone, by a single entity. It is, and should be, a collective effort.

[@Valiere2024]

This discussion sounds like it's taking place underwater.

[@sintwelve]

The tuf stuff is great.

[@sportsnewz5608]

The Guild of Assassins

[@durwinpocha2488]

inspired by history - I LIKE THAT BEST.

[@shabadooshabadoo4918]

Did George RR Martin just quote The Dark Knight? Also immediately after that he quoted Joseph Stalin.

[@mjbull5156]

There is a lesser noble House in Westeros that has a black bat on a yellow field as its sigil.

[@Halbared]

MJBull515 I like the line in the books that mention a green arrow and a blue beatle

[@mjbull5156]

@@Halbared And the knight with a blue star on a silver field who gets killed by Wun Wun the giant. GRRM sneaks a lot of references in those books.

[@Halbared]

@@mjbull5156 I know that one because I watch Preston Jacob videos, otherwise it'd go over my head. I recognise stuff but I know it's probably a tiny fraction of what GRR puts in. Like Terry Pratchett.

[@kungfumcgee7992]

1:49 the illuminati gettin that shade though

[@jamesnewby6878]

Lil sweet from the dr pepper commercials.

[@Paddythelaad]

im a protoss, not a terran.

[@tsduali7516]

lol didn't expect him quoting Joseph Djugashvili

[@khengkhan343]

Ah so based off the Hashashin

[@gwendolynmorgan7803]

Someone should see if he knows about the LaBarrens (devil killed the leader of the AUB) or Leg Tahor

[@MontyQueues]

martin shows his vast understanding of how life works... which is why i am a big student of him people today are always crying about blah blah people taking over this and that reality is that's been life forever... he's also right about the multi culturalism part where you will walk into one of their food stores and eat and be like, this is good food LMAO

[@tcschenks]

I’m sorry-as I liked his novels years ago before he wrote Game of Thrones like Tuff Voyaging and the Wild Cards-but every time I see a new George Martin video he seems stupider with each question he answers.

[@inventgineer]

Without having more familiarity with the man (GRRM), or familiarity with you and your experiences with him and his literature, I can only do so much to make an educated guess here, but:.....if I had to guess? I'd say that the reason you feel that way is because once he started absolutely blowing up in popularity, people started asking him more grandiose questions about life, society, philosophy, etc, and as brilliant and creative as he may be as an author and worldbuilder and such, he's no mysterious sage of untold wisdom, and so when he tries to answer questions he doesn't have any particular basis to answer? Yeah, I could definitely see that being a part of why he seems increasingly foolish to you in interviews lol. I mean -I've seen other examples in some other videos of interviews from recent years, but take for GREAT example the liberal arts teenager at 3:10 who thinks GRRM is equipped to answer the fundamentally unanswerable question of "what IS, fundamentally, the core concept of possession and ownership, particularly within the context and constructs of human society?" 😂😂😂 Like.....girl? Are you even aware who you're talking to? He isn't some magical prophet, he's just a fucking decent fantasy author, good lord...... lol.

[@Osafune2]

@@inventgineerGeorge is a talented writer, but philosophically he is Reddit incarnate

[@Sufanius]

The woman who says history goes to those who take what they want I wonder if someone walked in home would she call the police? Or would she fight to see if she survives. She is speaking from a position of strength because laws protect her. I bet if it were a real situation all that “belief” would fold up.

[@MazDconDecepticon]

I has a feeling he was inspired by Hasssan already

[@matthewronson5218]

Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

[@BlasphometicHermetic]

Death cult 2022!!! Lol I love George.

[@u.v.s.5583]

Death star is only a dragon in the star wars universe. Director Krennich, mrs. Daenerys Targaryen are both parents of dragons thusly.

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

Love the story of the hashashin

[@billybobthekidiswack]

Assassins*

[@SEDYT358]

@@billybobthekidiswack Hashashin is where we get the word "assassin"

[@billybobthekidiswack]

@@SEDYT358 No the word Assassin comes from Asāsiyyūn. The term Hashashin (which is actually Ḥashīshiyyīn) came later which a was a derogatory term to describe someone as a junkie.

[@SRosenberg203]

@@billybobthekidiswack I thought it came from a word that basically meant "Follower of Hassan", since Hassan-i Sabbah was the founder of the order.

[@billybobthekidiswack]

@@SRosenberg203 Nah and plus Hassan wouldn't call his followers "followers of hassan" that's very pretentious.

[@darkspot2358]

Land belong to people!!!!

[@dosifei4]

I thought neanderthals got wiped out by or interbred with homo sapiens, not cro magnon men.

[@Alexander-tu3iv]

They are the same thing. Or more precisely Cro Magnons or early european modern humans are a sub type of homo sapiens.

[@TheTrainstation]

It was emperor hassan who created his group devout followers called the Hasassins who would even kill themselves to show devotion

[@iwantlee9510]

6:19 Sadly hes right.

[@Concreteowl]

Nobody mention face dancers.

[@dreamermagister8561]

Well Neolithic had some death cults. Or rather its religion had a cult of death from what we gather. (Talking about Near East specifically.)

[@QueenDaenerysTargaryen]

Good👍 video🎥👍🔥🔥

[@utkarsh2746]

The Nizari Ismaili were nothing like what Marco Polo had described them to be and virtually all contemporary records agree that Marco Polo made most of it up. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan-i_Sabbah

[@steventapp1375]

Just trying to find out how to inspire GRRM to finish the fucking books

[@jeffreygao3956]

I was so sure that it would be ninjas.

[@mr.F.Castle]

He kind of "forgot" about that I think.

[@TreizeKhushrenadaWing]

V for vendetta

[@KarstenOkk]

did that teacher just say she thought the americans have more of a right to the land than native americans because they took it by force? that's the kind of logic fascists would use lol.

[@ArdoBlueMoon]

She is not fit to teach kids if she's telling them that.

[@EricEsenwine]

@@ArdoBlueMoon yeah take her job by force and put someone with your own idealogue in her position!

[@ArdoBlueMoon]

@@EricEsenwine That's what happens when you're not fit to teach students or kids, you get sacked. They don't ask you gently.

[@inventgineer]

Yeah, I think THAT argument is horrible and illogical, lol. HOWEVER, I will say that I have serious apprehensions about how American history often paints the Native Americans almost exclusively as innocent victims, when the truth is they had EXPONENTIALLY more numbers, were better warriors in better physical shape who had trained most of their life with their weapons (being consistently proven better marksman with a bow than the colonists were with their shitty inaccurate guns), they had centuries of knowledge of each other, etc......................and they basically all turned on each other, when a foreign enemy was at the gate, and betrayed each other as quickly as possible for mere trinkets and the promise by said strangers they didn't even know that they'd share power at the end. I'm not gonna say there was NONE of that sort of behavior in other cultures, historically, but....look at Ancient Rome, as a great example, among countless: whenever they'd have foreign enemies start arriving at their gates, the VERY first thing they did was get organized, consolidate the entire country by treaty or by force, and face the enemy invader united -NOT just betray each other as quickly as possible for baubles and trinkets and completely insubstantial and doubtful promises from invaders they had never known before 😅. Therefore, while I don't agree with the grossly oversimplified (to the point of uncivilized brutishness) viewpoint that "if they were able to successfully invade the land, it's theirs rightfully".............I DO take serious issue with people acting like they are blameless victims. SURE, the colonists were sneaky and underhanded in dealings, aggressively territorially expansive, etc............and NONE of it would have gone ANYWHERE if the American Indians didn't constantly betray each other😐. I DO feel a bit bad that a people that had a much healthier emphasis on fitness, spirituality, honor, etc lost out to fat, hairy, stinky people who pervert their spirituality into slavish religion and lie and cheat more often to get what they want. However, that said, I can only feel so bad for a people that were SO quick to brutally turn on and slay their long-time neighbors in favor of hostile and dishonest strange foreigners.

[@tomisaacson2762]

Yeah that was a pretty dumb question

[@seanngeorgewilliam9106]

Wow, that premise about not having death invoking religions in our world is very wrong.

[@inventgineer]

Well, not really. He literally didn't say there were none, he just said he was surprised that they were far less popular than the popular religious cults that all peddle fake promises of never-ending life. HOWEVER, if we take NIETZCHE'S stance on religion (and I do), then according to him ALL superstitious belief in an afterlife that's equal to or better than this life is a deeply unnatural worship of death; he calls religious people "death worshippers" because they care more about some fake life once they're dead than about the actual reality they live in and the people living around them. So I suppose in that sense, by Nietzsche's apt definition, pretty much ALL major religions worship death over life (just not in any kind of actually honest way, lmao) 😅.

[@tactfulrogue]

George is a smart guy but wrong about nationality. France should be for the French, Japan for Japanese, Kenya for Kenyans. Just like polar bear territory should be for polar bears not grizzlies. I love how with animals we want to protect bio diversity, but suddenly that science stops at the human animal. Imagine no human bio diversity. We all lose our culture, diverse looks, systems of government, resilience to certain illnesses etc. Just become one mono-culture, faceless global consumers living among uninspired gray strip malls buying trinkets to fill our void of where our culture and communities used to be. Our differences make us who we are and its a thing to be embraced and communicated through to positive outcomes. Not something to be erased.

[@MontyQueues]

there is no "REAL FRENCH" person... lmao cultures ethnicities are constantly interchanging... there's never going to be a TRUE KENYAN or a true SCOTTISH PERSON because everyone is already diversely mixed already... life is more complicated than simple tribal notions and martin tried explaining this which you apparently can't grasp

[@inventgineer]

Very well spake, internet friend. For all my verbosity, I could not have hoped to put it better myself :).

[@alongsleep]

​@@MontyQueues Are you Japanese?

[@alongsleep]

I could not agree more, it troubles me deeply that for all his knowledge George doesn't seem to understand this.

[@johnhighway7399]

​​​@@MontyQueues You have no idea what you're talking about. Science can pinpoint your exact nationality with 99% accuracy through DNA. They can tell a Frenchman and a Belgian apart. A German and an Estonian, a Kenyan and a Nigerian, an Iranian and a Pakistani. Humans aren't "mutts", the overwhelming majority of countries and people have kept the same DNA for literally thousands of years. Even when countries get conquered or mass immigration happens, people still avoid outsiders. The only people who believe in "diversity" are Americans, who coincidentally also happen to be the dumbest westerners in history. And if you haven't noticed, racial tensions all across the globe are rising at an incredible pace, because nobody wants to intermix with each other. Even Americans prefer to live in their own racially homogeneous neighborhoods, because that's a basic human instinct.

[@samuellaakso7012]

Probably one reason why we dont have more deathcults in real world is because more often death has been seen as something to be defeated, overrunned, conquered. Death is an enemy. And who would worship their enemy?

[@teese1630]

death is the enemy of dakata fanny, dakata fanny is my enemey, the enemy of my enemy is my friend

[@manofhonor1685]

Yeah there are satanists that rejoice in death and killing

[@teese1630]

@@manofhonor1685 who told you that stupid shit. You're mom, your paster. Satinism is faux religion Like the church of the flying spageti monster or the agents of discord. A faux religion is one in which the practioners understand its not real, and it is a satire on deism in general. the tennants of sanatism is the god of the bible is evil and satin brought knowlege to main kind to protect thesmelves from the dangerous evil child molestor god of abraham. the perform pink mases (gay marrag after death) in retalation to mormoms and the west bueru baptist church baptising holocost victims. they gay married church leaders parents. its a protest they know its not real. you cant gay marry people that dont want to get married their is no legally binding contractor on such thing and god isnt real and there is no afterlife so its not like a satantic priest saying your gay married makes you gay, but it pissed the people off that it was supposed to piss off. what you think about satanism is wrong it was lie told you by a church leader who was also lied to

[@kronos1794]

But death always wins and humans value might/victory above all. One day the gods and all life will fade and then death will kill itself.

[@manuam98]

Poor people who worship millionaires

[@DarthPlato]

I think Martin was trying to say that the modern nation State should give way to Universalism. He implies that national Self-Determination is equal to racial nationalism, but it is not. This trope is commonly expressed by educated people, regardless of anyone's take on Universalism.

[@danielharrington5690]

2:46 History teacher who had her mind changed while TEACHING western expansionism?? Did you not learn about this before you started teaching kids??? 😂😂

[@themannydanny]

Love Game Of Thrones...except for the faceless men part! Oh, and the ending! Who's with me? Anybody? Anybody?

[@vcetutorialshub8599]

Literally everybody bro

[@Doivid_]

The guy asking the question needs to take his mic out of his throat.

[@saye-zx3uy]

0:56 Is he talking about Hassan Sabbah?