George RR Martin on the Inspiration for the Faceless Men

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A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Author George R. R. Martin Interview

[@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

[@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.

[@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'

[@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.

[@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

[@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 😵

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@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)

[@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.

[@ashleydavis3318]

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

[@lachlancampbell5679]

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

[@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?

[@Scourgeoftengri]

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 😂

[@GANGLYMAN117]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@withalittlehelpfrom3]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

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

[@BRAD87225]

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

[@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.

[@dastandesanta7565]

Love the assassin's creed reference 😂😂

[@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...

[@brandonsilver6721]

I love this guy what an amazing mind he has

[@danielirl9252]

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

[@tanxeelhanif]

Even his appearance

[@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.

[@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?

[@panos617]

George R.R Martin take inspiresions from History. Same examples : 1) The Conflict of House Stark and Lannister is inspire from The Wars of Roses (1455 - 1485) 2) The Titan of Bravos from Collosus of Rode (3th century BC) 3) The Wall from The Handrian Wall (117 AD) in England 4) The Targaryen Dynasty from the Ptolemy Dynasty in Egept (305-30BC) 5) The War of Fives Kings from The Year of Fives Emperors (191 - 192 AD). Ironic. In History Septimius Severus won in sivil war and became Emperor of Rome. But in Westeros all Fives Kings (Robb Stark, Stannis Baratheon, Joffrey Lannister, Renly Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy) are dead. I have and others examples but i thought are ok those which i tell.

[@kherstein9581]

Stannis is not dead in the books

[@panos617]

@@kherstein9581 Till now. Maybe in the books he will have a proper ending. Like to sacrifice his selfe to save his dauther and his wife. Then i will respect him. But we don't carre anymore for TV serie. Maybe they should ending it when the last book will be ready.

[@kherstein9581]

@@panos617 Yeah, he will die, but in the future. I think the others will kill him trying to prove he is Azor Ahai.

[@panos617]

@@kherstein9581 The Others? You mean White Walkers?

[@teese1630]

@@panos617 he means the others. white walkers is not a anywhere in the books. most people liken the show brown stuff found on toilet paper. its not even worth discussing and if your one of the few people who cant read and only watched the snow. in most cases it would improper to insult you, but the ending of the tv show was god awful that it wuld inspire the rats of nimh to learn to direct hollywood films. YOu can pick up the book or shut up. No one who matters is talking about the show any more

[@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.

[@oakabielb5406]

They always reminded me of the face dancers from Dune

[@LordSpleach]

Reminds me of the Face Dancers in the Dune series.

[@gustavramirez2891]

Also the Bene Tleilaxu from Dune

[@hakansahin937]

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

[@EricEsenwine]

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

[@durwinpocha2488]

inspired by history - I LIKE THAT BEST.

[@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.

[@jonnysith]

6:10 george a real one

[@codra9]

The face dancers from dune...

[@sintwelve]

The tuf stuff is great.

[@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.

[@gauravmishra3917]

2:20 Asheya from history of westeros 🎉🙌

[@danielfrank2985]

I knew recognized her voice

[@codranine6054]

Frank Herberts Bene Tlielaxlu facedancers!!

[@jamesnewby6878]

Lil sweet from the dr pepper commercials.

[@QueenDaenerysTargaryen]

Good👍 video🎥👍🔥🔥

[@u.v.s.5583]

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

[@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

[@tsduali7516]

lol didn't expect him quoting Joseph Djugashvili

[@BlasphometicHermetic]

Death cult 2022!!! Lol I love George.

[@gwendolynmorgan7803]

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

[@WalterLiddy]

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

[@JasperForge]

Tanselle Too-Tall *Not Too Tall for me*

[@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....." 😆

[@sportsnewz5608]

The Guild of Assassins

[@Bendover69694]

Surprised he didn’t sight the face dancers from dune😢

[@kungfumcgee7992]

1:49 the illuminati gettin that shade though

[@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

[@Valiere2024]

This discussion sounds like it's taking place underwater.

[@darkspot2358]

Land belong to people!!!!

[@MazDconDecepticon]

I has a feeling he was inspired by Hasssan already

[@DarkKnight-wr1el]

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

[@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

[@Jerry-gs4tc]

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

[@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.

[@steventapp1375]

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

[@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.)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@iwantlee9510]

6:19 Sadly hes right.

[@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

[@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.

[@matthewronson5218]

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

[@TreizeKhushrenadaWing]

V for vendetta

[@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

[@konglee4632]

Ah so based off the Hashashin

[@politicallyincorrect2564]

Obviously the order of the Ishmaili hashashins.

[@Paddythelaad]

im a protoss, not a terran.

[@TheTrainstation]

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

[@danielirl9252]

I choose to believe the god on this show has 7 different faces and that reflects on the 7 faces of his

[@mikeakaspike]

The facedancers that Frank Herbert created decades ago...

[@klyanadkmorr]

I'm starting to notice how George totally avoids clear parallels to Dune concepts in his work in ASOIAF. I thought he'd admitted taking some ideas but I must have made that up when he only was listing other 50-60s scifi writers. Dune has the FACE DANCERS from the Bene Tleilaxu for god's sake in Dune series stories that were big and awarded while he GRRM was just starting to write in the 70's & would have read & known about! I'm ashamed of him & now have to remove my dissing George Lucas ripping off DUNE for Star Wars vs GRRM being morehonest borrowing from DUNE.

[@klyanadkmorr]

My cross fantasy universe discussion tying them together meta philosophy evolution wise zontarmedia.blogspot.com/2020/02/essay-on-dune-chapterhouse-dune.html

[@dexstewart2450]

Hashinashah

[@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.

[@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.

[@lumby5919]

9:00 the joker

[@saye-zx3uy]

0:56 Is he talking about Hassan Sabbah?

[@jeffreygao3956]

I was so sure that it would be ninjas.

[@mr.vargas5648]

He kind of "forgot" about that I think.

[@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

[@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) 😅.

[@ChrisAssassin]

They could have had random peasants making shady comments to the main characters in passing since season one. The comments would correlate and revolve around the faceless men being everywhere and seeming like they are everyone and yet no one at all. And then they should have stormed into kingslanding and killed bran because he shouldn't have been crowned.

[@markcruz359]

life everlasting refers to life after death

[@ellieadele3769]

Yeah, I like George, but seriously how could he be so obtuse?

[@markcruz359]

@Jacob Wood a lot of his made up religions are based on christian concepts. Holy Trinity - 7 gods Old Testament (God) - old gods New Testament (Jesus and the Holy Spirit) - New gods

[@ThePhysicsPimp]

And religions still don't deliver on it

[@markcruz359]

@@ThePhysicsPimp how you know u less u died lol

[@ThePhysicsPimp]

@@markcruz359 I make a point to die in every religion each week.

[@hahaimout1693]

Assassin's creed then

[@UnexpectedWonder]

Pretty much.